Doyle Brunson is generally considered either one of the best poker players of all time or THE best poker player of all time. Phil Ivey is generally considered to be one of the best players right now or THE best player right now. A match up between these two would have to be pretty intriguing to any with even the slightest interest in poker.

Phil Ivey, ever the gambler, was willing to play a game of Doyle Sez where Doyle gets to pick the games. They played six-card Razz with the best low of 75432. "I played that a lot 30-40 years ago and it’s a tricky game," Doyle wrote. He says that Phil caught on the game pretty fast, but Doyle held all the cards and beat his opponent. "I’ve got some more games for him if he wants to continue," Doyle continued.

When it was all said and done Doyle won $2 million dollars. Somehow I don't think Phil Ivey is quite done with him though.

Posted under Cash games

Reading Phil Ivey news every day is weird because a lot of stories just don't surprise you. Phil won a million dollars at Full Tilt? Seems about right. Phil Ivey played a game of golf for $25k per hole? Figures. Phil made an early exit from a tournament? Of course he did.

Day 2 at the World Poker Tour Doyle Brunson Classic Championship was the final day of major tournament poker for a lot of players in 2008. The day began with a field of 376 who had survived from day 1A and 1B flights, but by the end of play, only 139 remained. The field shrank at an accelerated rate throughout the day, and it is very likely that the money bubble will burst tomorrow in this $15,000 no-limit hold'em event.

I've written a lot in the past about Phil Ivey's tournament strategy, but it's getting to the point now where I am openly questioning it. Does he just play these tournaments to keep his name out there and his face on TV? According to the Hendon Database Phil has won just over $2 million in tournaments this year. You would think he had to be up, but when you include all the buy-ins you have to wonder how much? Would $50k be worth it?

Posted under Tournaments

Someday we will be posting updates about the Phil Ivey Classic, a tournament dedicated the greatest poker player the world has ever seen. Hell, at some point we could see the Phil Ivey Memorial World Series of Poker Main Event. The sky is the limit. However, until that day we just have the Doyle Brunson Classic who is a pretty legendary poker player in his own right. After Day 1A Phil Ivey sits at 83k in chips. The leader? Another Phil, Phil Hellmuth.

Day 1A of the 2008 Five Diamond World Poker Classic Main Event, aka the "Doyle Brunson Classic", is now in the books. A familiar name is sitting with the chip lead, as Phil Hellmuth Jr. finished the day with a stack of 188k, putting him comfortably in the lead at the conclusion of the first day of play.

Interesting to note is that Clonie Gowen is playing in this tournament. Clonie, if you remember, is currently suing a lot of Full Tilt pros over a perceived slight. You think playing against Phil Ivey is scary? Try playing against him when you're suing him. Woah.

Posted under Tournaments

High Stakes Poker has just announced it's players for season 5. For the 5th season they are raising the minimum buy-in to $200,000 so it should be pretty exciting. Whenever there is a game with that kind of money, you know Phil Ivey isn't far behind.

High Stakes Poker has just announced its lineup of stars and professionals for its fifth season, and it’s sure to generate excitement as the list includes some of the most well-known poker players in the world, as well as the top two finishers of the 2008 main event.

Phil Ivey will be joined by such pros as Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Laak, Howard Lederer, Barry Greenstein and 2008 WSOP champion Peter Eastgate. It should be pretty exciting as towards the end of last season players were buying in for as much as $500,000. Sounds right up Phil's alley.

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Posted under Cash games

One of the absolute coolest things about high stakes poker is the ability to run it twice. What is that exactly? I'll let Daniel Negrenau explain:

All I had at the moment was a pair of threes with a 6 kicker, but I was still close to a 2-1 favorite to win the pot. Doyle finally agreed to run it twice, which suited me just fine. I was thinking to myself, "Winning both would be awesome, but breaking even wouldn't be such a horrible result."

Now, when I say "run it twice," I mean the dealer would burn and turn as usual. Whoever had the best hand after all five community cards were faceup would be up one leg.

Then, both the turn and river cards would be thrown into the muck and the dealer would once again burn and turn, revealing a new turn card as well as a new river card. If you win both legs, you win the whole pot. If you win just one leg, you split the middle. If you lose both legs - well, you cry about your bad luck! Read More...

Posted under blog

This post was written by No Home Phil on December 4, 2008

Tags: aced poker, Daniel Negreanu, deal it twice, Doyle Brunson, phil ivey, Run it twice