Quotes from Phil Hellmuth

Playing fast and aggressive poker can help manufacture chips out of thin air and is one element of the game that separates the great players from the merely very good. But beware; it can be risky.

If there weren't luck involved, I would win every time.

If you never bluff, you'll rarely get called. If you bluff all the time, you'll always get called.

Through all the craziness, what I know is that I'm a good husband and a good father and I do a great job with my kids.

Very few players want to go home wondering if they've folded the best hand. They feel humiliated when they're bluffed out of a pot. As a result, these players make calls with marginal hands that put their entire tournament at risk.

I normally raise pre-flop with K-K or A-A but occasionally I'll limp in, especially if it appears that the others at the table are playing tight. I don't want anyone to fold too soon when I've got such a big hand.

Players talk about pot odds all the time, especially when they try to justify a call that they made. Whenever I hear this line of reasoning, though, I can't help but wonder if they properly thought through the consequences of their call.

All I want are titles and nothing less.

For five or six years, I didn't play in some of the good games leading up to the World Series of Poker, because with so many below-average players there, I reasoned it messed up my game.

I used to have a routine where I would eat a meal during the World Series of Poker. I would play, they would call it a day and I would go work out. I would always order poached salmon with mushrooms and I would dip the salmon into a side of ranch dressing.

Everybody knows the World Series of Poker is the biggest stage in the world. This is where you make your name.

When strangers walk up to me and want to play golf for money, I worry. I wonder why they're coming to me, and I begin asking questions: When did you start playing? What's your best score? Are you playing your best golf right now? Where do you play? Usually I can tell if they're lying.

When my reading ability is sharp, I can dodge bullets, baby! I have no problem folding super-strong hands and that saves me a ton of chips.

Players too often bet too much money when they hit a strong hand. That only serves to drive opponents out of the pot, and that means a lost opportunity to maximize the value of a powerful hand.

It used to be considered an art form to win a tournament without having to shove all your chips in the middle.

Mental and physical preparation is critical in tournament poker events like the WSOP.

I think the key to poker is being steady and giving yourself a chance to win every tournament.

One or two great lay downs per tournament will give you a few extra lives while a few well-timed bluffs will give you a ton of extra chips.

Look, I never enjoy risking my tournament life with a marginal hand, but if you want to be a poker champion, that's exactly what needs to be done. Just don't do it too often!

Playing only when you have a strong hand, also known as being a slave to the cards, is simply not the way to win tournaments.

I used to make it deep in poker tournaments without ever moving all-in because other players knew that when I raised it up, I had the goods.

There's more luck in poker. Getting good at golf requires a certain amount of physical aptitude. Both take a lot of patience. Both require knowing when to gamble - either with a big bluff or a high-risk shot. Both can be infuriating.

Well, sometimes you've just got to go with your instincts.

In 1987, I wrote a goal sheet. I didn't want to waste my life. I'd dropped out of college, and there was a lot of pressure from my parents. I decided, 'If you're going to do this, you're going to become the best in the world at this.'