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Player Update: Phil Ivey

15th July 2009

If Phil Ivey played as many events as Phil Hellmuth he'd probably have about 20 bracelets right now

No, your not seeing double: Phil Ivey has won his SECOND bracelet at the 2009 WSOP....

Poker journalists ran out of superlatives for Phil Ivey about 3 years ago so his accomplishments at the 2009 WSOP are hardly surprising.

We all knew that a focused Ivey could almost win as many bracelets as he wants – and this year he seems to be playing close to 100%. Just nine days after capturing his 6th bracelet in $2,500 2-7 Lowball, he followed it up with a 7th! This time the $2,500 Omaha/Seven Stud Hi/Lo was his target as he bested 375 other runners to take down the first prize of $220,538. How much is a second victory worth in prop bets? When the man himself says “I scooped all bracelet bets”, you have to imagine that it is a SERIOUS amount of money.

Ivey had to overcome a decent final table to take this one down – the likes of Carlos Mortensen (3rd, $89,342), Dutch Boyd (4th, $61,919) and Jon Turner (5th, $45,237) were all in attendance. But as is usually the case, no-one could out-last him and he has now drawn level with Bill Baxter on 7 bracelets – and just one behind Erik Seidel in 5th.

Barry Greenstein was effusive in his praise for Ivey, telling Poker Listings: “A motivated Phil Ivey is a hard thing to stop. He had a lot of side bets and he doesn't seem to be distracted this year. This year he is focused.” And in a quote that is sure to delight the forums, he added: “If Phil Ivey played as many events as Phil Hellmuth he'd probably have about 20 bracelets right now.”

I don’t really think that anything else needs to be said about Phil Ivey – we all know how sick he is. The only question that now remains is not if, but when he will overtake Phil Hellmuth in the all-time bracelet winners list. And how many more can he win this series?