If this was said in person amongst other people, there would be an awkward silence followed by: <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/K8E_zMLCRNg&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/K8E_zMLCRNg&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
This is the key. Not all poker is the same. There are categories. And it's not just the different poker games like Hold'em, Stud, Omaha, etc.. It's also about tournament poker, cash poker, and online poker. Phil Ivey is the only one who is on the leaderboard in every category: live, online, tournament, cash, non-hold'em bracelets. Many great tournament players are terrible cash game players. Many great live players suck online. Many great online players can't play live well. Ivey is the ALL AROUND best poker player. He's not a tournament Hold'em specialist (Phil Helmuth), so even though he's at the final table of the most prestigious, biggest tournament Hold'em event in the world, it just adds to his all around record. So, on any hand on any day anyone can win. And there are other pros who have bettered Ivey in terms of one-category accomplishments. It's the well rounded aspect that makes him special. He's like Micheal Phelps, the best all around swimmer...not the greatest at every single category, but the best overall.
Ivey should pay attention to his hands a little closer..... <object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/vbrdIrPrbTw&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/vbrdIrPrbTw&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>
^^ I was actually watching that hand with my brother and after we saw him muck his cards, we just looked at each other in silence like WTF?!?
Ivey lost that hand because he mucked his cards rather than turn them over because he thought he lost, and he didn't want the rest of the table to know what he was playing. He screwed up tossing away the winning flush...... He is a great player, but people give him too much respect......you can't play scared......IMO. DD
He had the winning hand, but he misread his cards and thought he had the losing hand, so he mucked them (threw the cards away). Many players muck with the losing hand because they don't want to give away any information as to what cards they play to their opponents.
I heard about him winning 13 million or so against Andrew Beal... I don't think a small mental mistake here and there is worth gasping over when you're this successful. Especially when you have such an analytical mind, there must be a reason most brilliant mathematicians are absent minded at times.
This is why Ivey is the best. All Time All Tournament Earnings Leaders: Ivey will be #1 after the Main Event is over because that's another $1.2m to $8.5m 1) Daniel Negreanu $12.4m 2) Jamie Gold $12.2m 3) Phil Ivey $12.0m 4) Phil Helmuth Jr. $10.9m 5) Joe Hachem $10.9m 6) Scotty Nguyen $10.7m 7) Peter Eastgate $10.6m 8) Allen Cunningham $10.4m 9) Erik Seidel $9.8m 10) TJ Cloutier $9.8m WSOP Events Bracelet leaders: 1) Phil Helmuth Jr. 11 2) Doyle Brunson 10 2) Johnny Chan 10 4) Erik Seidel 8 4) Jonny Moss 8 6) Phil Ivey 7 6) Bill Baxter 7 8) TJ Cloutier 6 8) Men Nguyen 6 8) Lane Flack 6 8) Jay Heimowitz Online Play Earnings for the last 2 years 1) Phil Ivey $10.6m 2) Patrik Antonius $8.3m 3) OMG ClayAiken (Phil Galfon) $7.8m 4) durrrr (Tom Dwan) $5.6m 5) trex313 $4.8m 6) Ziigmund $4.2m 7) Urindanger $3.9m 8) Howisitfeelike $3.5m 9) theASHMAN $2.9m 10) La Key U $2.4 As for Live Cash games. People really don't keep great track of that stuff because of the nature of the game. It's documented that Ivey took $16m off billionaire Andy Beal in 3 days. But that was Ivey representing a bunch of poker players, and Beal had taken them for $10m prior to that. All the talk in the poker world is that Chip Reese R.I.P. was the best live cash game player of all time in terms of career earnings. But Ivey is considered up there. And it's a tough category because you have to be super-rich in the first place to even play in the highest stakes cash games. Also notable from above is that Phil Helmuth is hands down the best NL Hold'emt tournament player of all-time. Every he has won is in NL Hold'em tournaments.
yeah, we see on TV that he calls out hands and he's right a lot of times, but there is also tv editing that shows the correct hands he calls out. all pros put players on hands, and just because someone guesses their hands out loud more times doesn't make them a better player.
Agreed. He plays the big game, so he's a rich millionaire who isn't afraid to put millions at risk at any moment (unlike Helmuth for example), and he also currently is the highest tournament poker earner of all time. Daniel is not a big online player though. I think he chooses to do a lot of side projects instead. But I'm sure he's capable. If he ever succeeds online big-time, then he can join Ivey in the "best all around" conversation.
Agreed. I know it's tv and editing they only show the good stuff half the time, but it's ridiculous how many times he's guessed some crazy hand the opponent had. I'd put Negreanu and Ivy as the Kobe and Lebron of the poker world at the moment.
Not sure about the order there. I'd venture to say that Kobe and LeBron are the Ivey and Negreanu of the basketball world.
I believe Negeanu is almost in a league of his own when it comes to knowing the opponents cards. Granted, I havent watched poker at all in 2 or 3 years, So I dont really know who is dominating who recently, but from what I can tell, Dan is still the king at reading other players.
Kim pretty much nailed it. Ivey is the only guy that has managed to truly master all three facets of high stakes poker: tournament play, live cash game play, and internet cash game play. One important factor to consider, IMO, is the fact that he's part owner of Full Tilt Poker. He can play with no fear of losing any single pot because he's an owner of something that is equivalent to a money printing machine. What people fail to realize is that most of the top poker pros would make very little money without endorsement deals and/or ownership stakes in the online poker world. When you think about a guy like Hellmuth, who has approximately $10 million in tournament earnings over 20 years, that's $500,000 a year pre-tax income, before you consider that the big tournaments cost $10,000+ to enter. I guarantee you his relationship with UltimateBet pays him WAY more than he's ever made at the poker table. I'm not bashing him, he's an all time great, but people overestimate the amount of profit turned at tournament poker. I think that it is not a stretch to say that, without very solid sponsorship, it is virtually impossible to make a decent living on the tournament poker circuit. Most of the top pros indicate it costs at lest $250,000 per year to play the tournament circuit these days. The only people that can continually afford to do it are those with major sponsorships and/or ownership in the online poker sites. Tournament poker on television is way more to do with hype than skill. You need to make a big splash in order to get the sponsorships. Otherwise, the entry fees and travel costs will eat up all of your profits. The reason you see the same guys on TV over and over is because they're connected/sponsored by the poker sites that just want free advertisement. A lot of players make so many final tables because their sponsorships allow them to be the only ones that can afford to play all of the tournaments.
