Phil Ivey $5 million Prop Bet

April 20th, 2010

After his performances in the 2007 and 2008 WSOP, I made the statement prior to the 2009 WSOP that Phil Ivey would win a bracelet in 2009. I said that if he focused that he might even win two of them. Well, Ivey found motivation in the form of prop bets and came through with two bracelets. Guess what folks, he has found his motivation for the next two years.

Phil Ivey and Howard Lederer have a bet going on between the two of them whether Phil can win two bracelets total over the next two years. If he is able to do so, Phil will take home a cool $5 Million. Ivey currently sits with seven bracelets and is in a tie with Billy Baxter on the all-time bracelet list. If Ivey can win two bracelets by 2012, he will be in a tie with Johnny Moss for the 3rd all-time.

Of course, there is always a chance that Ivey could just win the bet this year. In 2002, he won three bracelets and this past year he took down two. When Ivey is focused and playing at his best, he is a force to be reckoned with. Even in the years he didn’t win bracelets, he was still making final tables. He finished 2nd in the Stud World Championship in 2007 and then 4th in $5,000 H.O.R.S.E. that year. In 2008, he made another H.O.R.S.E. final table and bubbled the final table of the Stud World Championship. Of course, don’t forget the fact that he was 3rd in 2006 at the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event.

It is estimated that Ivey may play up to 80 events a year in order to try and achieve his goal. This is quite a jump over past years. In 2008, he was trying to find motivation just to play. He was a couple times overheard saying that he much rather play in the high stakes cash games in “Bobby’s Room” over at the Bellagio. Of course, those games don’t win the same type of publicity that winning a bracelet does.

Along with Allen Cunningham and Erik Seidel, Phil Ivey is really the only active player at present with a legitimate shot to catch Hellmuth for the all-time bracelet lead. (Based on number of bracelets won through 2009.) The big difference between Ivey and Hellmuth is that Ivey can win at just about any game he plays. Amazingly, Ivey does not have a NL Holdem bracelet. Many feel that it will be a matter of time. In the end, it really doesn’t matter. A bracelet is a bracelet, especially if you can rack up the numbers that Ivey has.

While Howard Lederer doesn’t believe Ivey can do it, I personally think that Ivey will win his prop bet. I look for him to take down some stud variant and show strong in one or more mixed games that will come up over the next couple of years. If you want to watch Ivey hone his game and Howard try to win some of that $5 Million he will likely have to give Ivey, head on over to Full Tilt Poker.