Pondering about Phil Hellmuth

I think I've mentioned on here that I've been listening to Cardplayer's Audio Coverage of the Final Table of the Main Event. The majority of the time Phil Hellmuth was on the mic, along with a number of other players. Listening to about 10 hours of Hellmuth (It ran like 14.5 hours, we'll give him some time off) gives you some insight into the man.

I'm avoiding giving spoilers here, in case you've lived under a rock for 4 months.

• Phil is genuinely agrieved when someone plays badly. I know Phil realizes that bad play gives him money, but that doesn't make it any easier for him to stomach. An awful play is made at the final table, and Phil kept talking about it over and over and over again.
• Phil is genuinely agrieved when superior play goes unrewarded. A player comes from way behind (after Phil believed that he played badly, no less) to double through a player who made a sensational call. Phil's reaction is great, he just can't STAND it.
• Within 2 minutes of the final card hitting the table, Phil congratulates the champion, presumably on stage. We saw what he did to Raymer this past week on the telly, where he went up to him at the feature table and told him how impressed he was. My theory is: Phil Hellmuth is not doing this because he has an inflated ego. I think Phil's doing this because he feels that he is an ambassador for poker to the outside world. He's appointed himself this position, and genuinely means well in all of these situations.

Well, hopefully that's the last ponderings I do on Hellmuth in this space for quite some time. Maybe I'll ponder busting him in a tournament one day. If I'm lucky, I won't even be able to spell "poekrr"