Yes, Phil Ivey has done it again and won his second bracelet of the 2009  World Series of Poker. This time he won the bracelet in the Omaha/Stud Hi-Lo Event. First Prize was good for $220k+ and another bracelet to add to the legend. Ivey is on more than a tear in this years WSOP. The side bets must be insane! I can only imagine that Ivey bet plenty of money on himself winning a bracelet as usual. Now those bets are paying off big time. The series is just kicking into full swing now so it ought to be an interesting next few weeks with Ivey being this hot.

Today has been a tough day tournament wise and in my .25/.50 cash game. I am not so sure I could have played either hand any better than I did. Not a big deal but certainly disappointing considering I put myself in the best position possible each time.

This first hand is still puzzling as I cannot think of one good reason to even be involved in the hand let alone calling an all-in re-raise after the flop. The $1400 post flop bet made no sense. If he had Aces or Kings wouldn’t he have re-raised to narrow down the field? This made my push an easy play to make and the correct play. At best I had him on [T][T] or [J][J]

This hand I am totally at peace with as well. I got my chips in as a 60/40 favorite with one card to go. Sure, I am a 3 to 2 favorite but I was not even expecting to be called. I was happy that he did but obviously I did not get the outcome I had hoped for. If I had to do it again I wouldn’t change a thing.

Yes, you read it correctly. I had one heck of a night last night on my way to the Final Table. I actually flopped a straight holding [Kc][Qc] and then turned the Royal Flush when the Ace hit the board. What a hand! From there I cruised into the Final Table after doubling up two more times. I busted out 5th when my [A][9] lost to [9][8].

Brutal!

Here is a look at the hand:

If you happened to have missed the Peter Eastgate interview after he won the 2008 NL Championship event here it is.

Enjoy!

Peter Eastgate Main Event Winner WSOP 2008.

I shudder to think about how much money these guys play for online on a daily basis. It’s really scary! Having said that I do know that Ivey has a net worth of around $100 Million dollars and certainly is not hurting for cash. Even still it is mind boggling how these guys play at such nose bleed stakes.

You have probably heard about this huge hand which is now the largest online pot in history between Phil Ivey and John Juanda. What really puzzled me is why Juanda played it the way he did. He could have just as easily taken the free card and saved himself $300k. Instead he pushed all his money in the middle on a draw. That does not sound like the professional player that I know Juanda to be. He is extremely calculated and patient in poker tournaments and obviously does not take that same approach to cash games.

Ivey has no choice but to call the all-in by Juanda and pray that another spade does not hit the board. Take a look for yourself.

Phil Ivey vs John Juanda in largest online pot ever!

The Festa al Lago continues to march on. Now with only 12 players left things are beginning to shape up for the final table. Bertrand Grospellier is the current chip leader but may want to be a little cautious going into day 5. As has been referred to as the “curse of the chip leader” each one of the chip leaders in the tournament have busted out before completing the next day. This includes yesterdays chip leader Dan Negreanu.

Joe Sebok remains in good shape with a stack over $1 Million keeping him positioned for his first WPT final table going into day 5.

Here are the chip leaders:

1. Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier - $2,039,000
2. Odie Dardon - $1,959,000
3. Will Mietz - $1,840,000
4. Michael DeMichele - $1,717,000
5. Olav Prinz Von Sachsen - $1,631,000
6. Joe Sebok - $1,470,000
7. Nenad Medic - $1,435,000
8. Nam Le - $1,149,000
9. Andrew Robl - $1,087,000
10. Mike Wattel - $886,000
11. Jimmy Tran - $739,000
12. Adam Levy - $568,000

Day three has been completed and Dan Negreanu is no longer the chip leader. There are now thirty-four players left battling it out for the top prize of $1.4 Million dollars.

Here are the current chip leaders:

1. Ryan Fair - $1,331,000
2. Will Mietz - $1,217,000
3. Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier - $1,151,000
4. Joe Sebok - $1,100,000
5. Nenad Medic - $925,000

Joe “Seventh Bok” is still in command of his destiny and appears on his way to his first WPT final table.

Good luck Joe!

Looks like Gavin Smith is on a mission to win the big one in front of his home crowd. Gavin is the chip leader going into the TV final table at the WPT North American Poker Championship. He won’t win it without Kathy Liebert having her say. She is second in chips. This one is gonna be good!  Here are the chip counts for the final six players.

Seat 1 - Kathy Liebert - 1,620,000
Seat 2 - Gavin Smith - 2,815,000
Seat 3 - Marc Karam - 1,850,000
Seat 4 - Glen Witmer - 3,710,000
Seat 5 - James Trenholm - 1,365,000
Seat 6 - Ryan Fisler - 2,285,000

Day 4 of the North American Poker Championship gets underway today at 12 noon ET. There are 27 players left in the tournament and the chip leaders are all familiar to those of us that watch the World Poker Tour. The blinds are at $4000 / $8000 with an $1000 ante. Here is a look at the top five.

1. Vivek “Flog” Rajkumar - 1,080,000
2. Gavin Smith - 979,000
3. Matt Matros - 943,000
4. Kathy Liebert - 879,000
5. Erik Seidel - 851,000

I am sure Gavin Smith would love to take this tournament down seeing as he is from Canada but he has a formidable field ahead of him. The other pros vying for the $1 Million dollar first prize include one Erik Seidel, Matt Matros and you certainly cannot count out Kathy Liebert or the white hot Vivek Rajkumar.

Poker player Jimmy Fricke gives his take on the players and his picks to go all the way.

Here is a hand I played recently in the Pokerstars $20 Deep Stacks tournament. This tournament, as do all deep stacks, requires much more skill than the typical fast structure tourney. I enjoy playing small pot poker quite a bit and was able to capitalize on mistakes early to build a nice stack. However, throughout the tournament you will find yourself getting extremely familiar with the players at your table.

Early on I had been playing my big hands aggressively. It was working quite well for me but I was also portraying an image that I needed to change after two hours of play. Changing gears becomes much more important in these kinds of tournaments than it does in a fast structure for obvious reasons. The caliber of player, in my opinion, is higher due to the nature of the game. So how you are playing and your hand selection and position has to go up accordingly.

Since I had been aggressive early I chose to limp with my pocket Aces. The table had become aggressive about five hands previously out of nowhere. So I was hoping for a raise and I could take it from there. Fortunately, I got what I asked for but the flop was not quite what I had in mind. However, you cannot simply fold because of a scary flop. I had to bet out to see where I was at. If I had faced a big bet on the river then I clearly had a decision to make. I believe I played this hand for the maximum value in this scenario.

How would you have played this hand?

John Juanda just took down the 2008 WSOPE Main Event for a cool $1,598,587. Juanda bested a final table that included prominent poker professionals Dan Negreanu and Scott Fischman. This just happened to be a marathon session as it lasted a grueling 22 hours before Juanda took down first place. Here is the interview as hosted by PokerNews:

“If you cannot spot the sucker then it’s probably YOU!”

How many times have we all heard that one? Take a peek at this video to get a general feel of things you can look for when a new players sits down at your table.

Check out this insightful interview with Full Tilt Pro Phil Ivey. Phil discusses how temperament, strategy, and other intangibles affect his approach to the game. Phil also documents when he felt he had “arrived” as a legitimate big time player. All in all this is a very interesting snippet into the mind of one of the greatest cash game and tournament poker players of our time.

We should all be this lucky. The game is “easy” when you hit the ultimate hand like he did.

LOL

Good for him. Great hand.

What can I say about this one? I just got done watching the Cincinnati Kid for the first time and I absolutely enjoyed it. What a blast! Sure, it was old school but it did not lack suspense and lots of drama.

I have heard so much about this movie over the years I finally went ahead and rented it to see what all the fuss was about. Now I totally understand. The Cincinnati Kid stars Steve McQueen, Edward G. Robinson, Ann Margaret, Karl Malden, and Rip Torn in a sordid poker classic. I won’t give away the ending but I can tell you that this is a poker movie you will certainly enjoy. Even if you are not a fan of the game of poker there are enough sub-plots to keep you more than occupied.

Overall I highly recommend this movie for your poker movie collection. I have to give this one an 8 out of 10. It’s a must have for sure!