Phil Ivey wins 6th WSOP bracelet

After a bracelet drought of more than four years, Phil Ivey has won the $ 2,500 No-limit 2-7 Draw event in the early hours of this morning. This is Ivey’s 6th WSOP bracelet and puts him in a five-place tie in seventh place for the all-time bracelet wins.

Ivey started the day as one of the shorter stacks on the final table but his experience showed through once getting short-handed as he continually took down pot after pot with reraises and constant pressure. The crowd at the Rio embraced Ivey as their favourite and he didn’t disappoint by coming from behind and defeating John Mennette heads-up. In customary Ivey fashion, he didn’t hang around for interviews with the media, instead moving swiftly onto the $ 10,000 Mixed Games event where he promptly crashed out.

Ivey netted $ 96,361 for the win but that pales into insignificance compared to the amount of money he will have wagered on bracelet bets with fellow high stakes pros. Last year it was reported that Ivey lost at least $ 2,000,000 by failing to win a bracelet – this latest result may well have seen him erase that defict and then some.

Consistently the biggest winner in online poker cash games and, presumably, one of the most consistent winners in the Big Game at Bobby’s Room Ivey is often hailed as the best poker player in the world. He excels not only in No-limit Hold’em but a huge variety of games such as this event that he has just won.

If he can re-focus on tournament poker then Phil Hellmuth’s record of 11 WSOP bracelets may be in danger within a few years. When he is playing his A-game, there may be nobody better than Phil Ivey in any poker variant.