Daniel Negreanu’s new MANIA Podcast (with wife Amanda) might not be a poker-specific show, but there's always some gold in there for poker fans.
In Episode 3, it's a Hellmuth story that provides the unmissable moment. It starts with Daniel talking about how awkward he feels when he encounters celebrities.
“I don’t really like bothering celebrities,” Daniel says.
“It’s to another level,” replies Amanda. “You really don’t like talking to people who are bigger celebrities than you.”
“Yeah, I’ve always been uncomfortable with it,” agrees Daniel. “My thought process is, I don’t want to bother them, I know what it’s like, maybe not at that level. I also don’t want them to think I want something off them. So, often I come across as standoffish.”
Daniel and Amanda Negreanu on the MANIA podcastHellmuth: The Billionaire Wrangler
One poker player who has no problem with this is Hellmuth. As Daniel recalls, “Phil Hellmuth, he’ll go up to Denzel Washington on the sidelines, and he’ll say, ‘Denzel, I’m sure you love my work.’ He’ll go up to Jay Z and say, ‘Jay Z, yeah, you and I we’re moguls.’ With Tiger Woods he’ll talk about, ‘We have 16 majors apiece.' Yeah, like they’re comparable.
“We call him the Billionaire Wrangler. For some reason, billionaires, he finds them. He has a lot of admiration for people that are successful, in sports or business, partly he likes being associated with it.
“But he’s so brazen, it’s such a characteristic. So many people in poker who don’t have a brand, they mock him. They don’t get it. In so many ways, he’s actually authentic. He can be a dick, he can be super narcissistic, but he has a big heart.”
One guess as to who Phil Hellmuth is talking about.
Hellmuth and the flipping game
Daniel goes on to talk about a game he and Antonio Esfandiari play with him.
“Listen, he has a habit whatever you’re talking about, flipping, he can flip it to talking about him,” Negreanu says. "Me and Antonio we go to dinner with Phil, and under the table we’d talk about something random and count how long it would take for him to bring it about him.
“We talked about Victor Ramdin who does Doctors Without Borders and how he goes into Ghana and helps all these people. Within seconds Hellmuth: ‘You know I’ve raised millions and millions of dollars for charity myself.'
“But it’s not fake,” Daniel states.
Daniel posted a clip of the interview on his X account, and Hellmuth reposted it and added, “Oh boy.”
You can watch the Mania podcast each week on Daniel Negreanu’s YouTube channel, although with WSOP Paradise on the horizon, it may be pausing while Negreanu battles for his eighth bracelet. During Paradise, Daniel will be releasing daily vlogs from The Bahamas.
