Phil Hellmuth Quotes

Being able to pit your wits against literally hundreds of other people is really exciting and ultimately the biggest single challenge for a poker player.

But I want people to understand that poker's not all glamorous, it's not all being on TV and making tons of money. It's a hard life. It's a lot of travel. It's a lot of weird hours.

During my first Olympics in 1980, at the age of 23, I was physically in great condition but mentally too inexperienced to cope comfortably in the pressure cooker of an Olympic year.

For five or six years, I didn't play in some of the good games leading up to the World Series of Poker, because with so many below-average players there, I reasoned it messed up my game.

Mental and physical preparation is critical in tournament poker events like the WSOP.

At the highest level, you are playing the best from an opposing country, so the margin of error is very little.

I've been at the table with some really great poker players. I'm sure Vince McMahon is a hell of a poker player.

I don't think anyone could have predicted that I would have gone in less than a year from not knowing how many cards were in a deck to winning a major poker title.

One of the hardest parts of this game, and what I don't think people understand, is the mental side of it. They think, 'Oh, he's a big, stronger guy.' But let me tell you, and I believe this without question: It's not always the biggest, strongest, meanest, toughest-looking who gets the job done.

The Special Ops community has always been about mental toughness.

Poker is about understanding human behavior and managing emotions - yours and the other guy's. That's huge in poker, and it's huge in business.

I work better under pressure. I was the local badminton champion when I was a kid, and there was another girl who used to thrash me for the five days leading up to the tournament and then I would just nail her to the floor in the competition.

To beat Wladimir Klitschko, I have to be better than I've ever been.

Formula One applies stresses to the mind and body that are very extreme.

You have to go into every event with 100 percent confidence and just surf your best because everyone there is there to win, and no one is going to give you the heat. You have to win by a mile to really make a heat.

To play at Real Madrid, it is not enough to just have football quality. You must be mentally strong.

Players at the top level have to be ready for everything.

At home is where you have to be stronger and get more points and make the other team feel uncomfortable.

When you're going out with the attitude that you want to win, you can't get caught up in the style of play.

You've got to want to compete with the best of the best and when the pressure's on.

Being in a Grand Slam, doesn't matter what you did before, it's always nervous and excitement.

I have no doubt in my abilities that I can beat any of the top ten guys. Once I'm focused I know I can beat them.

Many people ask, 'What do you need mentally to succeed in F1?' I say, 'What do you mean mentally?'

Michael Phelps truly has a ton of poker talent.

I think winning games is my biggest asset, knowing how to win.