Clash of the Phil's

Phil Hellmuth who isn't exactly known for being modest or keeping his opinions to himself was recently asked if he thought Phil Ivey could ever best his 11 WSOP bracelets. Hellmuth's response was

“Ivey won't pass me in five years. That's impossible... I shouldn't say it’s impossible, I don't think it'll happen.”

Well, it's not hard to imagine that Phil Ivey has a different view on the topic. When told about Hellmuth's remarks Ivey responded

“Impossible? I don’t really like the word impossible. I think it’s very possible. It’s very likely.”

With eight WSOP bracelets already under his belt in only 8 years Ivey probably has the best chance of anyone of overtaking Hellmuth who won his first WSOP over 20 years ago (1989). Ivey is on fire in both cash games and tournaments. His only problem in tournaments is that he plays for such dizzying high-stakes at cash games that winning a tournament is -EV for him. He's kept himself engaged in the tournament world only by making similarly dizzying-stakes prop bets during tournaments. It isn't unusual for him to have prop bets going for 4 or 5 times the amount of the first place prize.

On the other hand, Hellmuth is considered one of the biggest fish when he sits down at cash games. While Ivey is dominant in almost every form of poker known to man, Hellmuth is a hold'em specialist which heavily weighs on his prospects of capturing more bracelets.

If I were a betting man (and I am) I would put my money on Ivey over Hellmuth any day of the week and twice on Sunday!

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