Phil Hellmuth ignites poker world with controversial move that he says wasn’t a fold

This was totally a fold.

This may come as no surprise to those of you who know about Phil Hellmuth and his various controversial moments, but he’s involved in another controversy.

This time, it involves something known as “angle-shooting,” which I’ve described as the poker equivalent of balking in baseball — basically, if you make a move like you’re going to fold your cards and you’re not folding? That’s not OK, because then your opponents may react a certain way when they assume you’re folding.

Here’s the situation: During a live-stream of a no-limit Hold ‘Em game, Hellmuth had Ace-9 offsuit with an Ace on the board, and his opponent — a poker streamer known as “Slime” had Ace-6. Slime moved all-in, and Hellmuth let out a, “[Expletive], I just have no idea what to do here.”

That’s when he appeared to slide his covered cards toward the middle of the table. Most people — everyone? — would assume this was a fold.

It was not. And Slime turned his cards over. (WARNING: NSFW language ahead)

This is angle-shooting, in my opinion. Hellmuth should give this guy the money he won. And others agreed:

Hellmuth responded:

He should definitely give this guy something back.

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