Phil Ivey Wins Eighth Bracelet in HORSE Event

Phil Ivey overcame a stacked final table to win the $3,000 HORSE event at the World Series of Poker on Monday. The win not only earned Ivey another $329,840 to pad his already healthy bank account, but it also gave him his eighth World Series of Poker bracelet, tying him for 5^th all time with Erik Seidel.

The final table of the HORSE event began at 3 pm on Monday, but it took until 5 am Tuesday morning to determine a winner. The table featured a number of well-known poker pros, including Chad Brown (8^th), Jeffrey Lisandro (5^th) and John Juanda (3^rd).

But it was Bill Chen who offered Ivey the most resistance. Chen entered heads up play with more than a 3-1 chip lead, and managed to increase his advantage to nearly 5-1 before Ivey began to fight back. Despite being short stacked several times, Ivey never gave in, and eventually found himself retaking the chip lead. Finally, fourteen hours after play had begun, Ivey finished Chen off during a razz hand to take home the title.

This win marks Ivey’s fourth cash in this year’s World Series, and his first win. This follows a very successful campaign in the 2009 WSOP, which included two bracelet wins and a memorable 7^th place finish in the main event. It was another jewel in the crown for the player most consider to be the greatest poker player in the world; Ivey has won more money than any other tournament poker player in history, in addition to the millions he has won in cash games.

However, the biggest prize for Ivey may come from bracelet prop bets he made with other poker pros. While the exact number is unclear, it seems likely that the money he’ll take in from winning prop bets will be far greater than the official first prize. There are reports that Howard Lederer has an outstanding bet with Ivey worth $5,000,000 if Ivey wins two or more bracelets over the next three years. That might explain why, hours after Ivey’s win, Lederer’s twitter account was updated with just one work: “gulp.”