Phil Ivey is still alive in the WSOP Main Event, while Phil Hellmuth touched off a Twitter controversy with his play.
Phil Ivey is back at the World Series of Poker Main Event and he’s making noise. Ivey, seen by many as the top professional poker player over the past 15 years, only recently returned to organized poker tournaments.
For the better part of the past 5 years, Phil Ivey had played high stakes cash games and dabbled in other forms of gambling. Much of his time has been spent in lawsuits with casinos around the world (Crockfords, Borgata) over baccarat edge-sorting scandals.
Since his return, the 41-year old 10-time WSOP bracelet winner and 2017 inductee to the Poker Hall of Fame has been impressive. In May, Phil Ivey won a total of $2.27 million in the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Montenegro.
During the 2018 World Series of Poker, Ivey took ninth place in the $50,000 WSOP Poker Players Championship.
Phil Ivey’s 2018 WSOP Main Event
Now Phil Ivey sits with 434,200 chips in the WSOP Main Event entering Day 3, or a little over 200 blinds. The 434k chips is enough for 11th place in his flight and 26th overall in the WSOP Main Event.
While it is still relatively early in the event to make any assumptions, thousands of players have busted out and the event is now down to the final 1,182 — all of whom are in the money. Each players who made it past the bubble phase receive a minimum of $15,000. Those who advance to the final table receive at least a million dollars apiece.
Top Players Remaining in WSOP Main Event
Others notable poker pros making it through Day 3 included Andrey Pateychuk (434,200), Dario Sammartino (309,600), Jordan Cristos (304,000), former main event winner Phil Hellmuth (162,700). (Phil Hellmuth busted out on Day 4, after having a meltdown during an all-in hand.)
Still other pro players remaining in the event after three days of competition are Yueqi Zhu (429,200), Chino Rheem (390,800), Daniel Opsina (331,200), Cliff Josephy (285,400), Xuan Liu (279,600), Dan Heimiller (263,000), and Jeff Shulman (69,300) of Card Player.
Phil Hellmuth Incident: 2018 WSOP Main Event
James “Camby” Campbell went all-in holding A-9. Alex Kuzmin still had a decision to make holding K-2. Hellmuth, holding a 7-7, went on a sustained rant about the weakness of his hand, signalling to Kuzmin that he was going to fold.
Kuzmin and Hellmuth both had deep stacks, so Hellmuth’s rant showed Kuzmin that he could make the all-in call without much of a threat. One broadcaster said Phil Hellmuth should have been penalized for the ethical breach.
Phil Hellmuth Controversy
After he busted out of the event, Phil Hellmuth said, “It was 100 percent my fault. I was tired. Excuse. And he had given me a little needle. Excuse…I went off, and I should have just shut my mouth.”
The situation caused the poker community on Twitter to explode with outrage. Isaac Haxton claimed that Hellmuth’s conduct exhibits a long term pattern. Haxton tweeted, “Every time I play with @phil_hellmuth he talks about his hands in multiway pots, acts out of turn, or talks about what he folded while a hand is still in progress. Players need to step up, call the floor, demand penalties every time. TDs need to give those penalties.”
Hennigan v. Deeb
The duel between Shaun Deeb and John Hennigan for WSOP Player of the Year continues. John Hennigan busted out of the WSOP Main Event already, while Shaun Deeb remains active. If Deeb can remain alive into the low hundreds, he can catch Hennigan for the Player of the Year points lead.
