Hellmuth Hammered on Twitter for Jesus Defence

When Phil Hellmuth defiantly came out in defence of Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson, he opened a whole can of worms about his own skeletons in the closet involvement in the Ultimate Bet scandal, and Twitter users weren’t slow in attacking the Poker Brat…

The reason for the heat being turned on Hellmuth was this very bold statement in defence of Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson’s ‘too little, too late’ 42-second statement on the Full Tilt Poker debacle…

Hellmuth’s own role in the separate Ultimate Bet scandal, in which $millions were stolen from unsuspecting players by Russ Hamilton and others who exploited a ‘Godmode’ backdoor allowing them to view opponents’ hole cards, made him one of the least well-placed men to defend Ferguson in some eyes…

Although the Ultimate Bet cheating was not carried out by Hellmuth, both he and Annie Duke, two of the most famous poker faces back in the day, were recruited by Hamilton to promote Ultimate Bet. Both became mired in the controversy which surrounded UB, continuing in their roles for the site, despite many calls for such high-profile players to distance themselves from the wrong-doings.

Hellmuth has emerged from the UB days relatively unscathed, unlike Duke who is a reviled figure in the poker community for her involvement, but the Poker Brat’s defence of Ferguson may well colour attitudes going forward…

Ferguson’s 42-second cue-card statement has come in for an immense amount of hate, many believing an apology should have come years ago and in a much expanded form, Daniel Negreanu top of the list for hitting the piñata as hard as he could…

…and by the end of the day even Hellmuth was regretting his words as Twitter’s poker community rounded on him…

One thing is for sure, Ferguson’s ‘apology’ and Hellmuth’s defence of the former Full Tilt founder will make this summer’s WSOP an interesting place to be.