You can only imagine family game night with the Hellmuth clan hits a little differently than most Monopoly, Jenga, or Yahtzee-obsessed households when the patriarch of the family is one of the most famous poker players on the planet.
It’s also not hard to imagine WSOP legend Phil Hellmuth Jr competing fiercely around the kitchen table with his wife Katherine and their two sons, Phillip III and Nicholas, for the annual Hellmuth Family Poker Cup.
“My father was a little competitive about our family tournament,” chuckles Phil Hellmuth III. “But that never bothered me. We had a great time playing our poker championship. We even had a little bracelet that we would engrave the winner’s initials on and then pass to the winner of the next tournament.”
PokerOrg recently caught up with Phil Hellmuth Jr's son, Phillip Hellmuth III, who is competing in a number of events at this year's WSOP.
We were curious about growing up with a father who is a WSOP Main Event champion, a self-proclaimed poker brat, a shrewd entrepreneur, and one of the most legendary and entertaining players in the game.
'Poker came very naturally'
Did you grow up loving poker because of your father’s huge success?
Poker came very naturally for me from the start. I’d always liked poker a lot, but I actually kind of reverted away from my father and the game when he started to get attention for being a brat at the tables. I now look back and laugh, though.
How so?
Because, for some reason, at a young age, I felt like it was somehow a reflection of me, and I didn't want to see any of that.
Phillip Hellmuth III notched his first WSOP cash this year in the $800 Deepstack.When did that change?
It took a few years for me to get back into the game and sort out all of that. And because of my perceptions at the time, I missed out on a lot of what my dad was doing.
Since then, I've rewatched many of his classic clips over the last year, mainly because people have been referencing them to me at the tables.
Did you have any plans to pursue poker as a career after high school?
Not really. My major in college was psychology. I was initially interested in being a therapist. I was exposed to a different kind of psychology in college, designing studies, intervals, and thresholds, etc.
That didn't interest me the same way connecting with people directly did. So I changed my career path after school.
'Poker doesn’t feel like work'
Hellmuth III is a very extroverted and social person, something he feels he most certainly inherited from his outgoing father.
After college, he decided to pursue a career in sales and worked in business banking for eight years until he was laid off last year.
At a career crossroads, Phillip reignited his love for poker and chose to give a career in the game a fair shot, at least for the foreseeable future.
Phillip Hellmuth III's first recorded tournament cash came in 2015, with his second following exactly 10 years later.How does playing poker compare to your 9-to-5 job?
I'm not one of those people who has that immediate vision that being a professional player is what I want to pursue. We’ll see how it goes.
I do like poker a lot more than working eight hours a day as a banker or as a psychologist. Poker doesn't even feel like work on most days when I play.
At one time in my life, I didn't believe that people could like or even love their jobs. You know what I mean? A job has always been just that, a job to me.
I couldn't understand when people said, ‘I love what I'm doing and love doing it all the time.’ I couldn't even conceive that was possible in life.
Your dad is one of the best networkers in poker, with a lot of business acumen. Coming from a sales background, are you inspired by him?
I think of it as a natural extension of his sociality. He's able to connect with a lot of people. He's able to use those connections to create so many win-win situations.
I've been in sales as a relationship manager, but I consider my dad as the ultimate salesman, and he keeps his integrity intact while doing it. It’s something I really admire about him.
'One of the best networkers in poker': Hellmuth Jr poses for his old sparring partner, Daniel Negreanu.It sounds like you’re more open to learning from your father now than you’ve ever been.
I am. My uncle used to say, ‘As we get older, our fathers get wiser.’ It means that you realize that what they're saying was right all along, and you start to kind of live it. That's where I'm at right now.
Your mother is a psychiatrist at Stanford University. What lessons have you learned from her?
My mom has taught me a lot about commitment and hard work. She was always there for me and played a very significant part in my development.
I’ve always thought of my mother as being very wise and intelligent. I emulate a lot of her thought process, and she was a good foil for my father in a way that helped me grow up more balanced.
The 2025 WSOP experience
What’s your day-to-day been like this year at the WSOP?
It's been overwhelming, to say the least. This is the first tournament series I've really jumped into fully.
It’s interesting seeing all these poker icons around me, and it shows me how far I have to go. It invigorates me in a competitive sense.
It’s awesome to be at the same table as a few players that I’ve looked up to in the game and, at the same time, get a chance to beat them.
What’s your big takeaway thus far?
I feel like I'm rapidly improving my game by spending all this time playing tournament poker. I would usually be playing cash games in a casino, a home game, or online.
The WSOP feels a lot more intensive, and it feels like I’m making a lot more progress each day.
Might there one day be two Hellmuth banners hanging in the Horseshoe?'If I can be half the leader my father is within our family, I will consider myself a success'
Do you work with your father on your game?
Yes. I’ve spent a lot of time working with my dad and some time researching online to see what others are doing.
I’ve played on a few streams for fun and have been brushing up on GTO strategy, which I had previously ignored while working a regular job.
What are a few of the things your father has shared that have stuck with you?
Many things. For example, integrity was an important value that he would consistently espouse in both poker and life.
He’s always been very focused on specifically upholding honorability and honesty in whatever we do in life.
For the love of family
Phillip has come to embrace life’s journey alongside his famous father without getting eclipsed by the shadow of one of the world’s most accomplished poker professionals.
“If I can act like half the leader my father acts like within the family, I will consider myself a success,” confessed Phillip.
“My dad makes sure that people know that he’s there for them and that he loves them. He offers very unconditional love and support to all of us. There are lots of ways I would love to be like my father, and that's one of them.”
