Hellmuth is known for being touchy over negative comments about his poker ability, and he’s long been accused of being a bad cash game player.
Nothing wrong with that, though, and certainly in games against some of his usual rivals at the top of the game. Hellmuth built his reputation as a tournament player and that is the environment where he is most feared.
But now he wants to match his $500K against $500K from one of his doubters based on his future performance in live televised cash games.
Talk is cheap
If someone actually believes that I am a losing player in cash games (I have won over $3M since 2014 in cash games and have tax records to prove it), then will they put their money where their mouth is?
My critic and I will post $500,000 each, and that critic can…
— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) September 13, 2025
Phil Hellmuth Fires Out Ragebait Challenge
Readers are probably wondering where this all came from, as the tweet seemingly came out of the blue.
The answer is that Phil Hellmuth took some flak over the last couple of weeks from Hungry Horse Poker founder and coach, Marc Goone.
Goone is a live cash game specialist who regularly digs into the game of well-known players to educate his followers. Last month it was Hustler Casino Live favourite Alan Keating, and this month it was Hellmuth who, if we’re honest, was publicly slated.
The accusation wasn’t exactly a lack of skill, but rather that the Poker Brat plays ruled by fear.
This most notably manifests in Hellmuth’s pre-flop game where he is notoriously tight — a cardinal sin in the modern game.
We all know that Phil Hellmuth does not have an affinity with GTO poker solvers, but one area where they rule supreme is in the pre-flop game.
Over the last few years we have learned that in eras gone by we were playing too tight pre-flop. Hellmuth will be aware that the ranges have shifted and Goone is accusing him of not moving with the times.
Of course there were plenty of posters looking to fire that accusation at Hellmuth, including the direct tweet below.
Any decent Pro knows your not that good at poker Phil in this day in age. Maybe in 90s and early 2000s you were the best but these days your middle of the road at best. You couldnt beat the players in my local casino if I hand picked the regs 0 chance
— Vintendo🍳 (@WonkyVin) September 13, 2025
Goone brings up a hand that was played on Hustler Casino Live against Chamath Palihapitiya and Stanley Choi.
Hellmuth opened to $800 under the gun with K♠ K♦ and when three-bet from the big blind, he didn’t pull the trigger with a four-bet for value. Goon says this is evidence that he plays scared money and avoids tough decisions.
He added that he thinks this is down to a deep fear of looking silly when he makes what might be construed as a terrible play.
“Hellmuth has this innate fear of looking foolish when deep. He doesn’t want to make a big blunder, he doesn’t want to make a bad decision.
“So instead, he just clips all of the EV he should be earning in this lineup and buys in incredibly short instead — because he just doesn’t want to look like a dummy.”
So who fancies getting in on the action? First up to show interest was Brian Okin who runs a private cash game that streams on Venetian Poker LIVE.
But the next name to indicate interest was Monarch. Yes, that’s right, Monarch as in Ossi “Monarch” Ketol who recently dumped off $18 million in an afternoon to Dan “Jungleman” Cates.
He demanded “heads-up for rollz!”
Now, who wouldn’t want to see that? The Finn actually took some flak in Hellmuth’s thread about staying in his lane, but Hellmuth did invite all comers, so let’s see, maybe we can see that challenge instead.
