Yes, you heard it correctly. There are several pros that are betting against an Phil Ivey victory in the Main Event. These pros include Andy Bloch, Mike Matusow, and Phil Gordon. This is one of the more interesting prop bets I have seen yet. When the field got down to 2400 players left Andy Bloch offered Phil Ivey 20 to 1 odds that he would not go on to win the 2009 WSOP Main Event. Ivey took the bet for $20000. If Ivey should win he will collect $2 million dollars.

The other side bet is a $20k bet with Dan Negreanu, Phil Gordon, Mike Matusow and Tom Dwan.

With all this side action Ivey is likely to win just as much from his prop bets as he would if he takes down the Main Event. Time will tell.

Alright I gotta admit that I had some issues. Not just issues with the November Nine and their lack of visibility but also with Harrah’s. However, after thinking my position over again for the gazillionth time I have come to the conclusion that I am not going to continue to spend the energy to be angry about this delayed final table crap anymore.  Yes! I said it right here in black and white. I am over it. Having said that I have also made up my mind to enjoy the Final Table and hope that if Jeff Shulman should win he shows a bit more grace than he did with his now infamous quote about the bracelet.

Only one more month to go. Let’s get this thing cracking already!

Where the hell are the November Nine? Where is Phil Ivey? Where is Jeff Shulman? Where are any of the November Nine? How come we are not seeing these poker players making appearances on every late night TV talk show known to mankind? Yes, I am at it again and this time I am royally P.O’d!!!!!!! What is the point of delaying the WSOP Final Table when the very players that are allegedly supposed to be promoting the game and garnering interest are nowhere to be found?

I am so done with this kind of nonsense. As I stated last year, I honestly believe that delaying the Final Table could be a boon for poker but the game will not benefit one bit if they are unable to get the players to co-operate. What better person to promote the game of poker than Phil Ivey who is acknowledged to be the best all-around poker player in the world? Sure, I get the fact that he tends to shy away from the media and can be down right reclusive but this is ridiculous. If Harrah’s is not going to do this right then abandon this delayed Final Table crap and let them play it out like they used to. This is beyond stupid for me. It has become quite clear that the players that claim they love the game so much have no intentions of being any kind of ambassadors for the game. That in-and-of-itself is a damn shame.

Phil Ivey is now part of the 2009 WSOP November Nine. After a grueling ten days of poker nine players are now playing for $8.5 Million dollars First Prize money. Ivey is tied for 8th with $10 million chips. He will have plenty of time to pick up a hand or two and build his stack  from there. Here is what the Final Table will look like:

Over the past two weeks I have been playing nothing but satellites to the WSOP Main Event. All of them are freerolls on Full Tilt and Pokerstars. I still have not won the seat yet but I have been awfully close several times already. I figure if I simply get enough numbers eventually I will hit it. The easiest way is to play on Pokerstars because they have only one preliminary satellite before you actually play for the seat. Full Tilt has two preliminary tournaments where you must win First or Second to advance. Once you get to the actual Super Satellite for the Main Event seat they award eight seats to the winners.

The 2009 WSOP will be here before you know it. The new schedule has been posted for the entire poker tournament.  I am not sure if I am going to play in my first one this year or not at this point. The economy is an issue for everyone around the globe. What I do plan on doing is playing several multi-table satellites. I usually do well in them so I figure I should be OK.

Click on the link below to get all of the details:

2009 World Series of Poker Official Tournament Schedule