If there’s one thing UB.com pro and 11-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth has proven over the last few years, it’s that he will do anything for attention. Whether it’s dressing up as Julius Caesar, ranting at players on live TV, or collapsing in a heap of tears after a gut-wrenching tournament elimination, nothing the UB.com pro does is surprising.
It came as no shock, then, that Hellmuth was spotted in rapper Ludacris’ video for his new song “Sex Room” (featuring Trey Songz). That’s right, Hellmuth appears about two minutes into the six-minute video – presumably in the “sex room” at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas – in an impromptu poker game with a hoard of UB.com chips in front of him. Suffice to say that among a group of rappers and scantily clad models, the UB.com branded Hellmuth looks slightly out of place.
Undoubtedly an advertising ploy by UB.com, it’s slightly amusing that the company thought it was a good idea to plant its conspicuously pale, middle aged, family oriented poster-boy in a lewd rap video with following lyrics: “Welcome to my sex room! Where your body meets my body it’s our private after party if you want it girl I got it in my sex room! Candles and a pole, sets your body to your soul. From the bed down to the floor… sex room! Mirrors in the headboard, even got a camcorder. Baby won’t you dance in the sex room?”
In any case, the video has people talking, so it could be a brilliant marketing scheme after all. Unfortunately for Hellmuth, much of the chatter is about how bad the song and video are. While it’s possible UB.com could have picked a better tune for the Poker Brat to support, given Hellmuth’s history, it was probably his idea in the first place.
With the 2010 WSOP less than a week away from kick-off, there’s no telling what Hellmuth has in store for the poker community this year. The question isn’t whether or not he’ll do something, but rather how over the top and spectacular it will be.