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 I met Paul Phillips
at a party he hosted. Another player invited me and said Paul was really nice, but has a low tolerance for stupid people. I
told him I was the same way, so we should get along great. When I arrived, I found Paul to be a friendly and gracious host.
Paul Phillips is a name widely recognized for his World Poker tour appearances. For those of us who know him, Paul is a
talented, intelligent and sometimes controversial poker personality. He started a dot.com business and sold it when the time
was right, making him a small fortune. At one time, he was a Rec.Gambling.Poker regular and was known for having strong
opinions, especially low ones about Phil Hellmuth Jr.
His posts were usually "right on", but sometimes it took me a few readings to get his meaning.
Paul has two strong World Poker Tour finishes in the second season. He placed second to
Mel Judah at the
Bicycle Casino World Poker Tour event, and won the event at the
Bellagio Casino,
beating out more than 300 opponents. I told him that the prize money he won won't change his life like it would for many
other people, but I thought he would be getting a lot of attention from the World Poker Tour. I asked him if he agreed and
also asked how he is going to have to adjust his game once people are able to see his hole cards from the televised events.
His response was, "The winners from the first season are widely recognized, so it seems probable I am in for similar
celebrity. As for my play... they're going to find out that I'm always bluffing, 100% of the time. The only way for me to adapt
once this news gets out is to start having the goods a lot more often. I'll do what I can if the cards will cooperate."
World Poker Tour made a decision in September 2003 that bans players from making deals. This decision came after the event
held at The Bicycle Casino where Mel and Paul made a deal. Sports Illustrated wrote an article that put the deal in a bad
light. I asked Paul if he thought it was ironic that he won after WPT deals were barred. I also asked if he thought there
was enough play at the end of the tournament or if the three stacks would have been about equal, would a deal have been a
sensible move to make if at all possible in the Bellagio event. He said that he wouldn't call it ironic. "The blinds were
big enough three-handed (50K-100K with 6.4 million in play) that players who were
variance-averse would have found a way to
make a deal. I think all three of us could fade the variance and didn't particularly mind not making a deal, except in
principle (I do not acknowledge the WPT's right to ban deals.) Not making deal probably helped me play my best -- I think I
relaxed too much at the Bicycle Club after Mel and I chopped the money. That was not a problem this time."
After his recent success, there have been some comments about Paul being the next Phil Hellmuth. Of course, I had to ask him
how it felt to be known as that. His response made me laugh... "I know you're just asking that to get a rise out of me.
Please ask Phil how it feels to be known as the next Paul Phillips."
After being a successful entrepreneur, he finds tournament poker challenging and satisfying: "I like socializing, gambling,
and having my brain fully engaged. I know various activities that offer one or two of those at once, but in my life poker is
the only one that hits all three. And sure, the challenge is interesting to me or I'd be doing something else. I was largely
done playing cards but the advent of the WPT and the explosion in the field sizes sucked me back into it. I enjoy putting my
money where my mouth is against the best in the world and occasionally coming out victorious."
"You are never done getting better at this game. Someone said once that if you're not getting better, you're getting worse
-- there's no standing still. And that rings true to me." |
