May 4

What a treat to play Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky!  Our host was a great guy (no names mentioned intentionally).  Carl Westcott and "Southern Gaming Magazine" editor Doug Dreisbach and our host had an amazing day.  Carl and I were in town for the Kentucky Derby, where I was to give away a trophy in the first race at Churchill Downs two days later.  Of course, Valhalla plays host to the 2008 Ryder Cup--hopefully my friend Corey Pavin will be the captain (I once caddied for him on tour at the Las Vegas Invitational, and he admitted that I was the worst caddy ever!).  The signature hole is a par 4 downhill where you have to hit a five wood or an iron.  Then you hit over water to an island like green, with water surrounding 60% of the hole (don't be short or you'll get a free ball wash!).  I somehow parred the hole, which made my day, in an otherwise forgettable round.

We were lucky enough to eat at the Al Capone room that night, along with the Westcotts (Carl and Jimmy Lou), Robert Williamson and his wife Kate, Ken Kamp (minority owner of the San Antonio Spurs) and his wife Mirabel, Blake McKowski (The Amazing race) and his super model girlfriend Amy, and Nicole (UPN's top model winner form last year) and her boyfriend and Doug Dreisbach and his wife (apologies to people who's names I miss or misspell—this is a theme in my blog!).  There is whole history to this room, where Capone used to play poker back in the day.

May 5

The Kentucky Oaks is the next biggest race of the year at Churchill and is held the night before the Derby.  My poker friend and racing legend Ronny Eubanks found out I was on Millionaires row, and came and grabbed Robert Williamson and I to head on down to the paddocks with him.  There, we chatted for a long while with D. Wayne Lucas (who knew me from ESPN), and watched the horses paraded out before they hit the track.  I was also introduced to racing trainers Bob Baffert (a legend), and Todd Pletcher (Ronny said he was the "Phil Hellmuth of racing," that we was on his way to breaking all of the records in horse racing) Wow, Ronny has big-time access!  Hanging out at the Derby in the paddocks with billionaires, trainers, and the big time horses was great stuff.

At night it was all about the charity party called the Mint Jubilee and drinking Dom.  The members of my party mentioned above in the Al Capone restaurant scene and I agreed to smuggle in 6 bottles of Dom Perignon to the party.  When Robert was stopped at the door, he said, "I'm bringing the bottles to Mr. Torrey," and then he sailed right on by the baffled security!  We capped off the night at the VIP section (70 people on the list only) of the Red Rooster, where last year I ran into Michael Jordan.  MJ asked me to play poker with him in 2005 and I had to say no because I didn't have enough money with me!  This year, Robert and I brought enough to play, but we didn't run into MJ.  Like last year, we had a table on the rail overlooking the dance floor, and a steady stream of autograph seekers.

May 6

We all got up early (10:00 am) in order to go to the track where I gave away the trophy for the first race.  I thought that I would be giving it to jockey Robby Alvarado, who was seated at our table last year, and with whom we partied with the night before.  He and his wife are very friendly.  Robby was even money to win the race, but finished second.  It was pretty cool handing the winner the trophy trackside, and they announced I was giving it away.  At least I wasn't booed, like I was by 200,000-plus people when I walked across the NASCAR Stage in Las Vegas!

I bet $10,400 on the final race, and needed SweetNorthernSaint to win.  I was lucky that I had Barbaro for $1,200 at seven-to-one to win.  When I went to the window to collect, I playfully fanned all of the $100 dollar bills when I walked back to my table, and everyone said, "Of course the poker player won all of the money!"  To which I responded, "Not really!"  I lost $3,000 on the last race, and I owed Robert $8,000 for the off track bets I asked him to place for me!

Right after the race, Karl, Ken and I were chatting about the Spurs/Mavericks game the next day.  Ken (a minority owner of the Spurs) was complaining that he would have to miss the game (game 1) in SA.  When Karl looked at me and said, "You thinking what I'm thinking?  Let's take my jet down there tomorrow."  I said, "OK, Ken will handle the tickets, we'll take your jet, but I'm contributing nothing, oh well I guess that my wife and I are just lucky!"

May 7

We land in SA, get picked up by limos, and head to the game.  At halftime we went back to the owner's suite for lunch (actor Tommy Lee Jones was back there), and who comes running out back to the court early, but Duncan and Parker.  Duncan stops dead in his tracks and shakes my hand, and I say, "Get out there and focus on the game."  He leaves without a word.  It was a great game, with the SA Spurs winning a game they basically stole with a huge comeback.  With 13 seconds left, they put me up on the jumbo tron, and I get . . . . Cheers!  Yes, much better than the NASCAR event this year in Las Vegas where 200,000 people booed me when Robin Leach introduced me and I walked across the stage (I was Robby Gordon's crew chief).

After the game we took a limo back to the jet, and flew to Dallas.  And shortly thereafter my wife and I flew commercial to LA.

May 8

I spent the day doing Voice Over's in LA for Celebrity Poker Showdown along with the host of the show Dave Foley.  Am I the co-host?  I guess so…This show was the Jason Alexander (George Costanza on "Seinfeld"), Bryan Cranston ("Malcolm in the Middle"), Susie Essman ("Curb Your Enthusiasm"), Jamie Bamber ("Battle Star Gallactica"), and Kevin Sorbo ("Hercules") show.  Jason and Bryan were tough players!

May 9

More VO's all day long for CPS.  This show starred Greg Behrendt ("He's Just Not That into You"), Andrea Martin (in soon to be released movies "Young Triffie's Been Made Away with" and "Black Christmas"), Kim Coles ("Living Single'), Jorge Garcia ("Lost"), and Michael Ian Black (director of the upcoming movie "The Pleasure of your Company").  Black ran away with this one!

May 10

Gave some private poker lessons to Nancy Albertini and her husband Steve Metzger; they were preparing for the Net Jets poker tournament at the Wynn Hotel.  Last year Nancy took lessons from me and third place, which was a G5 for a weekend.

May 11

Took a limo to San Fran to do a radio commercial for the site I represent and love, UltimateBet.com.

May 12-15

I was supposed to relax, but I wound up polishing off my "White Belt to Black Belt" limit Hold'em course now up at Iamplify.com.  It is an MP4 course that you can buy, download and watch on your cell phone or IPOD.  This is cutting edge technology!  It is a great course, and there is some great new stuff in the black belt sections…

May 16-17

I spent eight hours a day in the studio recording the "WB to BB" course for Iamplify.com.  I was exhausted afterwards, but very proud and happy to have finished such a cool cutting edge course…We also recorded some Hand of the Weeks.

May 18

Slept in and felt strong enough to fly to Dallas that night or the next morning.  I wasn't sure I'd commit to the Eva Longoria/Tony Parker event described below or not, it depended on how I felt that day (I was exhausted after the last two days in the studio), but I woke up feeling strong.  Once I decided to go I called my friend Carl Westcott, who then invited me to play golf with Troy Aikman at 10:00 am the next day (I couldn't make it).  Troy is a great guy, and I beat him for few small dollars the last time we played—he gave me a stroke a hole.  One thing is for sure; do not play with a quarterback in their hometown.  If Troy hit a ball into the deep part of the woods at Dallas Country Club, then two caddies would scurry off into the woods at breakneck pace to find the ball!  ("Mr. Aikman, we found your ball, and it was only 30 yards deep in the woods.")  If I ever hit a ball into so much as the rough, they would walk over at a slow pace, after Troy's ball was found, and find it.  I don't blame the caddies; I'm a Troy Aikman fan as well.

May 19

Earlier in the week Maxim magazine's most beautiful woman in the world (the last two years in a row!), Eva Longoria, called my agent to invite me to MC a birthday party for San Antonio Spurs all-star Tony Parker (her longtime boyfriend) on Saturday night.  Also, she invited me to game six in Dallas the night before (Friday).  The party was to be in San Antonio on Saturday night, at the La Cantera Resort.  I accepted her invitation, and Longoria had my son and I sitting courtside for game six tonight, wow!  We were only 10 seats over from the Spurs (who didn't know I was doing the party the next night), I imagine those tickets must have cost six figures.  I felt guilty that she spent so much on tickets, but after all, I was doing the party for free, and I do normally charge $50,000 a night to do parties and events, but I didn't ask for floor seats.  What an amazing b-ball game, with the Spurs pulling it out late.

We had dinner before the game at Nobu with my good friends Carl and Court Westcott.  And they sat on the floor as well, for this, the biggest basketball game in Dallas ever, but they were rooting for the home team.  I like the Mavs as well, but I like Duncan, Poppovich, Parker, Ginobli, and the Spurs more.

May 20

Court and his girlfriend Kameron, and my son and I took the Westcott's Challenger 604 jet from Dallas to San Antonio.  This was my sons first private jet ride, and what a plane to have your first private ride on!  When we arrived in San Antonio we went down to the river walk, which I never saw because I played in UltimateBet.com tournaments at a Mexican restaurant for three hours and let Kameron and Court take my son around.  It was, after all, Phil Hellmuth weekend at UB, so I played all afternoon, and in the limo to the resort, and even up until Eva came to our room to pick us up for the tournament.

On Saturday night, Parker was surprised (mission accomplished for Eva!) to see me walk into the room. But this wasn't a birthday party so much as it was a poker tournament, with deluxe surroundings, music, and a bar. I was to MC the event as well as play. Talk about a hard-core poker party: this was a $300 buy-in no-limit Texas Hold'em poker tournament, with re-buys, professional dealers, and even a floor man, and everyone in the room was playing!  The San Antonio Spurs are so into poker that they keep records for the entire year (Michael Finley, another great basketball player, won their last tournament).  Finley has been a player my wife and I have enjoyed watching play basketball since he came running out on the University of Wisconsin court as a skin and bones freshman.  He is my wife's favorite player, and my son sat next to Finley for four hours in the poker tournament and had a great time.

At my table, we had Parker, Eva, Tim Duncan, along with Court Westcott and his girlfriend Kameron, and a few others.  Court and Kameron are huge Mavericks fans--season ticket holders--with floor seats, so Court must have had some conflicted emotions going on!  Kameron didn't, as she used the famous line, "Being at this party is like being at the Super Bowl for women."  Later on I asked a group of women if this was an accurate statement, and they all said yes.  What is it with you women?

Duncan really was a nice guy, and the Spurs whole team has that vibe.  They famously do not talk trash on the court, not even Van Exel!  Later, Duncan introduced me to his wife and little girl, and they both seemed so down to earth and nice.  It was a great day (To read about some of the poker hands from this event, check out my Hand of the Week section).

May 21

On Sunday my son and went to Parker's home and met Eva, Tony, and his two brothers.  Much like my family, these guys are competitive, and it is entertaining to play a hard fought game of anything.  We played a small stakes tournament that came down to Eva, Tony, and his brother TJ (on the same poker table that you see in Kenny Smith's ATT adds that ran during the playoffs).  I was giving lessons along the way, and Tony gave my son a signed jersey; which we are having framed, along with the mesh "players only" Davis Cup jersey that Andy Roddick gave to him.  Again, it was great to hang out with some stars that seem so well-balanced.  When my son and I landed in LA, I spent the extra $400 to get him a first class ticket back home, just to have him end the weekend on the right note!  My wife and I do not generally buy our sons first class tickets, as we do not want to get them used to something they may or may not be able to afford when they're adults.

Eva was absolutely terrific!  She felt a little bit like sister to me.  She was fun to be around, and pretty sporty by which I mean she could hang with the competitive Parker brothers, and about anything else that was thrown at her.  In addition to being the world's most beautiful woman, she is first class through and through.

May 22

I did voice overs all day (in L. A.) for my TV show Celebrity Poker Showdown along with Dave Foley.  I actually enjoy the work!  It is something different, and fun.  I almost bet some of the guys $500 that 6 out of 10 people knew the term "chalk."  (As in Macy Gray is the chalk at this table.) It means "the best."  They chickened out; thank goodness as I later found out that I would have lost!  This show featured Fred Savage ("The Wonder Years"), Ida Siconolfi (bravotv.com online tournament winner), J-Till (Jennifer Tilly of "Bound"), Doug E. Doug ("Cool Runnings" and "Cosby"), and Brett Butler ("Grace under Fire") on Bravo May 14th at 9:00 EST.

May 23

I did VO's all day again—it featured Mario Cantone ("Sex and the City"), Jordan Peele (MAD TV), Keegan-Michael Key (MAD TV), Jenna Fischer ("The Office"), and Rocco DiSpirito ("The Restaurant") on Bravo June 21 at 9:00 EST.  But I was feeling exhausted and told my wife that I was seriously lagging.  She said, "Why don't you go to the Bacara Resort and Spa in Santa Barbara instead of flying home?"  Also, Dave Foley's wife was going to be a part of a musical piece--along with Jack Black--that day on the Ellen Show.  So I told Dave, "If you're going, I'm coming with you."  So I had three choices with an hour or two to go.  Foley's daughter got a bit sick though, so that was out.  Finally, I told my limo driver, "Take me to Santa Barbara."

This is the resort that J-Lo was putting her family and friends up at when she was to marry Ben Affleck awhile back, and it is wonderful: located right on a cliff, with beach access, and Sand Piper golf course a mile away.  I negotiated an ocean room for "only" $900 a night for two days.  Relaxing, working out, sleeping in, and getting massages was the ticket, but I couldn't help myself.  I went over to Sand Piper and lost $500 to on of the pros playing golf that night!

May 24

Foley and I had to do a satellite media tour for Celebrity Poker Showdown, where we talk to reporters form the print media on a big conference call for an hour.  After that, a work out, a massage, and an NBA game on TV.

May 25

Sleep in and fly home.

May 26

Did an interview with Steve at USA Today, and we discussed the possibility of me writing a USA Today column during the World Series of Poker.

May 27

I played in two UltimateBet.com tournaments, one with $20 buy-in at 1:00 PST and the other with a $40 buy-in at 4:00 PST.

May 28

I played in two more UB tournaments, at 12:20 and 2:00, with the $200 big Sunday event at UB the latter of the two.

May 30

I flew to LA to do more VO's for my CPS show.

May 31

Got up at 6:00 AM to do interviews "live" on radio, every ten minutes until 9:10 AM, that's 19 "live" interviews at radio stations all over the country in three hours!!!

Then straight off to VO's for CPS show number five featuring Macy Gray (Grammy Award-winning singer), Joy Behar ("The View"), Christopher Meloni, Andy Dick ("Bad Boy" and actor), and Robin Tunney ("Prison Break") on Bravo June 28 at 9:00 EST.

If that wasn't enough, I took a conference call with Howard Lederer and Brian Balsbaugh about image and likeness issues for an hour!  My voice is GONE!!!!!!  My strength is ebbing!

June 1

Today I did more VO's, this time for the CPS finals on Bravo July 5 at 9:00 EST featuring Jason Alexander (Seinfeld), Michael Ian Black ("The Pleasure of your Company"), Ida Siconolfi (the bravotv.com winner), Keegan-Michael Key (MADTV), and Robin Tunney (Prison Break).  What a show, and what swings you'll see!

I also wrote up all of the text tips for CPS.  They go out "live" during all six shows, and you can get them at Bravo.com for $2.99 for six shows, with five tips per show.  This is cool stuff, I won't make much money with the tips, but being a part of this cool technology sounded fun to me!  Imagine you're watching the show, and bam, text from Phil with a tip about how the hand was played or should have been played!!

June 2

At 6:30 PM I played in the "Bill vs. Phil" tournament at UB.com.  Check out billvsphil.com for 20-plus great videos including me rapping!!  Also, I have to admit it; Bill does a great job of teasing me.  From the start, rather then be upset by his site, I'd like to think that imitation is the purest form of flattery.  Heck, if someone puts up an entire site just to make fun of you, then look at it in a positive light.

June 3-5

I tried to relax, finish up some business in anticipation of flying to Europe for ten days on the 6th, and watch NBA games every night.  I probably worked too much, but we did catch several movies like X-Men III, which the whole family loved.

June 6

Flew to northern England (Yorkshire) and landed on the 7th…

June 8

In the north of England (Yorkshire), I'm preparing my speech for the YIBC (Yorkshire International Business Convention).  I'm staying at the beautiful Rudding Park Hotel and golf course, and at 2:00 pm, I get a phone call from the front desk inquiring whether or not it would be all right to have my suite searched, first by a dog, then by a team of police!  I was expecting the call, and I say, "Yes, come by whenever you like."

A couple of hours later, as I finish climbing the stairs and open the door to my floor, I see five secret service guys, and they say, "So it's true, you are really here Phil."  I say, "Yep, and I'm looking forward to meeting George Bush sr. tonight."  As I walk on down the corridor, I notice that my section of the hallway is shut off.  As I walk through the door, I look right, and there is a room full of police, as I walk straight another secret service guy.  Bush's room is on the right, and my room is on the left.  (By the way, my wife doesn't even know if I'm a democrat or a republican, but I love both Bush sr. and Clinton for what their both doing for charity relief work).

At 5:30 I head over to the golf course, where I get recognized immediately by the pros and assistants there.  Even though the course is swamped, one of the staff takes me out for a private game and we start on the 13th hole.  The stakes?  Three pounds a hole!  A few weeks back I lost over $500 to a pro at world famous Sand Piper (Santa Barbara), when he took me out at around 6:00 pm, so at least I knew that I couldn't get hurt at that stake, and why not just enjoy a little competition?  I parred the 18th to win six pounds, but I didn't have the heart to charge the poor assistant pro!

At night some of the other speakers and I have a nice dinner together (Rene Caravol) with some of the organizers of the event, and I really enjoyed British comic legend Barry Cryer.  Try Googling him!  Cryer was absolutely super funny, as he was when he opened the YIBC the next day.  Bush arrives at 10:00 pm, and we were all disapointed that we didn't meet him then.

June 9

OK, for the first time in a long time I'm pretty nervous.  I'm to helicopter from Harrogate to Hull to give my speech, then heli back and give it again.  Hull has about 500 people, and I give a decent motivational speech.  It is easy for me to be on stage, and I tell stories on stage well, but the first person I ask about my speech says, "I hate gambling, so the minute you got up there I was turned off."  OK!  Next person tells me that I had dropped too many names, and shown too much ego, and that I should take my hat and sunglasses off as well.  Sigh...

I tear up my speech in the helicopter, and start over, but this time I speak right before George Bush does, and to over 1600 people!  Thank goodness I felt really good about my second speech, but Bush missed it.  When Bush walks into the green room with a huge throng of press. police, and secret service, he sees me and walks right up, and says, "You must be staying in the suite next to mine.  It is a pleasure to meet you."  I know that a few of the secret service guys were fans of mine--they were all great guys--and told him who I was, so that helped me get a few minutes to chat with him.  Plus, the secret service guys admitted to me that i had been vetted!  I called him George for awhile, and then apoligized.  It is Mr President to us Americans, I believe.  He told me to call him whatever I wanted, but in America we revere our presidents--whereas in England they revile and tease former Prime Ministers--so Mr. President it was.

I told him that I thought the work that he and Clinton did raising money for tsunami relief and hurricane relief was absolutely wonderful.  All in all, it was a very nice few minutes.  After his speech, he grabbed a beer, and I followed suit, and we chatted again but briefly.  He was getting mobbed by everyone there, and I don't like to do that unless I can tell the other person is really looking for time with me.

That night Bush, Justin Menkes (Executive Intelligence speaker from LA) and his wife, Rene Caravol, and about 100 others and I went to a private black tie party at the Queens Cousins house.  The artwork alone in their was worth $150 million!  What a house and an estate!  They had moved an entire village because they liked the view from the hillside down to the lake.  I really hit if it off well with Menkes and his wife, but we didn't get to hang out too much.  The next morning we were on the same flight, but of course they left like reasonable people 2 1/2 hours before the flight, and I left 1:10 before...Bush was picked up in a private 757 and wisked off on vacation.

June 10

On the flight to Paris to play the World Poker Tour event there, I found out that the French open Final was the next day (Sunday).  When I arrived at the Aviation Club I asked club manager Bruno Fitoussi if he had tickets, and he immediately called Patrick Bruel.  In Paris it is "President Bruel" as he may be the most famous person in France.  His assistant answered and said, "Patrick will call you back in one hour, he is on a movie set right now."  Patrick went from the movie set, to singing a big concert, to playing poker late that night.  He called me late that night and left a message saying that a car would pick me up to take me to Roland Garros at 2:00 the next day.  Patrick says, "You'll be in the Presidential Suite."

That night I had a nice dinner with Vanessa Rousso and two of her friends (one of whom is Brent Sibley).  I bought bottles of Dom and Cristal for us to taste test.  We had a blast, and ended dinner and left the restaurant at 3:00 am—we started dinner at 10:30 or so.  For a boring guy like me who has never cheated on his wife in 17 years, I must admit that Vanessa is my kind of girl.  She graduated Duke in 2 ½ years, and is almost done with law school, at the top of her class, at The U (Miami).  For me, what's not to like, she is sexy, smart, and loves poker!

June 11

At 2:00 pm an official French Open car shows up!  It is a white minivan, with a green sign on the side saying "French Open" and I ask the driver if he has ever picked up the super cool Andy Roddick in it.  He says no, but he has picked up Nadal and Federer many times.  It is only three miles from the Marriot (I'm at the Marriot at 70 Avenue des Champs Elysees, and the Aviation Club is located one block away at 105 ACE) to Roland Garros, but it takes 15 minutes as we pull through a gated security stop.

I am asked if I have a ticket, I say no.  I am asked again by another fellow, and I say no.  There is a lot of French being spoken quickly, but I'm not worried because I know that President Bruel has my back!  Sure enough, I walk through a red carpet entrance with tons of press and people lining up on both sides to see the celebrities.  I have my black and white Versace shirt on, that is a classic, and it looks to them like I'm someone, but I do not even get recognized!  Which was a bit surreal after all of the pictures and autographs requests worldwide.  Of course, I am not dressed in black, and I do not have a hat on.

The red carpet leads into a hall that is maybe 20 yards by 30 yards, and through that the large Presidential Suite looms.  It is actually a big section like you might see had you walked into a football game.  I walk straight through to the section and see 18 rows by 14 seats, about half in front of me and half behind me.  On my elegant white note card sized invitation (ticket) is written "Le President Christian Bimes . . . . Monsieur Phil Helmutt" and a bunch of other cool stuff like a logo FFT (Federation Francaise De Tennis); with a handwritten R 12, P M in the left hand corner.  R 12 I understand, P M turns out to be seat 11, go figure.

As I walk out into the hot sun, two things are apparent.  First, it is really hot, and second the whole stadium is staring at me!  I suddenly realize that I'm the only one in the whole section outside at this point because everyone else is enjoying cold drinks in the air conditioned room behind me due to the extreme heat.  As to everyone staring at me, it turns out that all of the celebrities, athletes, and politicians will be sitting in this section, and they are staring at me just in case I'm someone famous, like say, Jennifer Aniston.

A few minutes later, everyone in my section starts making their way to their seats.  I feel pretty alone as President Bruel and his lovely wife have some serious hand shaking to do with everyone else in the known French world, and I do not know anyone else in attendance.  It is OK with me, I'm just happy to be here at this classic tennis match, where Federer is trying to win all four majors (at one time!), and Nadal is trying to win his record sixtieth clay match in a row, and his second consecutive French Open.  It would have been better for me had my friend Andy Roddick made it to the finals.  In fact, every tennis match I've been to in the last few years has been to watch Roddick play, and mostly win.  Andy made me promise that if he made the US Open finals that I would be there to watch.

Just as I'm walking up the stairs to my seat, I look down at . . . . Vince Vaughn!  He looks up in recognition and says, "Phil, how are you doing?"  I lean over and shake hands, and right away I could tell he wants to chat and that's cool with me.  I'm a huge fan of Jennifer's, and now that I know how cool Vince is, I'm a Vince fan as well.  Of course, he had me literally falling out of my chair when I watched "Wedding Crashers."  We start chatting and he asks me if I'd like to meet Jennifer, and I say "Of course."  So we walk down to the third row, right behind the French open trophy and Jen, Vince and I chat awhile.  Having my wits about me, I suddenly remember (my wife has drilled this into my head) to introduce Patrick and his wife to Vince and Jen.  It is the only proper thing to do, and I know that Patrick and his wife will like this.

It turns out that Patrick's wife often gets mistaken for Jennifer over here in France, and I feel like I paid back my debt to Patrick with this star quality introduction (I told them the truth about Patrick and his singing and acting).  Of course, everyone but Jen, Vince and I know that this is President Bruel (my concierge referred to him like that).  I say goodbye, Vince says we'll see you at the break (in the air conditioned room).  Anyway, the day is getting better and better, and the tennis hasn't even started yet!

As the first set ends, I have sweat literally dripping down out of my Versace shirt (my favorite shirt).  So I Head to the AC room for some water and sushi.  By now, I'm aware that they're a lot of legends sitting around the section, as every time they stand up the stadium starts shouting their names.  When I walk in, I see Vince and Jen chatting with another couple to my left, but I do not want to bother them, as I know what it is like to get swamped by people, (just watch us poker stars at the World Series of Poker).  So I turn right towards the bar, and then come back left near the door where you can watch the match on TV.

Nadal looked absolutely flat in the first set, and I'm like "What's the big deal about Nadal, I thought he some sort of clay court phenom."  Now Patrick comes by and says, "This thing will be over in four sets, Nadal will win easily."  Huh?  While I'm watching the TV, someone to my right says, "Phil, Nadal is the short stack, now's he's starting to push!"  I look back at Vince and say, "I didn't know you've been studying the game!"  Of course, Nadal was doing exactly that.  He was freewheeling it now, and dominating the first three games of the second set.  Now Vince and I start chatting again and he turns out to a very cool cat.

After the second set ends, I ran into Jen and Vince again, and this time we had almost 30 minutes of non-stop chatter, while we were watching the match on TV.  I meet a lot of celebrities, athletes, actors, and billionaires, and I usually hit it off decently with them, but it is not always that you are impressed with someone.  I don't know how to say it other than like this: the two of them were both super cool.  I gave them shit about having to leave the match early.  I said, "I know you're busy, but c'mon.  You have to leave the French Open final in the third set to fly to Germany!  That just doesn't seem right."  In any case, after they left Patrick made sure that I took their seats; after all, they were better than mine.

Vince and Jen were coming back to France the very next day, and they were going to try to make it to the Aviation Club in the next few days to sweat me.  I told them my hotel name, and they told me theirs (and the pseudo name they stayed under), but I forgot the hotel name and the pseudo name, otherwise I would have called them up for sure, as I'm sure I would have had fun having dinner, clubbing or just hanging out with the two of them.  In fact, Vince could easily become a friend of mine in the future.

June 12

Let the games begin!  The WPT started today, and I was given a choice between day one and day two.  I chose day one.  At first I was reckless and couldn't slow down.  Finally, I decided that I wouldn't fight it, that I would see where this path leads.  Before long I was down to less than $11,000 in chips (we started with $15,000), before I turned the Kc-9c (with a Jc-9s-4c flop) into a flush.  I won about $6,000 on this hand and started my upward move.

When I had $20,000 in chips, I called a raise with 8c-7c, and the flop came down Kc-10c-7s.  The small blind bet out $700, the raiser folded, then I made it $3,000 to go.  Two others folded, the small made it $4,000 more, and the action was back on me.  I wasn't sure I was playing all that well, and I knew that I had a chance to win the pot if I moved in, so I went for it!  I also knew that my $10,000-plus reraise would put some heat on even K-7.  I do not have a reputation for playing big pots when I have a draw, and this is 100% true.  I watch too many other great players unnecessarily bust themselves when they're on a draw.  After three minutes my opponent folded his 10-7 face up on the table.  I had gotten away with a key semi-bluff, and I would not go all-in the rest of the day.  So I survived day one, ending up with over $46,000 in chips, without ever being all-in and called!  This was a great sign for me leading into day two.

June 13

I had the day "off."  So what did I do?  Go to the Hermitage and enjoy some impressionist paintings?  Go to the Louvre?  Play high stakes poker at the juicy games at the Aviation Club?  Enjoy Paris?  No, none of the above; instead I wrote 4000 words for this very BLOG!  Up at noon, at 6:00 pm I was done writing.  Nice day off, huh?

I did manage a workout—running 30 minutes and lifting weights.  Also, I did have a nice dinner with Freddy Deeb, who technically was playing day two, but slept through levels two and three, and then brought me to a nice Lebanese restaurant for dinner.  Great food, and Freddy had them pack me five deserts, which I ate over the next two days.  Man, come to think of it I need another workout!

June 14

Day three, let the fireworks begin.  I had a great day running my chips up to $208,000 without ever being all-in.  Two days and I was never all-in and called, that's a rare feat.  I was lucky that I never had big pair vs. big pair or big pair vs. A-K.  I didn't have either side of it.  I never had to play a big pot all day long, except the following.  I was beginning to steam after losing a couple of pots in a row in an unlucky way.  I was talking to myself as my frustration level was on the rise.  I had the Ad-8d in the $2,000 big blind, and someone in early position raised it up to $6,000 to go.  I was the lone caller, and the flop was 6d-5d--at this point I checked--2d.  I had flopped the nuts!  The player now checked behind me.  The turn was the Qs, I checked, and he bet $8,000.  I decided to raise the minimum, even though it might look suspicious.   I made it $16,000, and he moved all-in!  I said, "I think I have the nuts, let me double check."  I did, I called, and he showed my As-Ah.  He was drawing dead for the $140,000 pot, and that's the way I like it!

Other than that pot, things were just super smooth all day.  I was in a routine where I would watch the soccer game while I was playing, and during this day I looked up and saw . . . . President Bruel!  He was on some kind of soccer highlight show, and he was getting as much head time as anyone on the show.  I asked the guys at the table, "How big is Patrick Bruel?  He is on the TV even as we speak."  They told me that he is well-known for being a singer, an actor, a poker star, and a commentator for both soccer and the French language version of the World Poker Tour.  And, it was added by someone clever, "The women love him too as he is rich!"

June 15

My sister Kerry arrived to stay with me at the Marriot Hotel on the ACE in the morning.  She had shivers down her spine as she went by the Arc D' Triumph.  You see, a few years back she finished the Woman's Tour De France at the Arc--how many people can say they finished the TDF?  She was just entering the top twenty in the world in woman's cycling when she had a terrible leg break in the Giro D' Italia in about 2003 or so.

I have had visions of Kerry watching me win another poker tournament, or if you like, you could call these "visions" dreams or strong feelings.  So her being in Paris with me boded well.  She brought her one year old son Gino, and we hung out for awhile before I went in to play down from 27 players to six as is the WPT custom.  I ran my chips up to over 250,000 and was feeling good until Christopher Johanson beat my Jd-Js with his 5d-5c.

I raised preflop, the flop was Ad-4d-2s, and I checked.  Christopher bet out $11,000 into $28,000, and I called almost knowing that I had him beat.  In retrospect I should have raised right there.  The next card was the 10d, and now we had three diamonds on board.  I wish now that I would have bet, but I thought that I would try to milk him for $14,000 on the end (he called me the night before with a weak hand and I promised him that I'd milk him!).  Check, check. Now the 3s hit, and I bet out a defensive $5,000.  He raised $25,000, and I put him on 5-5.  Still, I knew I had him on the flop, and the turn, and this always messes me up (when they hit on the river).  So I called fairly quickly, and he showed me exactly what I thought he would show me, 5-5 for a straight.  Bad call.  I could have laid it down, but that is when I said, "None of you will bluff me today!"  And they knew it to be true.

I now raised three pots in a row and won nearly 50,000 in blinds and antes, and the fourth hand I saw A-9, and just called for some reason.  Bad play!  Why not raise it?  We were six handed, and I was ready to call someone if I felt weakness, so why not raise it?  Anyway, I lost another 10,000 on that hand, but instead of losing 16,000, I should have won 13,000 in blinds and antes.

Now a key hand came up when I raised on the button with 6-6 to 16,000 to go, and the bog blind reraised it to 41,000 to go.  I felt weakness, and decided to just call.  I would wait for a non-ace flop, and go with this hand for my remaining 65,000 or so in chips.  The flop was A-10-8, and he moved all-in.  Damn!  I had to fold, and now I was a short stack.  So I folded for what seemed like three rounds, and finally made a stand with 10-10.  This doubled me up when the 9-9 couldn't beat me.

A little while later, someone raised it, and I studied them with my A-10.  To show you how read dependant poker is for me, I had just folded exactly A-10 to him one or two rounds earlier for a raise--in the same position, with same raiser--because I felt strength.  After studying him for almost a minute, he felt weak to me so I moved all-in.  He hesitated for a moment even though he had to call (he had great odds).  He had made it 17,000 to go and I made it 42,000 to go.  I knew that he would call the last 25,000.  Finally he called and showed Ad-6d to my As-10d, and the flop came down Kd-Ks-4d-9d-Qd.  I was drawing dead on the turn, yikes!

I was out of mind steaming, but managed to wish my opponent well, shake everyone's hands at the table, and leave calmly (although I was mumbling to myself as I left).  One of my opponents said, "It was an honor to play with you."  My sister and I ate at a world class restaurant in Paris that night.

By the way, although I signed autographs and took pictures everyday on the ACE, and in the Aviation Club, I understand what Babe Ruth (I know that I'm no Babe Ruth, but I like the analogy) meant when he left Paris 12 days early and said, "I left because no one over there knew me!"

Being recognized constantly is not easy.  Everyone staring at you all the time, asking for pictures and autographs (even when you're in a bad mood!) is not easy.  There is a loss of anonymity, and because you're always watched, you have no privacy, and you feel like you're being judged when you eat to fast, or too much, or whatever.  However, as a famous actress once said, "The only thing worse then being recognized all the time, is not being recognized all the time!"

I decided to try to become the best poker played of all-time.  This brings a big spotlight with it, and a lot of jealousy from the other top players (because of what I've done and the spotlight that is always on me).  Thus, I get sniped at more than any other player in the world ("Phil sucks at side games" or "Phil goes on tilt too easily" or whatever).  And I do receive way more press than my winnings the last 24 months deserve, and this pisses some of the other guys off as well.  They would like to cut me down at the knees to stand on my shoulders.  Fine, I accept this because if I want to be the best ever, then I'm going to take some serious heat along the way.  I have forgiven so much it is scary.  They keep slapping me down, and I keep forgiving them and killing them with kindness!

Guys like Erick Lindgren understand that the bigger I get, the bigger he gets.  He understands that when Nike comes to me, that Reebok goes to him or another top player.  I just wish that all of the other top players understood this as well!

June 16

I got up early and flew back to the states for a vacation in Wisconsin.  In Chicago, I had given up on my connection to Madison, and starting looking at limo options.  Luckily my flight left an hour late, and I needed every minute as I arrived (running) and the sign above the gate said the flight was closed.  Fortunately, one of the guys at the gate recognized me and let me through!  Ah, the good old USA, where a little celebrity goes a long way!  I brought my parents out to dinner and we drank a bottle of Dom…

June 17

My parents and I went for nice workout, and then to the bookstore so that I could buy more of my own books to give away (strange thing really).  Also, as long as I was there I did a "stock book signing" which means that I signed all of the PH books in the store.  I also watched Phil Mickelson and Steve Stricker (a Madison guy) and some other PGA tour guys battle it out in the US Open on television.  Mickelson is trying to own three majors all at one time by winning the Open.

I also found out that Jen and Vince got engaged in Paris (according to the tabloids).  No wonder they didn't stop by the Aviation Club, they were obviously trying to get some romantic time in the worlds most romantic city.

June 18

Happy fathers day everyone!  It is my mom's b-day, and fathers day.  My wife and kids and I, and my sister (she followed me here from Paris) and her baby are all taking my parents out for a special celebration.

June 19

Minocqua is the most relaxing place around!  We hang out at my parent's cabin on a private lake.  We own about 2200 feet of shoreline and have kept it undeveloped and in the family.  I have vacationed here since I was 3 years old, and now my sons love it.  Smores, swimming, island hopping, canoeing, and sitting by the fire…

June 20-21

More Minocqua, and I watched the NBA finals.  I was rooting for the Heat, but only by a little bit.  I like Shaq and Wade (he's a Marquette guy).  I met Shaq at Lakers training camp years ago, although I doubt that he remembers me.  Laker's owner Jerry Buss is a fabulous poker player, and he had a standing invitation to attend Lakers training camp for me, Johnny Chan, and a few others.

I also love Dallas, Avery Johnson, Cuban, Nowitzski, etc…Of course, the Spurs and the Lakers are at the top of my list of NBA teams.

Shaq wins number four, Hellmuth wins number ten!!

June 22

My wife, sons and I traveled back to the Pewaukee area and I hired a fishing guide to take my sons and I out on Lake Pewaukee to fish for the king of fish: Muskee.  We knew in advance that trying to catch Muskee was a tough deal, but we went for it anyway!  Why not swing for the fences?  We had fun…

While on the lake, I had to do a national radio interview with Sirius channel 121, which also went out to the armed forces network.  I told them about my being asked by the USO to visit the soldiers in Iraq.  I told them I would do it on June 18th (I would go to Iraq straight from Paris) but they changed the date to June 27th (during the WSOP) and I had to pass.  My parents, wife and children didn't want me to go as there was some danger involved.  I would land and take a troop carrier 100-plus miles per hour for 150 miles or so.  I felt it important to support the troops, and I was willing, in fact wanting to go.  No matter what political persuasion you have, you have to love the troops!!!

June 23

At noon, I did an interview with the LA Times for Iamplify.com and my new poker course for sale there: white belt to black belt for MP4 players (cutting edge technology and poker strategy!).  Look for the article this week…

At 12:30 we teed off in a four vs. four match at Lake Mills Country Club.  My team included Jon Green, Wisco, Tim Belstner, and me.  The other team was "Poker Ho" (UB name - Mark Kroon), Larry Michaels, "Debo" (UB name), and a friend of Larry's.  Larry's friend and Wisco were supposed to be scratch golfers.  On the fourth tee, I had to do a conference call with some UltimateBet.com folks for twenty minutes (I hope I didn't slow down the whole course!).

In almost any four man scramble that I play in, I like to hit last because I play for the most money, and I like the pressure.  We lost the first six holes at about $1,000 a hole (I bet $500 a hole but wanted to bet more).  The next four were carryovers, and we finally won number ten.  Whew!  I made a few key shots along the way.  On number eight I knocked in a slippery three footer as the last man putting (for par!).  On number nine, I knocked in a tough four foot putt for par.  Those two putts were pressure filled, but I love that!  Test my manhood with a putt that counts!

On number 14 I made a 20 foot putt as last man putting: the guys all said, "I'm making this putt," (then missed) and I felt like I was going to make it as well, but I shut up and just knocked it in the middle of the whole.  The four of them saying they would make it made me believe that we were going to make it, which helped my stroke.  On number 18 we had a four hole carryover, so the pressure was on.  We used my 300 yard drive (I'm not that good normally), and when all three guys missed the green from 75 yards, I stepped up and hit a solid shot on the green.  Then Timmy knocked in the 26 foot putt, and the birdie held up.

It looked pretty bad at the number nine green for us with me staring down a four foot par put (on a par five no less!) to go down $4,500 for the day.  However, somehow I made it, and we went on to win four holes for the day ($2,000 for me). (By the way, I lost $8,500 to Poker Ho golfing at Pebble Beach a few months ago, so $2,000 wasn't too much to win).  I should have won more, but Poker Ho didn't press us at all.  There was a gallery watching us on the 18th hole, and someone had me sign a Brett Favre signed football on the other side of Brett's signature.  I was honored, but even I thought, "Are you sure you want me to sign the Favre ball!?!  It might go down in value!"

Normally we would play poker all night after golfing, but I wanted to get dinner with my wife and kids, as I've been traveling too much lately.  Also, I wanted to be on schedule for the TOC (Tournament of Champions) on Sunday in Las Vegas (at Caesers Palace).

June 24

I did an appearance at "Kearns Motor Cars" in Jefferson for Jon Green for free at 12:30.  Jon is a great guy who insists on giving me free cars every time I come to Wisconsin, so I was happy to do it for him.  I signed about 50 autographs—mostly on my books—and took another 30 pictures.

At 2:30 I arrived at "Player's Bar" where I was to announce the UltimateBet.com "Phil Hellmuth Home Town Poker Tournament," where UB gave a way a seat to the WSOP's main event.  I signed about 100 pictures, and took over 200 pictures with people.  It is nice when people want pictures with you, and the reception at Player's was warm.

The sound system was a bit messed up, so I stood behind the bar and called the hands as Poker Ho (Player's is Ho's bar) fed me the flop, turn and river.  It was easy for me to say, "He needs a deuce, three, five or seven to win this pot" without actually seeing the cards.  People were impressed by that, so I said, "That's why I get the big bucks!"  I say that a lot in a fun way.

During my time there, we played Chinese poker for $100 a point.  I was down $2,800 in three hands!  I made a nice recovery, and lost only $200.  Debo won over $3,000, and Poker Ho lost over $3,000 for the 45 minutes we played.

After the tournament ended, I went straight to the airport, and now as I write this I'm in Las Vegas for tomorrows TOC at noon.

June 25

The TOC was actually at the Rio, not at Caesars Palace, and I showed up at 12:25 pm, which turned out to be on time.  Being on time for any poker tournament is pretty rare for me, that's for sure!  Doyle Brunson and I were invited, as was Gus Hansen, Mike O'Malley, and Mike Sexton (all three through Party Poker).  I would have liked to see Johnny Chan invited to this shindig, as he is such a great Champion.  Chris Ferguson, Mike Matusow, and Daniel Negreanu won their way in.

Mike was to my right, and I generally like hanging out with him, so that was fine.  He did cross the line a bit by being on my case too much, but he will readily admit that he has a Phil Hellmuth fetish (last year Paul Phillip's admitted as much to me as well).  I don't mind the BS form either of them, except I wish Mike would have the civility to lay off when I get low on chips.  Especially when he plays the 7h-3h for a raise vs. my K-Q, with a flop of Q-7-5, although we didn't start betting until the seven came off on the turn: I'll give him that much.

After about an hour into the tournament I picked up A-K, and just called the $150 raise before the flop.  I figured that I was going to try to trap Ferguson—who was in the big blind--since he likes to reraise a lot before the flop.  Turned out my opponent had K-K, and I would have gone broke had I played my hand pre-flop like I usually do!

The second to last hand before the break, I bluffed into a Q-7-7-6 board with king high, and someone called me with 4-4.  Yum, yum!  Although he made a great call, I was going to eat those chips up later on, that's for sure.  The next hand I raised in first position with K-Q, and Mike called me with 7h-3h.  I knew he had hit the flop, and decided to check the Qd-7d-5s flop, and make a big bet on the turn and river, after a safe card hit.  As I mentioned above, a seven came off and I lost the pot and about $1,800 total.  These last two pots left me with $3,300 in chips and pissed off!  Just when the field was going to call my bets with weak hands, I lose with top pair, big kicker to a 7-3 in a raised pot!  And then Matusow tells me I'm playing bad, yikes!  At least Matusow is honest about his own play.  He will tell you when he gives his chips away, but he never says that someone else played great.

After the break I picked off a bluff when I had 3-3, and the board came down K-8-7-A-Q, and my opponent bet on the end.  I called immediately with my 3-3, thinking he had a straight draw.  He did, and showed his J-9.  Now Mike opened for $300, and I had an ace high, but immediately sensed he had Q-Q.  Everyone else folded, and Mike went to flip up his hand, and I said, "You have pocket queens."  Then he flipped up pocket queens, and I said, "I knew it!"  I called one hand out loud all day long, and it was exactly right, which gave me big confidence in my reading abilities.  Now I knew that I would be a force even though I only had $4,300 in chips.

Ten minutes later in the first position, I picked up Q-Q, and I threw my chips ($300 to go) in trying to look weak.  I was sending a weak tell, and it's amazing how often that works for me!  I had just limped the round before with 10-10, and was trying to lure a reraise this time.  Sure enough Ferguson reraised it, and I knew I was going all-in when it got back to me.  No need to study Ferguson when I had only $4,000 more in chips, plus I made my raise look weak, so I was expecting a reraise.  Also, it is Ferguson, who like Erik Seidel, loves the over the top move before the flop.  They both like to reraise with small pairs, which is not in my repertoire, but perhaps should be.  I didn't waste any time at all, and immediately said, "I'm all-in."  Ferguson immediately said, "I call," and flipped up pocket aces.

Could it really be over this quickly?  I mean I had called Matusow's exact hole cards (so I knew I was reading well), I had finished second and third in this event the first two years, and the blinds were still very low at $50-$100!  I lost the pot and was eliminated.  Then I shook everyone's hand at my table, and at the other two tables and wished them good luck.  I even gave Ferguson a hug!  What can I say, he had me fair and square, and I like him a lot—he is a good guy.  I think that this bodes well for the WSOP.  I am reading well, and I feel like I'm playing really well too.

I had to cancel an FHM photo shoot, for the second time, just in case I made day two of the TOC.  Now I wish that that shoot were going ahead.  The segment is called, "I can do that."  And a guy named Adam from Indiana was scheduled to play me heads up for the article.  When he heard that I had cancelled, he became very distraught, and who could blame him?  He had used vacation days to come out to Vegas in March, and to come out this trip.  He brought his wife out with him, and he had prepared hard for the heads up challenge.  When I found out how upset he was, I agreed to play him anyway, with or without the cameras and article moving ahead.  Now we have scheduled a match tomorrow in the Caesars poker room at 9:00 pm for however long it takes.  It could end in 15 minutes, or take a full hour.  I heard that he is pretty fired up!  Adam, bring your best game baby!