Titel Poker History: The 11 Biggest Blow-ups of All Time Autor/Erfasser externe Quelle Firmenportrait Swiss Poker System powered by HELP.ch

We here at BLUFF have really been getting into all the whole top whatever lists we have 
been giving you these past few months. We scour through hours of video to get you guys 
the best of the best. We recently saw Phil Hellmuth berating Shawn Sheikhan on an 
episode of Poker After Dark and decided instantly that we had to see these meltdowns 
again and bring them to you. Coincidently — or not — it seems that most of our top ten 
come from the same two people: Mike Matusow and Phil Hellmuth. We guess no one in the 
business does it better than these two. So without further ado: the top elelven blowups, 
meltdowns, and crackups. Oh, and in case you missed them on TV, you can check out 
bluffmagazine.com to view the clips first hand.

1)  A horrified Mike Matusow walks away with tears in his eyes after getting knocked out 
of the 2004 WSOP Main Event, his A-K beaten by A-Q 
Video

Before the hand is dealt, Mike is heard bragging that he is the master of the short 
stack and that his chances are better at winning with a short stack than a big stack. 
Pre-flop, Greg Raymer raises the big blind to 14k with pocket eights (8s, 8c). Ed Foster 
looks at Ac Qs and raises to 45k. All fold to Mike Matusow who pushes all in with Ad, Ks 
for 110k. Ed asks him how much he pushed for and calls. “Come on — one time let me get 
lucky. Let me hold up the best hand!” Mike cheers. The flop is 8s, 7c, 5c and Mike says 
to keep ‘em red. And Ed asks to keep the clubs coming. The turn brings a 7h. As the 
dealer pulls out the turn, Mike repeatedly screams for a deuce. When a queen falls on 
the river, Mike cries, jumps, flails, and pirouettes all at the same time. The camera 
follows him around as he asks, “Why do I deserve this?” and buries his face in his 
hands. Ed Foster makes a comment about how poorly he takes the beat. Mike then states he 
played the best poker of his life. He reflects on his career and his luck.

2)  Phil Hellmuth blows up at Jim Pittman for playing a K-J against his A-K and sucking 
out at the 2005 WSOP Main Event 
Video

Jim Pittman with Kh, Jh raises up to 1,200. Phil Hellmuth, to his immediate left, raises 
up to 3,200 with Ad, Kc. Pittman pushes all in. Phil grins and looks to his right and 
calls immediately. The flop brings a 4s, 4c, 2h. Silence as a 9c comes on the turn. A 
jack of diamonds gives Pittman two pair on the river and Phil sits quietly in his 
frustration. “Frickin’ donkey!” he finally mumbles before he stands, “1,500 with king-
jack, this guy can’t even spell
poker, I reraise to let him know what I have… learn how to fold a hand.” He goes on 
longer saying, “I can’t believe this is the World Series of Poker” 
“Yeah, go figure, huh?” Pittman fires back.
“What a terrible play. If I ever stick all my money in with K-J — of course that will 
never happen in one million years.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen worse,” Pittman chimes in.
“Not from me buddy, that’s why I’m the nine-time world champion of Hold’em, because I 
always have the best hand.” 
Pittman smiles as Phil goes to his wife for advice. Afterward, Phil comes back to the 
table and picks up A-Q, only to get knocked out by Paul Magriel’s pocket sevens.

3)  Tony G blows up at Ralph Perry at the Intercontinental Poker Championship 
Video

The hand starts off with Tony G getting a read on Ralph Perry, claiming Ralph has a weak 
hand before Ralph even looks at his cards. Tony calls pre-flop and begins berating Ralph 
Perry. He tells him how much to raise and how he will probably call regardless. He calls 
the clock and tells him that he will call any raise he makes with his A-2 of spades. 
Ralph Perry raises 120k with K-J off-suit. Tony G asks him for a chip count and moves 
all in, telling him that “If you wanna do this, do this properly.” He asks Ralph what he 
thinks he has and if he thinks he is there to give his chips away. With little 
hesitation Ralph calls. Tony G tells him he (Tony) is a champion and that he is going to 
send him back to Russia. On a flop of 2c 3d10s, Tony lets him know that he is 
practically drawing dead on the flop. He berates him for getting all his money in with a 
king-jack and that Ralph Perry is not someone to learn from. Ad 7d on the river brings 
Perry nothing. Tony G tells the dealer to pair the board to teach Ralph Perry a good 
lesson. When a 6c finishes Perry on the river, Tony G, elated, jumps up from the table 
and yells, “Come on, Russian, get out! It’s time to go.” He gets in Ralph’s face and 
tells him and the audience how poorly Ralph is playing and how poorly Ralph played the 
hand. Tony continues, “You are a professional player and I can do this to you. You are a 
terrible player, this is disgraceful. You played that as bad as you can. Your career is 
finished!” 
Tony G insists that Ralph get up and leave the table. “Feel the power! Feel my power!” 
When Ralph Perry stands up to leave the table, Tony G yells at the audience to silence 
their applause, saying that Ralph is unworthy of such an ovation due to his K-J. After 
about four minut es of his berating, Tony G finally moves on. 

4)  Devilfish vs. Burt Boutin at a Pot Limit Omaha final table this year at the WSOP.
Video

Devilfish, in the cut-off, limps with 9c 8c 7c 6s. Minh Ly in the small blind calls with 
Ac Jh 10s 3d. Burt Boutin in the big blind checks with 10h 8s 7h 5c. 
The flop comes Jc 7s 6d. Minh bets 105k, Burt Boutin raises to 390k. Devilfish, staring 
down Burt while he raised, gets a good read and pushes all in for close to 900k. Minh Ly 
folds quickly and Burt calls equally as fast. Burt says, “I like your hand,” and 
Devilfish responds in agreement. “A jack, four, or nine — we don’t wanna see any of that 
sh*t,” DevilFish says before the turn comes. 
Burt Boutin stands nervously as he watches the dealer. The nine on the turn gives Boutin 
a straight and much excitement. Devilfish claims how disgusting this hand has 
become. “F**king disgusting.”
Devilfish curses Burt’s fans for a moment then the dealer for a minute. “Well played, 
Burt, that’s the best way to do it, get it in there with a piece of sh*t and get lucky. 
Seven-eight off-suit, like you do every time against me. There ya go, give it to the #@!
$ player over there.”
Shortly after, Devilfish goes all in as the short-stack for 155,000 with Kd Kc 9c 9h and 
is called
by Sirous Jamshidi with As Ah Js 5h. Devilfi sh gives a chuckle as he sees Jamshidi’s 
pocket aces. “F**king disgusting,” he says before the flop. “I wish I could be a good 
loser, but I just can’t bring myself to be a good loser, ya know. Play so bad and get so 
lucky, it’s sickening.” He then makes sure to notify Jamshidi that he is not referring 
to him and wishes him to win the event.
Later Boutin comes up to defend himself on the hand. Devilfi sh says, “I don’t like to 
lose — I can’t help it. A good loser is usually people who are used to it. I’m not. I’ve 
never been a good loser.”
Fortunately Devilfish flops a set of nines and continues in the event. When eliminated 
much later he clearly blows up, it’s just totally unintelligible.

5)  Jeffrey Lisandro explodes into Prahlad Friedman
Video

The 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event had the largest prize pool in poker history, 
so you can imagine how tense the players were when fewer than forty players remained. 
Nothing proved this more when one player missed an ante at a table. The dealer spotted 
the error and had it corrected. What starts as a small dispute over a missing chip 
becomes an ugly argument. While Prahlad Friedman is not convinced, Jeffrey Lisandro 
sides with the dealer and said to move on. Prahlad continues to speculate on what 
happened while frustration continues to build in Lisandro.
“Are you 1000 percent?” Lisandro asks Friedman, who claims he is sure he saw the ante 
put in. Lisandro then asks if he thinks he would try to rob him of such a small amount, 
following it up by claiming that Friedman is acting like an idiot. Prahlad fights back, 
saying that he flat out does not trust Lisandro and these strong and inappropriate words 
push Lisandro over the line.
Shortly after, Prahlad continues saying that he saw the ante put in. When the dealer 
asks them to let it go, Lisandro says that he will put it behind him and that he was 
upset by the fact that he was accused of robbing Dustin Holmes. The dealer again asks 
both politely to move on but her request is ignored. Prahlad claims he has been in poker 
long enough and “knows how it is.” Lisandro’s anger escalates as he asks Prahlad if he 
is going to stop. At this point the floor man comes over and pulls Prahlad to speak to 
him about the ante being on video, but Lisandro follows quickly behind and Lisandro 
blows up.
“I’ll take your head off!” he exclaims and lunges toward Prahlad Friedman. The floor man 
steps between them and Jeffrey starts to walk away, saying he wants no more of this. 
Prahlad expresses his dislike of being threatened. They both receive warnings and 
Lisandro begins to cool off. Regardless of the fact that Prahlad feels that Holmes 
anted, calling Lisando a thief was out of line.
Prahlad never dropped his argument, likely to intentionally put Lisandro on tilt, hoping 
for his eventual blow up. 

6)  Phil Hellmuth Explodes (Implodes?) at Annie Duke  
Video (2:06 begins the downfall)

Video (the blow-up)

Phil and Annie are down to heads up at the 2004 Tournament of Champions, and Annie has 
Phil well covered. With A-9 of hearts, Phil opens; Annie sees pocket sixes (the same 
hand that she used to eliminate brother Howard Lederer from the competition) and raises 
to 80,000. Phil calls. The flop: K-K-6. Annie fl ops (another!) full house and checks; 
Phil checks behind. Annie bets the turn, the 10d, which is no help to Phil, and he 
folds. The pièce de résistance is the last hand: Annie check-raises Phil’s 10-8, holding 
K-10. A ten on the flop gives them both top pair, but Annie’s kicker wins out. Phil 
moves all in and that’s it. Annie won the $2 million Tournament of Champions prize. 
How does Phil respond? A lot! “I trapped her four times and she finally went for it… She 
won every freaking race… (although Norman Chad comments, “This wasn’t a race — it was an 
avalanche)… She was probably 30 to 1 to win this… I don’t believe it… I just can’t 
believe it… She didn’t have any idea how strong I was… She check-raised me six times… 
Another 2nd, 3rd, 2nd, 3rd, no money… “ That’s okay, Phil. We all know that if luck 
weren’t involved, you‘d win every one.

7)  Phil Hellmuth explodes, mostly at Sheikhan, on Poker After Dark
Video

What could be one of the longest and greatest blowups in history occurred during an 
early episode of Poker After Dark. Not only does it incorporate Phil Hellmuth not 
knowing who to blow up at but, had he gotten his wish of everyone staying quiet, he 
could have been eliminated from the tournament.
Phil Hellmuth raises the pot to $1,500 pre-fl op and Annie Duke reraises to $5000. He 
says he cannot get away and that he was setting it up. After about twenty seconds, Gus 
Hansen asks if it was another one of the unsuccessful Phil traps. Shawn Sheikhan almost 
completes a sentence and Phil asks him to shut up. Phil starts talking about the bet 
that was made and Huck Seed says, “Please be quiet so I can talk.” The table erupts with 
laughter. Hellmuth gets even more upset and
asks if the tournaments will always be this way. Huck continues, “I can see if you 
said ‘Please be quiet so I can stop and think,’ ya know what I mean Phil, but you 
started going on and on.” 
Phil stands and asks one of the executive directors if penalties will be given, and the 
table just laughs. He then claims that he will refuse to play in the tournaments in the 
future if this behavior continues. Phil says that he is trying to make a tough decision 
for all his chips and that the talk is distracting. Huck chimes in again saying, “People 
are laughing, it’s just horrible.” Steve Zolotow continues along these lines: “People 
are having fun, ya know, it’s terrible.”
Phil continues, stating that he wants something enforced to avoid this. He said that 
this is not poker if he cannot use his reading abilities. This comment puts Sheikhan in 
stitches. Sheikhan gets up and goes to get a drink. Hellmuth throws some obscenities at 
him and Sheikhan says he is out of line. Hellmuth tells him that he is out of line and 
that he is too stupid to know it. Sheikhan claims that he has to reason to single him 
out. When Hellmuth cannot see why, Sheikhan says, “You are playing bad, got a losing 
hand, and you are just trying to get some TV time. Muck your hand, idiot.” Hellmuth 
continues and reads Annie Duke wrong. 
Later Shana asks Sheikhan, “What do you think set him off?” 
“Playing bad,” Sheikhan responds. 

8)  Freddy Deeb blows up at the entire table on High Stakes Poker
Video

Freddy Deeb takes a break from the table to smoke and is accused of removing chips from 
the table. The producer of the show verifies that he did NOT remove any chips but they 
still joke with
him about it. Deeb, who cannot decide if in fact they are joking, takes it quite 
personally. Shawn Sheikhan stirs up the situation by blaming Daniel, then later claims 
that Johnny Chan started it, and then the uproar begins to die down. Freddy Deeb says 
it’s all right to joke about it but when Todd
Brunson asks him how much he “went south for,” things really heat up. 

9)  Phil Hellmuth and Hoyt Corkins at the 2005 WSOP Tournament of Champions
Video

During the 2005 WSOP Tournament of Champions, Phil Hellmuth clashed a few times with 
Hoyt Corkins. After several occasions of both winning and losing those hands, Phil’s 
bluff gets called.
Phil Hellmuth calls the small blind with Jd 2c, Hoyt checks the big blind with 8h 4d. 
The fl op brings 8d 3h Qc. Both players check. The 5c comes on the turn. Phil checks, 
Hoyt bets out 20k and Phil raises to 70k. Hoyt makes the call. On the river comes a 7c 
and Phil bets out 65k. Hoyt Corkins tanks and says, “Boy, I don’t see no way for me to 
have the best hand, but I’m not ready to turn it over, I’ll tell you that.” He thinks a 
bit longer and says, “I can’t see no way I’m gonna win it, but I call.” Mike Matasow 
claims that there has been some great poker and it sets off Phil. Hoyt stays silent and 
Mike cuts into Phil and gives him a little more. Phil goes to complain to his dad, 
claiming that even though he lost 40 of 42 hands to Corkins at Foxwoods he still had 
chips. Phil quotes more statistics to back up his great play and Hoyt’s poor play. 

10)  Phil Hellmuth blows up at Daniel Negreanu on High Stakes Poker
Video

Phil Hellmuth raises to $3,500 pre-fl op with Ad 4c. Daniel Negreanu doubles it, raising 
to $7,000 with Ac 10s. Phil, who thinks Daniel has jacks, just calls. Daniel claims that 
Phil thinks he has tens, so Phil checks in the dark and Daniel bets $10,000 in the dark. 
The flop comes Ah 6s 10c. Phil calls Daniel’s bet in the dark. Phil checks in the dark 
again. The 2c comes on the turn; Negreanu bets $25,000. Phil asks him why he bet so much 
and Daniel laughs it off. Phil hesitates a bit and then calls, claiming that he thinks 
Negreanu has queens. A 7¬ falls on the river and Phil checks again. Daniel tries to 
figure out how much to bet and bets $40,000. Phil is clearly frustrated and calls. Phil, 
after a brief period of silence, curses up a storm.

11)  DevilFish blows up at Phil Hellmuth at the PremierLeague Poker Tournament
(no video available)
Phil Hellmuth raises preflop with 9c 9d. Devilfish is in the big blind with Ad Ac, and 
asks Phil if he is going to call a reraise and that he has a piece of crap. Hellmuth 
claims that he will probably call a reraise anyway with a piece of crap. Devilfish 
postures a little bit more and then pushes all in and Phil instantly calls. Devilfish 
says that Hellmuth must be the best reader in the game. They argue back and forth until 
the board shows 7d 9h 6d and Devilfish gets upset at the dealer, calling everyone 
disgusting. When the hand ends, the tournament director tells Devilfish, “I don’t want 
you swearing at the table or in front of the dealer,” to which DevilFish responds, “I 
was swearing at the dealer.”