Hellmuth Announces Book Publishing Company

Amid a busy day that included being selected to proclaim “Shuffle up and deal!” at the first event of the 2009 World Series of Poker, Phil Hellmuth, Jr. met the poker press on Wednesday to announce the very first publication of his new book publishing company, Phil’s House Publishing, Stephen John and Marvin Karlins’ Deal Me In.

The new book compiles the “heartbreaking and inspiring stories” of 20 of the world’s greatest poker players. Over the past year, authors John and Karlins conducted interviews with the featured pros, inviting them to talk about their poker careers and thereby chronicle the various struggles and successes they experienced on the way to joining poker’s elite.

Hellmuth described the process by which he and his colleagues at Phil’s House Publishing went about recruiting pros to participate in the project. “I knew that once I had Johnny Chan, Doyle Brunson, Erik Seidel, Daniel Negreanu, and Phil Ivey, then everybody else would want to be in the book,” said Hellmuth. Aside from participating in the interviews, each player was directly involved in the revising of his or her chapter, and also signed releases for the use of their stories and the over 150 photographs that illustrate the text.

“These chapters are just so wildly diverse,” said Hellmuth. “Phil Ivey’s story, where he has so much discipline, and control, and money management -- you just don’t expect that looking at the Ivey of today.... Doyle Brunson talking about people getting shot [at his table].... [And] Layne Flack’s [emotional] story made me cry.”

However, the players’ stories share some common ground, too. “Every story talks about money management,” said Hellmuth, a subject which he believes often doesn’t get adequate attention in most poker strategy books. “To me, that’s some valuable stuff, because you’re learning how the great ones managed their money on the way up.”

Hellmuth admitted that there were some significant omissions from those selected, and mentioned several of the players (including Mike Matusow, Gus Hansen and Ted Forrest) who are listed in the prefatory disclaimer that opens the book. Some of those left out may possibly be included in a later, expanded edition of the book, Hellmuth explained, although he believes the book as it stands certainly includes the top ten living players, and perhaps 17 or 18 of the top 20.

The book is currently available only at Hellmuth’s website, PokerBrat.com, where it will be exclusively sold until September when it may then be distributed via other outlets. Most of the 20,000 copies that make up the book’s initial printing will begin shipping on June 22.

Deal Me In represents the culmination of an arduous, two-and-a-half year process which began with the founding of Phil’s House Publishing, of which Hellmuth is the primary owner and Phil Ivey an investor. The company’s initial plan was to publish a Sudoku strategy text, but that project ultimately fell through. Next was the idea to publish Hellmuth’s autobiography, Poker Brat, although that has been postponed until May 2010 in order to time that book’s publication more closely with a planned feature film about Hellmuth of the same title.

Hellmuth credited Bob Soderstrom, Chief Operating Officer of Phil’s House Publishing, for having initially conceived the idea for a book that would tell the story of poker’s 20 greatest players. The idea was a good one, but presented significant challenges when it came to organizing the interviews, writing the chapters, and incorporating the players’ suggested revisions. “It was almost like doing twenty different books,” explained Shannon Reiter, President of Phil’s House Publishing. However, the group was able to meet those challenges and thus succeed in achieving their goal of publishing Deal Me In in time to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Hellmuth’s WSOP Main Event victory in 1989. (Photo shows the ceremony featuring Hellmuth with Jack Binion, following Hellmuth's historic win.)

Ever the entrepreneur, Hellmuth appears to relish the challenge of learning about and hopefully succeeding in the publishing world. “It was very interesting for me as a businessman to look at all of these different revenue models -- that’s the fun stuff, for me,” said Hellmuth. He acknowledged that there exist few options for publishers today, particularly with regard to methods of distribution. “Look, we’re gambling,” he said, referring to the decision to forgo at present other distribution models and sell the book via his own website.

However, while profiting from the sale of Deal Me In is certainly a goal of Hellmuth’s, he has other purposes in mind, too. “Will I make money from it? I hope so,” said Hellmuth. “But we’ve really contributed something beautiful to poker history here. We’ve written an amazing book and it really is inspirational.”

Penthouse to turn into Crazy Horse III

The Penthouse Gentlemen's Club (which used to be called Sin) off south Strip is no more (the licensing agreement ran out), but will now soon change to The Playground.

Or will it?

If Vegas Alliance (who will run The Playground) has any say, they would like to rename the strip club to Crazy Horse III, after Crazy Horse Too, the lawsuit-embroiled club up a few miles north that's been closed for about 3 years thanks to racketeer Rick Rizzolo.

But with the name comes responsibility, or rather hefty legal cases that their lawyers would prefer first be settled before being associated (if by name only) with the notorious gentlemen's club.

The Playground (or whatever new name is picked) will comprise a strip joint, a nightclub, a music venue, and even a place for a poker tournament.

Think of it like CityCenter for adult nightlife.

M Resort lays off 100 people

With the constant streaming crowd we've seen at the new M Resort (a few miles south of Las Vegas Blvd., off St. Rose), we're a bit puzzled that they made news recently about laying off 100 people.

Any layoffs from Las Vegas casinos is newsworthy in this economy, but with M -- and any new property -- additional people are always hired to facilitate the large crowds around a grand opening.

The $1 billion M just opened in March.

With other casino conglomerates such as Harrah's or MGM Mirage or Station Casinos, workers are borrowed from sister properties, along with many temps, with the expectation of being moved or laid off after crowds settled down.

We don't know the entire story with M, but we suspect the layoffs are independent of the economy and are natural after 2 1/2 months of being in business.

The 100 people amounts to 5 percent of the 2,000 employees it takes to run the 92,000-sq.-ft. property.

New WSOP rule

Among the new things coming along with the 40th anniversary of the World Series of Poker comes a new rule about good behavior that some are calling the Poker Brat Rule. The nickname comes from the nickname of a famous poker player, Phil Hellmuth, who earned his name though temper tantrums and bad behavior, despite being the top ranked poker player in the world. Last year he called a player an idiot and worse after the player got lucky in a hand against Hellmuth, who was only given a warning. This year the rules about conduct are more clearly defined.

Poker Game Leads to Shooting

Saturday night two men engaged in an argument during a poker game took things too far and one of them was fatally shot in the process. The men were playing poker at a home in north Harris County when the argument began. One of the men pulled out a gun and fired a number of shots at the other, who was later found lying on the sidewalk outside the home. The man was pronounced dead upon arrival when take to the hospital. The shooter has been taken into custody and will face murder charges.

Jack Link Sponsor Of World Series of Poker

World Series of Poker viewers will have a tasty temptation as the presenting sponsor of the series turns out to be Jack Link’s Beef Jerky. Jack Links is the market share leader, topping the world of the $3 billion dried meat snack industry, like the World Series of Poker tops the poker world. The WSOP, owned by Harrah’s Entertainment, will begin play on May 27, and will air on ESPN and ESPN2 later in the summer. The announcement that Jack Link’s Beef Jerky is to be the presenting sponsor was made on Sunday, May 17.

Poker reality Show: 2 months, $2 million

In news that certainly would have seemed a little odd to anyone playing online poker even a few years ago, cable network G4 released details today of their upcoming series ‘2 months, $2 million’, a reality show featuring familiar online high stakes poker names such as Krantz, Whitelime, flawless_victory, and ansky.

The show, which is slated for 10 half hour episode, will launch on G4 in August. The basic gist: cameras record the day-to-day lives of the four as they go about their high stakes online poker business. Or, as the press release somewhat awkwardly puts it:

“These guys are not pursuing the usual goal of landing a 9-5 job, instead they are seeking the thrill of “the flop” and trading in the daily grind for the online grind. When they do step away from the web, it’s about experiencing all that Vegas has to offer from exclusive parties to beautiful women. ”

Ahh, the thrill of “the flop.”

Whitelime had this to say about the show in a thread on 2+2: “The thing to understand about the title is the goal isn’t necessarily to be super accurate or factual or even super cool when it comes to approval from the poker community. It’s pretty much assumed that a high % of 2p2 will watch the show. They are trying to appeal to random people who have never played poker in their lives. I had similar thoughts about the title when I first heard it but I’ve come around to like it. Some marketing geniuses who are a lot smarter than all of us when it comes to making titles came up with it so let’s have some faith.”

All in all, it could make for some interesting viewing (although likely no footage shot while Krantz & co are under the influence of, um, brownies) and light poker entertaining post-WSOP.