Get playing - open an account today for free offers!

November Nine Player Focus: Phil Ivey

By Simon Hopper

17th August 2009

I may watch a few of the hands on TV and actually watch poker on TV

He needs no introduction but can Phil Ivey do ESPN a favour by capturing the Main Event?

Jeffrey Pollack and Harrah’s must have been doing cartwheels when they heard that Phil Ivey had made the November Nine.

ESPN tried their best to big up last year’s bunch but with no superstar names or marketable players on the final table, it was difficult to keep the public interested.

This year, however, Ivey can change all that.

The 7 time bracelet winner needs no introduction and with 2 WSOP wins to his name already this year, he seems intent on re-capturing his very best tournament form.

Of course most of this is probably to do with the reported 8-figure prop bets on the line but if it means the best player in the world appears on our TV screens more then who cares?

With WSOP bracelets, WPT titles, over $12million in tournament prizes and even more than that in online and live cash games, Ivey clearly has nothing to prove to anyone. But if the great man needs any more motivation for victory then it will surely come from this:

We’ve all seen it a million times before: that brutal 2003 Main Event suck-out that eliminated Ivey in 10th place when seemingly in prime position to capture the big dance. With Main Event fields now regularly exceeding 6,000, this is surely that last chance he will get to win the biggest prize of all.

He goes into the FT on a relative short stack but that didn’t seem to bother him in his post-tournament interview:

“I may watch a few of the hands on TV and actually watch poker on TV,” he said. “I'm a little short and I don't want to get in to exactly what I'm going to do, but I have some plans.”

Pollack will be praying that his marquee name lasts long enough to justify the November Nine’s existence. Rigged, anyone?