Lucky Number 7 as Full Tilt Poker’s Phil Ivey wins another WSOP Bracelet

Whether it was seasoned poker veterans, young online pros or railbirds who have never played a hand of poker all thoughts were on the Full Tilt Poker Pro the day after winning his seventh WSOP bracelet – “the entire Amazon Room was still buzzing about the
Phil Ivey’s victory in Event 25,the talk was all Ivey” – Poker Listings.

“It’s certainly very impressive,” said the usually stoic Barry Greenstein. “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.”

By winning his seventh bracelet (second this year) Ivey moved into a tie with Billy Baxter for sixth place all-time in World Series bracelets.

Ivey seemed genuinely excited about the bracelet, which strikes a stark contrast to some of his previous wins. He even mentioned his place in poker history as a motivating factor.
“Making two final tables and being able to win both of them really means something to me,” said Ivey. “I’ve decided that I want to win some bracelets and a few more tournaments.”

Ivey is now within striking distance of Erik Seidel who has eight bracelets and the late Johnny Moss who accumulated nine bracelets in a life time of poker.

“If Phil Ivey keeps playing the [World Series] he will be the one that ends up with the most bracelets,” said Greenstein.
Phil Hellmuth still owns the top spot on the all-time bracelet leaderboard with 11 but some question how long Hellmuth will be safe from Ivey.
“I don’t see them as comparable players,” said Greenstein. “If Phil Ivey played as many events as Phil Hellmuth he’d probably have about 20 bracelets right now.”

Greenstein mentioned that with Ivey it’s never a matter of skill but of motivation.

Immediately after Ivey’s win rumors were running rampant that he could be winning as much as $10 million from side-bets. While that number was never confirmed there was speculation that Ivey could be hurting the poker economy by keeping some of the well-known players out of the action.

Greenstein was quick to dispel that theory.
“He’s taking money out [of the poker economy] but Phil helps a lot of people too so he puts it back in,” said Greenstein. “If he takes a couple thousand from someone that has millions of dollars I don’t think that has much of an effect.”
In typical Ivey fashion the Full Tilt Pro showed up late for his own bracelet ceremony this morning despite a large crowd that had gathered to witness Ivey receive his historic seventh bracelet.

*World Series of Poker and WSOP are trademarks of Harrah’s Interactive Entertainment, Inc. or its affiliates (collectively Harrah’s). HIE does not sponsor or endorse, and is not associated or affiliated with, Rakeback.co.uk or its products, services, promotions or tournaments. Any promotion or tournament on this site will not guarantee your seat or ability to register for any WSOP event or any WSOP affiliated event which is at the sole discretion of Harrah’s.