[Johnny Hughes]

My friend Dutch Boyd is the chip leader in the Five K, Hold 'em, six-handed tourney. Phil Hellmuth is in fifth.
Talk about when egos collide!

I am really pulling for Dutch to win his second bracelet. All eyes will be on Phil to win his 12th. In my humble view, Phil Hellmuth has been acting terribly lately. Several of the things we have read here about pros..Shannon, Williamson, Hellmuth makes me wonder about a double standard for famous players being able to get away with more than the ordinary players. Hellmuth is cheating when he talks when he is not in a hand. So is Tony G. It is coaching, pure and simple. It is a violation of the one player, one hand rule. What if about 100 other players decided to always come in late, grandstanding for the press and walking all around? It is time to treat all poker players the same. The fields are too large for prima donnas.

Long, long ago, maybe 1990, I saw Phil Hellmuth put on the worst, most offensive, sickening, bullying performance against a very old man who had drawn him out in a World Series tournament at Binion's Horseshoe. He stood up and yelled. This went on for a few minutes, a long, long time. No one else said anything. No one called the floor. No matter what Phil Hellmuth does in life, that will always be my defining memory of him.

It may have been the same year, but the announcer said for the dealers to deal everyone one more hand and they would quit for the day. A little while later, the announcer came back on to say a few things. He said that Phil Hellmuth had been knocked out on that last hand. There was applause and laughter thoughout the casino. I was playing in a cash game. We all clapped. The little staged temper episodes you see on TV with him and Mike the Mouth are all shilled up for the rubes. Is there a single person in American society as self-absorbed as Phil Hellmuth? He puts on an act for TV but underneath all that is a really mean, rude creep. It is time for poker to re-examine its old-fashioned manners. If he is allowed to talk in a hand and influence the play, we should all be allowed to do it.

If he and Dutch are at a final table in front of the cameras, they will be talking it up. I think the floorman should intervene if things get as crazy as they did with Phil and ZeeJustin or whatever.

My uncle, Rowdy Pat O'Dowdy, was an early wrestler, one of the bad guys. He and his early partner, Gorgeous
George, Sr., put on a big show for the cheap seats. That was wrestling. This is poker. The puffed-up, sawdust joint we call the Rio needs to make sure that every player gets an even break. All they are asking for is a square gamble. Jamie Gold is proud of cheating last year. That should put the Rio on alert. Poker behavior has standards. Enforce them.