When Phil Hellmuth likes a product, he tends to let you know. As such, the 17-time WSOP bracelet winner has announced a new partnership with Octopi Poker.
Hellmuth joins an already-impressive team as both an investor and ambassador for the educational training platform.
"I love the site," Hellmuth told his followers in a video he shared on X – his first, but certainly not final, piece of promotional content for the platform.
Hellmuth, a well-seasoned endorser of a wide range of products and companies both inside and outside the poker world, appears to have passed on his marketing talents to sons Nick and Philip – both of whom have signed on to represent the site as well. Together, the Hellmuth trio ran through a brief but informative product demonstration, offering their thoughts on the platform's tools along the way.
One of the features the Hellmuths highlight is The Vault, a comprehensive database of final table replays and statistics that users can learn from by testing their knowledge against both the decisions of top-level professionals and the platform's own solver outputs.
"I could have chosen anyone, but I had to choose something I believed in," Hellmuth told PokerOrg following the announcement. "It really is a great product!"
So, what does Hellmuth's addition to the Octopi Poker team bring to the platform?
"It's a meaningful signal that we're building something the poker world is excited about," said James Hudson, Octopi Poker's VP of Marketing. "Having Phil involved reinforces that we're on the right track. He has seen poker evolve through multiple eras, and for someone with his experience and stature in the game to believe in what we're building is incredibly exciting for us."
'The science is quite strong'
In the video, Hellmuth mentioned Octopi Poker's newly-instated Head of Content and Head of Octopi Academy Thomas Boivin as one of the many reasons for his excitement about the investment.
Boivin's dual role at the company sees him leading the charge as Octopi attempts to revolutionize the poker coaching industry. The Belgian's first training course for the site – Beyond the Solver: 15 Blueprints to Exploit Common Population Mistakes – is currently open for enrollment.
While Hellmuth isn't exactly the first poker player that comes to mind when the conversation turns to poker solvers and game theory optimal decisions, he does see the value in the technology.
"I have never been a huge fan of straight GTO – I believe it helps 80% of players – but solvers are hard to argue against," he said. "The science is quite strong."
And as Hudson sees it, Hellmuth's outside perspective is part of what makes him valuable to the company.
"Poker education has changed dramatically over the last 20 to 30 years," Hudson explained. "It has moved from books, to training videos, to today's solver-based tools. Phil has not only lived through all of those changes, he has continued to win and stay relevant throughout them.
"We're not trying to build tools exclusively for players who already feel comfortable with solvers. We're trying to make high-quality poker study more accessible, more intuitive, and more enjoyable for a much wider range of players. We feel like Phil can help us better understand how more traditional feel players understand the game. And we hope to use those insights to develop content and tools that look significantly different from anything that's currently available in the poker training space."
