Phil Hellmuth's father has passed away

On Sunday, after a nine-month battle with cancer, Phil Hellmuth Sr., the father of poker legend Phil Hellmuth, passed away. He built a remarkable career, held MBA, JD, and PhD degrees, and worked his entire life at the University of Wisconsin. Because of this, Hellmuth Sr. long refused to accept his son's choice to drop out of school for professional poker.

I was the son who was supposed to go to college and get good grades. I was the son he desperately tried to mold.

Their relationship warmed in 1989, when his father came to the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. That trip started a years-long tradition, and Hellmuth Sr. came to support his son at the WSOP for 34 years.

Back then, most people considered a poker career something akin to dealing drugs. But he came for me, and it was a huge source of support.

Back then, the 24-year-old Phil beat Johnny Chan heads-up, won his first gold bracelet and $755,000.

Literally a few seconds later, I started scanning the room. Where's my dad? And suddenly my dad appears, running between the bleachers. There's $1 million in cash sitting on the table, security tries to stop him, but I wave at them to let him through. The hug my father and I shared in that moment became one of the sweetest hugs of my life! Dad tells me how proud he is of me. He tells me how much he loves me. My father is by my side at the moment I achieve my life's goal. For me, that's absolutely priceless.

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