Phill Hellmuth

You can call him Phillip, or you can call him Phil, but however you greet him, you'll have to look up to say hi, because Madison, Wisconsin-born Phil Hellmuth, Jr., stands on a stack of poker-and-life achievements that make him the envy of poker players and non-players alike.

Phil's stated career goal is to become the best poker player of all time. With ten World Series of Poker victories and more than fifty tournament titles later, Hellmuth is well on his way to cementing his poker legacy, one that began shortly after his graduation from the University of Wisconsin. In fact, his laundry list of achievements in 1989 began at the tender age of 24 with his first World Series of Poker title, the youngest person to ever accomplish such a feat. He has since amassed dozens of major tournament wins internationally, including wins at The World's Biggest Seven-card Stud Tournament in Austria and Late Night Poker in Great Britain.

After all of his success, it is no surprise that in 1996, Hellmuth's poker-playing peers voted him the "best all-around tournament poker player in the word" and Oakley eyewear and EA Sports call him a "poker icon." Hellmuth has won more than 50 tournaments, including winning an astounding ten World Series of Poker bracelets. He starts 2005 with a bang, winning first place ($500,000) at the Golden Nugget's National Heads-Up Poker Tournament against 64 of the world's best poker players!

Hellmuth has five World Poker Tour top-ten finishes. But his stardom doesn't stop there. The married, father of two, released his third book on playing poker, "Texas-Hold'em" (Harper Torch), in March 2005. His second book "Bad Beats and Lucky Draws" was released in November 2004, after his first book, "Play Poker Like the Pros," soared to best-selling status and made The New York Times Bestseller list. "Play Poker like the Pros" has been translated into French and Czech. His autobiography, "Poker Brat" is currently in the works. In addition, he brings his poker wisdom to the masses with his instructional video, "Phil Hellmuth's Million Dollar Poker System." He has also partnered with Summus on a Phil Hellmuth's Texas Hold-em cell phone game. Hellmuth's cell phone game is taking off on Verizon. It ranked Number 10 of all games available through at Get it Now (Verizon's virtual store) and it ranks is #2 in the Casino game category. Hellmuth endorses only the best quality products like the Phil Hellmuth Professional Chip Set. In the works are Phil Hellmuth apparel and a Phil Hellmuth Poker Table. As if all of this success isn't enough, Beacon Pictures recently optioned a script for a movie based on his life entitled, "The Madison Kid" and the Game Show Network is developing a reality show "Winner Takes All" created and starring Hellmuth.

With such unparalleled career accomplishments Hellmuth hasn't sacrificed his wholesome family life. He currently resides in Palo Alto, California, with his wife Kathy and his greatest accomplishments--- two sons, Phillip III and Nicholas.