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Phil Hellmuth has never been one to hold back from speaking his mind. So, a couple of weeks ago during the Betfair World Series of Poker Europe, I had Phil as a guest on 'The Hardcore Poker Show' (Hellmuth is a regular guest). His comments ignited a storm of controversy that is still burning weeks later.

Here is a brief setup to this episode: Harrahs, proprietors of the WSOP brand, hired Mitch Gerber, former big wheel with Party Poker, to facilitate the launch of an online component to the WSOP brand of poker. Details are mostly rumor, but it would appear that their intention is to launch an online poker site that would cater to satellite play for WSOP events.

Hellmuth, as we all know, is the poster boy for Ultimate Bet, a company that has certainly endured some (deservedly) rocky times after a major cheating scandal. Now, enter the Poker Brat for his appearance on 'The Hardcore Poker Show'. When asked his opinion on November Niner (and Hellmuth student) Jeff Shulman's comments about tossing any WSOP bracelets he might win into the garbage (as a result of an unrelated Shulman/Cardplayer Magazine feud with Harrahs), Hellmuth went off.

This, essentially, is what he said: Harrahs is going to start a war with the big online companies if they launch online. Any attempts at restrictions on logo use, etc, may be met by strong opposition from current companies, who, in Hellmuth's opinion, could 'band together' to go to war with Harrahs, even potentially forming their own WSOP type tournament and boycotting the WSOP in Vegas.

Wow. Strong words, and strong threats from the UB poster boy. He actually insinuated that he had had conversations with reps from PokerStars and Full Tilt about the possibility of forming an alliance to fight Harrahs. He also complained vociferously about his treatment at the hands of Harrahs. Or, more precisely, the lack of star treatment of which he feels he is deserving; he voiced his displeasure that he had to pay for a hotel room at the Rio for the WSOP.

Now, on a personal note, he definitely was not thinking this through. In my mind, Phil leads a pretty sweet life, with courtside basketball seats, free golf, celebrity friends etc, and that is due to his celebrity status which is a direct result of ESPN and the WSOP. So it's small minded to be concerned about a free hotel room when your entire celebrity existence is due to the WSOP and ESPN.

Of course, these comments raised eyebrows and conversation levels throughout the poker world. We offered WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollock the opportunity to come on the show the following week to respond to Hellmuth's comments. He initially agreed to do it but, at the eleventh hour, the PR folks from Harrahs called us to say that his appearance had been vetoed.

Now, I like Jeffrey, and I think he's a level headed guy who cares very much about the players, the WSOP, ESPN, Harrahs and everyone else involved. It would have been interesting to hear his public take on the whole scenario.

Fast forward a couple of weeks. Daniel Negreanu was making a guest appearance on the show. We, of course, asked Daniel his thoughts on Hellmuth's comments. His response? That there would never be an alliance of poker companies, especially one that included Ultimate Bet, and that, due to the scandal, Ultimate Bet shouldn't even be allowed to exist; they should be outright abolished. Daniel also felt that the WSOP and Harrahs have been quite fair to players, and he had no issue with the way they were treating the pros.

Again, front page poker news around the world. Negreanu has never been shy about speaking his mind, and he certainly has a very large audience to which to voice his thoughts. So, what does all this mean? Well, really, it means that there are some issues to hash out. But the bottom line is, until we know Harrahs' intentions, it's all just hearsay, and speculation. We will find out eventually where they are going with their online company and how it will affect the WSOP and the players.

As for the possibility of an alliance between the other companies? Well, if you were a betting person, I'm thinking you could get some pretty long odds against that ever happening.