Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey Meet Barack Obama

Check out this video blog with Daniel discussing flying out to Los Angeles to go to an Obama fundraiser. 

Phil Ivey to Host Charity Tournament

Phil Ivey will be hosting the Budding Ivey Game Night Celebration at the Golden Nugget to benefit charity on Tuesday, July 1st.  Seats are open to the public.  Buy-in is $1,000 with $500 rebuys. 

Phil Ivey Out in $50,000 H.O.R.S.E Event

Ivey went out in 12th ($159,840) when he got into a hand with Scotty Nguyen.  Ivey had Nguyen all the way to the river while playing stud but Scotty drew lucky and Phil was sent to the rails.

Does Phil Ivey Have A Gambling Problem?

Although it's hard to confirm anything but rumor has it that Phil Ivey has two $2 million bets out.  The first is whether or not he'll take a bracelet home this WSOP for $2 million and the other is $2 million on whether or not the Lakers basketball team wins the championships.  I can understand the fact that Phil Ivey has a bankroll I can't even dream of but the more and more you hear about stuff like this you wonder how similar he is to poker savants like Stu Unger. 

I've been fortunate enough to chat with some of the people who know Phil the best like Howard Lederer and other top name pros and they can do nothing more than sing his praises.  I get a sense that people don't give his poker game the cred it deserves because it would be disrespectful to people like Doyle Brunson, Chip Reese and ultimately guys like Stu Unger.  Not that they disrespect his game.  Most pros will readily admit he's the best player in the world but you have to bow down to the idols and Phil Ivey hasn't crossed that legend threshold just yet. 

Phil was rumoured to have a major leak at the craps tables and his props bets are legendary.  One has to wonder that when you live life so close to that edge between winner and loser if it doesn't make you take the worst of it in some sort of bizarre psychological need to try to beat every game.  Unger was famous (or infamous, depending on how you look at it) for winning big at the poker tables and then getting himself stuck on sports betting.  Is Phil suffering a similar sort of disease? 

Of course, some pros are quick to point out the Phil's bankroll is bigger than some tip name pro's entire net worth but his willingness to take on -EV challenges like craps points in the direction that at his heat Phil is a gambler.  Some of his most amazing calls or bluffs take on a whole new light when you think that he would rather dump $10,000 on an entry fee than pass up a good gambling opportunity. 

Let's just hope he keeps his hear on straight and becomes a model for all current and future poker players.

WSOP Event #5 $1,000 No Limit Hold’em

Phil Ivey started the event off strong and came into day two as the chip leader.  Ivey ran into some bad luck and his stack was cut down to about average.  Ivey then ran into two unlucky hands against the same player was was finished off.

First hand had Ivey holding QQ against AJ with his opponent catching an ace on the turn.  Soon after Ivey got all his money in with AK on a A34 flop only to get called down by his opponent who was holding AA. 

A Poem to Phil Ivey

Phil Ivey is a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. Phil has been known to remodel train stations on his tournament breaks, making them more efficient in the area of heat retention. Phil translates ethnic slurs for Cuban refugees, he writes award-winning operas, he manages time efficiently. Occasionally, he treads water for three days in a row.

Phil Ivey woos women with his sensuous and godlike trombone playing, he can pilot bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and he cooks 30-Minute Brownies in twenty minutes. He is an an expert in stucco, a veteran in love, and an outlaw in Peru.

Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, Phil once single-handedly defended a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious army ants. He plays bluegrass cello, he was scouted by the Mets, he is the subject of numerous documentaries. When Phil's bored, he builds large suspension bridges in his yard. He enjoys urban hang gliding. On Wednesdays, after playing in Bobby's Room, Phil repairs electrical appliances free of charge.

Phil Ivey is an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie. Critics worldwide swoon over his original line of corduroy evening wear. He doesn't perspire. Phil has been caller number nine and have won the weekend passes. Last summer he toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force demonstration. He bats 400. His deft floral arrangements have earned him fame in international botany circles. Children trust him.

Phil can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy. He once read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, and David Copperfield in one day and still had time to refurbish an entire dining room that evening. He knows the exact location of every food item in the supermarket. He has performed several covert operations for the CIA. He sleeps once a week; when he does sleep, he sleeps in a chair. While on vacation in Canada, Phil successfully negotiated with a group of terrorists who had seized a small bakery. The laws of physics do not apply to him.

He balances, he weaves, he dodges, he frolics, and his bills are all paid. On weekends, to let off steam, Phil participates in full-contact origami. Years ago he discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down. Phil has made extraordinary four course meals using only a mouli and a toaster oven. He breeds prizewinning clams. He has won bullfights in San Juan, cliff-diving competitions in Sri Lanka, and spelling bees at the Kremlin. Phil has played Hamlet, he has performed open-heart surgery, and he has spoken with Elvis.

But he has never won the Main Event.

Via 2+2

Phil Ivey Playing Basketball

There's a thread going on over at 2+2 where people are posting pics of black people and claiming it's Phil Ivey

I KNOWZ UR HAND, YOU SHOULD PROLLY FOLD OR I WILL KILL YOU....