Few would argue that Phil Hellmuth is the G.O.A.T. of the World Series of Poker (WSOP). But Bryn Kenney doesn’t think the “Poker Brat” is that great overall as a poker player.
Kenney, who holds the record for live tournament cashes at $67 million, according to The Hendon Mob, appeared on the Digital Social Hour Podcast with Sean Kelly. The New York poker pro addressed a handful of topics, including losing $3.5 million, drama in the poker world, and the Poker Hall of Fame.
He also was asked a question from the host who has over 1 million followers about Hellmuth’s stature within the poker world. And the answer would trigger one of poker’s most popular players ever.
Kenney Disses Poker Legend
Hellmuth holds the record with 17 WSOP bracelets. Phil Ivey is in a distant second place at 11, while Johnny Chan, Erik Seidel, and Doyle Brunson are the only others to reach double-digits. But the guest on the Digital Social Hour Podcast doesn’t appear to be all that impressed.
“A lot of people label Hellmuth as the ‘Tournament G.O.A.T.,” but I’d love to hear your opinion. Because he doesn’t really play in the higher stakes tournaments like you do,” Kelly said.
Kenney first mentioned that Hellmuth is the “biggest winning WSOP player,” which is tough to argue given that Hellmuth holds the record for WSOP bracelets and final table appearances by a wide margin.
“He has his career, which is impressive, too,” Kenney said of Hellmuth’s WSOP performance.
But that is where the compliments ended. He went on to attack the 1989 world champion’s performance at the highest stakes.
“He’s played some high rollers and hasn’t really fared very well in them, and you know, when I think about who are the best players in poker, if you’re not competing at the highest level, you can’t really be in contention for it,” Kenney argues.
Kenney then suggested Hellmuth could be “the head of some sub-category that exists somewhere else,” implying that Hellmuth is simply the best World Series of Poker player, not an overall G.O.A.T. He then knocked Hellmuth’s supposed inability to thrive when competing in the “small fields with the best players.”
“If you’re playing against mostly amateur players at the World Series, you’re great at beating the amateur players. It’s like you could be the King of Triple A,” Kenney said.
The highest level of professional baseball in the world is Major League Baseball (MLB), while the level one notch below is AAA Minor League Baseball (MiLB). Kenney is implying that Hellmuth is more suited for AAA, although the World Series of Poker is poker’s equivalent to baseball’s World Series or the Super Bowl (NFL), at least in terms of prestige within the game.
Hellmuth Fires Back
Hellmuth didn’t just accept the criticism from Kenney. The “Poker Brat” responded to a video clip from the Digital Social Hour Podcast.
“To me the @WSOP (World Series of Poker) is the “big leagues.” Always has been, always will be. It’s aggravating to me when people lie about me and my legacy. For the record, I am winning over $1.5M in “High Rollers.” (Easy to confirm this on HendonMob). You said I wouldn’t play you heads up? Where were you I challenged the entire world to a $1.6M heads up challenge on ‘High Stakes Duel?'” Hellmuth tweeted.
Hellmuth dominated High Stakes Duel, a former heads-up poker show on PokerGO, for a couple years. He won his first six matches — three against Antonio Esfandiari and three against Daniel Negreanu — for a total of $700,000 in profit.
The Poker Hall of Famer then defeated sports talk personality and recreational poker player Nick Wright in the first round of High Stakes Duel III before splitting matches against Tom Dwan. He then beat Scott Seiver in the $800,000 round before falling to Jason Koon for $1.6 million. Hellmuth went 9-2 overall on the show, which used a sit-n-go style heads-up no-limit hold’em format.
Hellmuth also won the 64-player NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship in 2005, and finished runner-up to Mike Matusow in 2013, the show’s final season. The polarizing poker icon has over $30 million in overall live tournament cashes, not even half of Kenney’s results. But there’s more to evaluating a poker player than just The Hendon Mob cashes.
Phil Hellmuth Beats Scott Seiver for $800k on High Stakes Duel