You may have noticed I'm not too prolific with this blog malarkey. To be honest, I'm more than a little uncomfortable with the plethora of outlets available to egomaniacs hell-bent on self-promotion. Seriously, do you really need to update your freaking Facebook status every 18 minutes?

I have about as much desire to recount to all and sundry the inane minutiae of my daily life as you probably have of reading it, but what I do have are the written equivalent of outtakes. As well as being renowned to editors worldwide for my lack of deadline discipline, I'm also infamous for disregarding the necessary word count, often writing several thousand more than commissioned, usually because I'm fortunate enough to be writing about fascinating stories and people.

I've interviewed Phil Hellmuth many times over the past few years, without ever feeling like I've got any closer to knowing the real Phil Hellmuth. Until now. I could write an essay on the many façades to Hellmuth and I probably will one day, but when we spoke for the recent PokerPlayer cover interview, I encountered a relaxed, fun and even self-deprecating Phil Hellmuth. This was probably attributable to spending time at home in his grounding family environment, rather than being surrounded by flunkies and fans.

We touched upon many subjects that didn't make it into the published article. As ever, he's keen to retire the Poker Brat. We'll see how he gets on over the next few weeks at the WSOP:

Phil Hellmuth: Here's the facts - in '06, there was no Poker Brat, I don't think I lost it one time. I had my best World Series ever. I had a first, second, sixth and twelfth, I cashed eight times. Some Southern guy even told me I needed to improve my Limit Hold 'em and I just smiled. In '06, I was calm and shook everybody's hand when I sat down and I did it in '07 too, because for whatever reason, people want to shake my hand. Somehow I was calm, cool and collected, and when someone kept re-raising me, instead of saying 'You know I'm going to bust you eventually', I'd just say it to myself. I felt they were actually more afraid of me when I wasn't talking, but I think they knew what I was thinking. In '07, I went back to the talking, but when you talk it's exhausting.

SR: If it proved so successful, why revert back to talking?

PH: I didn't try to go back to it, it just happened. Maybe I didn't make as big an effort not to do it. I went back and won another bracelet and made another final table, but I'd also had a few chip leads in No Limit tournaments, and felt if I were playing 90%, 85% or even 80% of my game, I would have made the final table. I was 20% or 25% off and I took some of those deep cashes and turned them into 30th, 35th or 40th place due to my own bad play for whatever reason. Maybe it was too much ego. I just didn't seem to be at my full power, I didn't seem to be in a peaceful place. I got unlucky a few times, but that didn't matter. When I'm playing the best poker, getting unlucky a few times is just a minor annoyance. When I'm not playing at my best, getting unlucky is enough to knock me out of the tournament.

SR: Which Phil Hellmuth will be at the 2008 WSOP?

PH: I'm going to try to go back to what I did in '06 - to be a little bit less emotional and a bit less Poker Brat. I'm there to win and I don't have to threaten everybody at the table. In '07, I wasn't that bad, but I just wasn't perfect. When I went for my 12th bracelet, it was good television and I wasn't very bratty. It was very entertaining anyway, so maybe it's time for the Poker Brat to morph into the Poker King.

Joining Phil Hellmuth at his Dream Main Event Final Table:

Doyle Brunson - He's been winning forever
Johnny Chan – Great instincts
Erik Seidel - Great at reading people
TJ Cloutier - Great NLH player
Phil Ivey - Great all around player
Daniel Negreanu - We need some creativity at the table, and he's great at reading people
Gus Hanson - Creative as you can get
Layne Flack- I love hanging out with him
Mike Matusow - We need someone there to chat more than I do!                                                Allen Cunningham - Might have to kick Matusow out to add Allen!

'I win, but Chan, Brunson, or Seidel is second...'

'Scenario - Negreanu has the early chip lead when he plays a big pot versus Ivey which is a coin flip. Cunningham plays Seidel in a huge pot; one has Kings and the other A-K. Seidel hits an Ace and wins with A-K. Flack gets all-in drawing and hits his hand vs Cloutier.

Hellmuth plays mostly small pots until we are five-handed, then picks off a Doyle Brunson big bluff. Matusow plays great and dominates table, until he 'blows up' and finishes in seventh place. Gus takes way the worst of it and outdraws Negreanu. Chan wins a coin flip vs Gus who finishes fifth.

Doyle finishes fourth and Chan and Seidel play another big pot when we are down to three-handed, not sure who wins this time, but I face that person heads-up with 300 in chips vs their 700. I win a huge pot when my A-Q beats their A-J, then I win when I flop a set of 2s vs their As-10s on the 10h-5h-2c flop!!!'

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