Phil Ivey Wins Eighth WSOP Bracelet - Closing in on Hellmuth

Phil Ivey continues to prove that he is the best player in the world today by taking down his 8th WSOP bracelet in Event #37, $3000 HORSE. Ivey's win banked the Full Tilt Poker pro $329,840 but the real money is in Phil's side/prop bets with other players. In fact, much joking has taken place after Phil Ivey had to ask how much the first place prize was completely unaware of what the payout was.

See for someone who has at least $5 million riding on a bet with Howard Lederer the $329,840 payout is tipping money for someone like Phil. And that's just one of several rumored big money side bets Phil has made on himself.

The truth is that Ivey needs the side action to make tournaments worth his while. He's never really taken tournament poker seriously because a $330K win is often less than what he can make in a few hands at cash games. So either he or Howard Lederer figured out that the best way to keep Phil's head in the game was to put enough zeros behind is payday that it was worth it to him. Thus Lederer's $5 million bet. Lederer and Full Tilt probably won't even mind paying out because of all the of insane media coverage and publicity it brings to Full Tilt.

Congrats to Phil on his 8th WSOP bracelet and good luck on catching Phil Hellmuth.

Want to take a shot at Phil Ivey yourself? Sign up at Full Tilt Poker and get a $600 bonus.

Want to play poker with Phil Ivey?

This week saw the first airing of Full Tilt Poker's, The Poker Lounge, in the UK market (Channel 4). One Full Tilt qualifier matched wits with Team Full Tilt players like Phil Ivey and Gus Hansen.

The format is a $20K buy-in where six players battle it out for a chance at a winner-take-all $120K prize pool. Each week one online qualifier will play against a table of sharks supplied from Full Tilt Poker's pro lineup.

If you want to catch the show it airs weekly starting at 00:05.

Find out more about The Poker Lounge

Phil Ivey Bluffing With Nothing

With Phil Ivey it almost becomes commonplace to see him bluff with absolutely nothing. Here he pushes Vekdhuis off of a hand with nothing more than 52o.

Phil Ivey Top Vote Getter in WSOP TOC

It should come as no surprise that one of the best and most liked players in the world received the most votes for to be included in the WSOP Tournament of Champions event. Phil will join other top pros such as Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Phil hellmuth, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Johnny Chan, Howard Lederer, Greg Raymer, Mike Matusow, Annie Duke, and Barry Greenstein for a chance to win the $500,000 first place prize (runner-up gets $250,000, third gets $100,000, and fourth through ninth get $25,000 each).

Play will start at the Rio on Sunday, June 27 at noon. Players will play until they bust out or complete four one-hour levels (whichever comes first). At that point the players will go home and rest for the evening and the remaining players will return on Money, June 28th at noon. Again the players will play until they bust or four one-hour levels. All remaining players will return on Sunday, July 4 for the final showdown.

Vote Getters

Phil Ivey (16,267 votes)



Daniel Negreanu (16,239 votes)



Doyle Brunson (13,796 votes)



Phil Hellmuth (12,637 votes)



Chris Freguson (11,585 votes)



Allen Cunningham (10,486 votes)



Johnny Chan (10,434 votes)



Scotty Nguyen (9,834 votes)



Barry Greenstein (9,806 votes)



John Juanda (8,835 votes)



Erik Seidel (8,802 votes)



Jennifer Harman (8,206 votes)



Huck Seed (8,180 votes)



Dan Harrington (7,342 votes)



TJ Cloutier (6,281 votes)



Sammy Farha (6,085 votes)



Howard Lederer (5,596 votes)



Greg Raymer (5,404 votes)



Joe Hachem (5,272 votes)



Antonio Esfandiari (5,129 votes)

Automatic Entries

Annie Duke - 2004 TOC Champion



Mike Matusow - 2005 TOC Champion



Mike Sexton - 2006 TOC CHampion



Joe Cada 2009 WSOP ME Champion



Barry Shulman - 2009 WSOPE ME Champion

Exemptions

Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier - WSOP Academy Playoff Winner



Andrew Barton - WSOP.COM UK Qualifier

Want to play with pro players like Phil Ivey, Allen Cunningham, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, John Juanda, Erik Seidel, Jen Harman, Huck Seed, Howard Lederer, and Mike Matusow? Check out Full Tilt Poker for more details!!

Join Phil at the WSOP Main Event

Until Sunday June 20th you can get in on Full Tilt Poker’s WSOP Main Event Week which has more than 200 WSOP seats up for grabs. At least five WSOP Main Event prize packages will be available daily. The finale of the WSOP Main Event Week will be a $640 buy-in 150 Seat Guarantee on Sunday June 20th at 18:00 ET.

The prize packages include a $10,000 Main Event buy-in plus $2000 in spending money for a total value of $12,000.

Package winners will also have access to the Full Tilt Poker hospitality suite at the Rio Hotel. They’ll also receive free off-Strip accommodations during their stay in Las Vegas.

More information on the Full Tilt Poker Main Event Week

Phil Ivey and Tom "Durrrr" Dwan in Monster Pot

Absolutely sick, sick bluff by Tom Dwan against Phil Ivey.

Tony G and Phil Ivey in $233K Pot

You have to wonder what Phil Ivey put Tony G on in this hand. There aren't many hands that Tony would push with here that Phil Ivey could beat.

Men "The Master" Nguyen Ties Phil Ivey

Men "The Master" Nguyen took home another WSOP bracelet this year at the 2010 WSOP. His win at the $10,000 seven-card stud put a seventh golden bracelet on his wrist and tied him for sixth place in overall bracelet wins with Phil Ivey and Billy Baxter. Nguyen takes home $394,800 for his efforts.

It was reported that in typical Nguyen style he played the final table with an aggressive style that frustrated many of his opponents. He played several hands without even looking at his cards and his verbal jousting with runner-up Brandon Adams was considered over the line at times.

Here are the final table payouts for the $10,000 WSOP Seven-Card Stud Event

1. Men Nguyen -- $394,800

2. Brandon Adams -- $243,958

3. Steve Billirakis -- $152,788

4. Nikolay Evdakov -- $110,629

5. Joe Cassidy -- $86,461

6. Michael Mizrachi -- $68,949

7. Vladimir Schmelev -- $55,991

8. Sirous Jamshidi -- $46,206

Phil Ivey's Grandfather, Leonard 'Bud' Simmons

Phil Ivey certainly has many major accomplishments under his belt but it could be argued that he's running second to his own grandfather Leonard 'Bud' Simmons. Leonard, or Bud as he was known to family and friends, was the first black policeman, the first black police commissioner, and first black school board member of his town Roselle. Not content on those accomplishments Bud also was the founding president of the Roselle branch of the NAACP and organized the Union County African-American Republicans.

Bud participated in the Washington marches in 1963 and the Selma/Montgomery march in 1965. He met with both Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X. He was a staunch fighter for equal rights and spearheaded many civil rights initiatives in Roselle.

Before accomplishing all of that Bud served in World War II with the 648th Ordnance Company participating in the French, Belgium, England, and German campaigns. He was awarded five battle stars and received two citations for meritorious service.

Bud Simmon passed away in 2007 at the age of 87. His daughter Simmons Ivey and her son, poker wonder kid Phil Ivey, founded the Budding Ivey Foundation to provide educational opportunities to at-risk children.