Phil Ivey Wins Super High Roller at Aussie Millions

Phil Ivey may have come up short in his bid to win the Aussie Millions Main Event, but he wasn’t content to leave town without a win. Ivey took down the $250,000 Super High Roller event at the Aussie Millions on Saturday, taking home a $2 million prize.

As with most high roller events, the tournament field was small, but certainly strong. A total of 16 players took part, resulting in a $4 million prize pool. However, getting into the money wouldn’t be easy; much like an online sit-and-go, the tournament would only play the top three players.

The majority of the tournament field was made up of top flight professional players looking for a huge score. Ivey was joined by players like Patrik Antonius, Daniel Negreanu, Jason Mercier, Gus Hansen, Tom Dwan and Erik Seidel, among others. In addition, a handful of amateurs with plenty of money to spend took part to round out the field.

After hours of battling, the final four players were left to battle for a spot in the money. This bubble was far from typical, however, as the third place player would receive a whopping $800,000, while the fourth would get nothing.

Hansen, Negreanu, Ivey and Antonius were the final four, and it was Negreanu who would ultimately be left out in the cold. He went out in a hand against Antonius where Negreanu pushed all-in with A8, only to lose to Antonius’ JJ.

Ultimately, Hansen would go out in 3^rd place, collecting $800,000. That left Ivey and Antonius to battle for first place. At the start of their head-to-head confrontation, Ivey held a small chip lead, and it appeared as though fans could look forward to a long and tough heads-up battle.

But less than an hour into the match, Ivey won a pot that gave him a 7-1 chip lead over Antonius. That put Antonius on the ropes, forcing him to take a chance by moving all-in with K3. Ivey called with AQ, putting Antonius at risk for his tournament life. A three on the flop gave Antonius the lead, but a turned queen gave Ivey the upper hand. When the river was a blank, Ivey had won the biggest score of his tournament career.

With the win, Ivey as leapfrogged Negreanu and now sits in second place all time in live tournament earnings with about $16 million. The only player with more tournament winnings is Seidel, at nearly $16.9 million.