Phil Hellmuth, Children’s Book Author

The Phil Hellmuth who won the 1989 WSOP was a very different man.

When you search for Phil Hellmuth at any online bookseller you’ll find exactly the kind of books you would expect to be written by an 11-time WSOP gold bracelet winner. His classic Play Poker Like The Pros and newer books like Read ‘Em and Reap and Phil Hellmuth’s Texas Hold’em still sell well despite the glut of poker guides on the market. But one thing you won’t find listed under Hellmuth’s name is a children’s book title. 

That doesn’t sound too curious today, but anyone who read about him or saw his win on ESPN back in 1989 actually knew Hellmuth primarily as a writer of children’s books. The original WSOP footage that aired on ESPN, actually describes Hellmuth’s profession as a children’s book author. And the Weekly World News article about the 1989 WSOP Main Event is even more straightforward: its headline refers to Hellmuth as a “Kiddie book writer” and the body of the piece describes him as “a poet who also writes children’s books and novels.”

More searching doesn’t bear much fruit, unfortunately. But the merry pranksters over at the 2+2 News, Views and Gossip forum have gotten to digging and some of them turned up some lost gems from the Phil Hellmuth children’s book back catalog. It’s a virtual certainty that the Poker Brat doesn’t want you to know about his sordid past as a teller of tales, so you’ll want to head over and check out an epic thread in the making before his lawyers get around to shutting the whole thing down. While you’re there, be sure to give some love to the fine folks like user Jimmylegs who have made this entire exercise possible.

Now, if we could just find some of Hellmuth’s sonnets and sestinas…