Phil Hellmuth Lambasted by Poker Community for Apparent Angle Shooting
Record WSOP bracelet holder Phil Hellmuth was accused of angle shooting a poker newcomer on the Hustler Casino Live show, an allegation the self-proclaimed "Poker Brat" vehemently denied on Wednesday.
Angle shooting is when a poker player makes a move like you’re about to fold your cards when they have no intention of doing so. This causes opponents to react a certain way.
USA Today offered this:
Here’s the situation: During a live-stream of a no-limit Hold ‘Em game, Hellmuth had Ace-9 offsuit with an Ace on the board, and his opponent — a poker streamer known as “Slime” had Ace-6. Slime moved all-in, and Hellmuth let out a, “[Expletive], I just have no idea what to do here.”
That’s when he appeared to slide his covered cards toward the middle of the table. Most people — everyone? — would assume this was a fold.
Hellmuth tweeted out:
"I’m giving @slime_machine $5K plus 1/2 of the pot. Thanks to vast majority of poker community for recognizing the truth: I didn’t fold my hand or intend to fold. My biggest critic, “Phil doesn’t have a dishonest bone in his body.” There was a lot going on: it “looked like” a fold"
I’m giving @slime_machine $5K plus 1/2 of the pot. Thanks to vast majority of poker community for recognizing the truth: I didn’t fold my hand or intend to fold. My biggest critic, “Phil doesn’t have a dishonest bone in his body.” There was a lot going on: it “looked like” a fold pic.twitter.com/T3qvgxeaCN
— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) May 3, 2022
"Slime" confirmed the payment via his own Twitter account.
But Hellmuth insists he was not trying to fold.
"Go back and listen to what happened," he urges his followers. "Because there was so much going on, that Slime Machine shouldn't be charged $5000 and the whole pot so I have decided to refund him $5000 and half the pot."
- Nagesh Rath, Gambling911.com