BY TOM SOMACH

Poker champ Phil “Poker Brat” Hellmuth Jr. may make millions of dollars playing poker and endorsing products, but he’s always up to making an additional buck or two whenever possible.

PokerHelper.com has learned that Hellmuth commands a whopping $50,000–plus expenses–to make a personal appearance.

Hellmuth, who has won 11 World Series of Poker championship gold bracelets, more than anyone in history, is one of many celebrities represented by the Harper Collins Speakers Bureau (www.harpercollinsspeakersbureau.com), which arranges for celebs to make paid speeches and personal appearances.

According to the bureau’s website, the bureau handles celebrities as diverse as singer Gloria Estefan, newsman Anderson Cooper of CNN and actor Sidney Poitier, among others.

Curious as to what a top poker pro is worth in this era of media mega-exposure, PokerHelper.com, posing as a corporate CEO, e-mailed the Harper Collins Speakers Bureau to inquire about Hellmuth’s cost.

The bureau was told Hellmuth was wanted for a corporate function on the East Coast of the USA involving a couple of hundred people, and that the poker pro would be asked to speak and then hobnob with attendees, total appearance time about two hours.

Here’s the reply we got:

“Thanks so much for your inquiry about Mr. Hellmuth. His fee is $50,000 plus first-class airfare, all ground transportation at origin and destination cities, hotel suite and meals. Let me know if you would like me to check his availability for specific dates.”

Fifty-thousand a speech?

That’s more than many real celebrities make, not just guys who play cards for a living.

Not bad, Phil.

With fees like that, you don’t even have to play poker any more.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)