How does Phil Hellmuth win tournaments?

[FoldALot.]

Serious question.

Only after watching High Stakes Poker extensively I got a rough idea what the best players' strengths are - and in the end it always comes down to them knowing pretty accurately where they are at in a hand, and against specific opponents. Now I couldn't tell you exactly how Negreanu wins tournaments, but I know that his awesome ability at reading opponents' hands has got something to do with it. Similar for other players.

Phil, however, played very badly on the show. He had no clue where he was at. The tournament excerpts I have seen with him showed him making some great laydowns but not much more. I don't know what parts of his game make him "great".

Also, with his style of small bets (again, I don't know exactly how it works) I can't see how he's able to amass a mountain of chips. And his great laydowns are impressive, but avoiding big confrontations at all costs doesn't seem to be a tourney-winning strategy.

So anyone with insight on how he got past 3000 players at this year's WSOP for example? Thanks.

[Bad Beat Bill]

How many hands did you watch? 5, maybe 6? He doesn't always play like that. Furthermore, the people he was playing with were much better than the people he plays against in the WSOP...

[selurah]

lol donkaments

[Eponymous]

He's playing small pots, so he doesn't lose a lot of chips and is able to hang around. Eventually he makes people pay for overplaying their hand when he ends up with a good hand. The fact that he whines so much probably helps people gun for him a little bit, bringing those mistakes on more frequently.

[van_exel_fan]

He invented the "small ball" style of tournament poker

He is expert at reading strength/weakness

He is PHIL HELLMUTH!!!!!!!!!!

[THAY3R]

[ QUOTE ]
lol donkaments

[/ QUOTE ]

This is pretty much the correct answer.

[cbloom]

Phil raises tiny with a lot of junk and then min bets.

Retarded people fold unless they have top pair.

They reraise with top pair, and Phil folds unless he beats top pair (but whines a lot when he folds).

[theman]

[ QUOTE ]
Phil raises tiny with a lot of junk and then min bets.

Retarded people fold unless they have top pair.

They reraise with top pair, and Phil folds unless he beats top pair (but whines a lot when he folds).

[/ QUOTE ]

Great summary analysis. He also makes very careful laydowns when need be. But those points above are a huge part of his tactics.

[magneticskull]

Garmin

Hellmuth is using one of these...
[pic was not working, use link instead]

[TexRef]

High Stakes Poker != Tournaments