Phil Hellmuth Remembers Big Al Emerson After His Death
The Wisconsin poker figure was credited with inventing Archie and recalled for several early encounters with Hellmuth.
Phil Hellmuth said Big Al Emerson died over the weekend, and he paid tribute to the Wisconsin poker figure as an old friend. In the tribute, Hellmuth also credited Emerson with inventing Archie, a mixed game he described as a high-low split format with special qualifiers.
According to PokerNews, Hellmuth said he first met Emerson in a $10-$20 limit hold’em game at the Stardust Casino in Las Vegas in 1986. Emerson lived in La Crosse, Wisconsin, while Hellmuth was based in Madison, and Hellmuth said Emerson was the first professional poker player he befriended.
Hellmuth said the two hit it off right away, and that Emerson later introduced him to some of the biggest poker players and biggest poker games in Wisconsin. He said, “With Big Al, I had found a professional poker player I could hang out with, learn from, and observe.”
He also remembered Emerson’s personality in vivid detail. Hellmuth called him “the life of the party,” said he gave “plenty of action,” and wrote that no one minded losing their money to him. He described Emerson as a 6-foot-7, 320-pound man with light-brown hair, brown eyes, and a pleasant personality.
PokerNews said Emerson made a living playing poker for 35 years before shifting to “greener pastures” and beginning to book “a bet or two.” Hellmuth said Emerson played poker every day for decades, then kept playing two or three times a week in Phoenix for the last 25 years until the very end. The same report said The Hendon Mob listed Emerson with $237,637 in lifetime tournament earnings, including a runner-up finish in the 1985 WSOP $1,000 no-limit hold’em event, 14th in the 1990 WSOP Main Event, and fifth-place finishes in two 1996 WSOP events.
Hellmuth said Emerson confronted him after he bluffed off his stack to Johnny Chan in the 1988 WSOP Main Event, then was there to celebrate when Hellmuth won the 1989 Main Event. A separate Card Player article described Archie as a five-card triple-draw high-low split game that originated in the Phoenix area, adding that the name honors a gentleman who had a rough start when it was first introduced.
