Bad table manners

	You got a losing hand and you’re just trying to get some TV time – Sheikhan

Viewers of NBC TV show Poker After Dark were treated to another Phil Hellmuth blow-up as the ever-volatile 10-time WSOP bracelet winner blew his top when fellow poker stars refused to be quiet during a key decision.

The antagonism started after the Poker Brat, who was nursing a somewhat damaged chip stack, raised from the button to 1600 with A-10 off-suit. Shawn ‘Sheiky’ Sheikhan folded his small blind to Annie Duke, who made it another 4000 to go with pocket Kings.

As Hellmuth tried to go deep into the think-tank, the all-star table – which included Gus Hansen, Huck Seed and Steve Zolotow – began baiting him, with Hansen teasing, ‘Could this be another one of those unsuccessful Phil traps?’

Although veteran player Zolotow suggested that the table should ‘give him a break [and] let him think’, Hansen, Seed and Sheikhan all continued to add further needle.

But it was Sheikhan who ended up feeling the brunt of the Brat after Hellmuth told him to be quiet before complaining to executive producer Mori Eskandani about the player’s incessant chatter. Hellmuth then claimed that the chat was affecting his ability to read other players and that he wouldn’t play if he continued to be harassed, which led to the following argument:

Hellmuth: ‘I can’t use my reading abilities in poker anymore?’
Sheikhan: Reading abilities! Reading abilities! Damn, I’ve got to get a drink.
H: Why don’t you shut the f♣♥♠… up?
S: Can he say that on TV? That’s out of line, Phil.
H: You’re out of line and you’re too stupid to know it.
S: I didn’t say a word and you’re jumping down my throat for no reason.
H: For no reason?
S: You’re playing bad, you got a losing hand and you’re just trying to get some TV time. Muck your hand, idiot.’

Submission

On returning to the game, Hellmuth made the situation worse by delaying a hand to talk to the show’s presenter, former WPT hostess Shana Hiatt, although in truth his frustrations were fairly justified. He told Hiatt that the game was like ‘something from the Worldwide Wrestling Federation’ and that in 20 years of playing poker he’d never been at a table that wouldn’t shut up.

But the bad experience didn’t last much longer for Phil as an allin push with A-5 was called by Sheikhan holding 7-7. Shawn then displayed a lack of class by goading Phil over the hand, when his pair held up to send Hellmuth packing.

Poker After Dark is a series of sitand- go games incorporating some of the biggest names in poker. You can watch the shows screened so far at: www.nbcsports.com/poker.