Skip navigation
Site powered by
Latest news:
msnbc.com: Top msnbc.com headlines: Price of gas up nearly 12 cents in last 3 weeks

Ivey headlines final table for poker’s main event

With a short stack, professional faces steep climb when play resumes Nov. 7

Image: IveyAP
Phil Ivey talks to other players during the World Series of Poker. Ivey made the final table in poker's main event.

LAS VEGAS - The World Series of Poker has thrust nine millionaire winners into the spotlight as they wait 116 days to get back to the table for the rest of the no-limit Texas Hold ’em main event.

They hung on to win at least $1.26 million as poker’s richest tournament played at an unexpectedly brisk pace, and now must decide how to best spend the next four months to set up a run at the $8.55 million crown.

“So I guess I’m going to actually start watching some poker on TV,” said Phil Ivey, a 33-year-old poker legend who regularly plays the biggest cash games in Las Vegas and is one of the best players in the world.

The seven-time tournament winner at the series is guaranteed his best finish yet at the $10,000 buy-in main event after placing 10th in 2003, 20th in 2005 and 23rd in 2002. His wins here have come playing games other than no-limit Texas Hold ’em, including two gold bracelet wins this year with a chance for a third in 57 events.

“So far I’ve just made the final table, so it’s a pretty big accomplishment,” said Ivey, who has won $3.46 million at the series, not including this year’s main event. “Winning it would be top of the line.”

Ivey will start in November with 5 percent of the chips in play — 9.75 million — and a goal of winning them all to take the title.

To do it, he’ll have to get past eight relatively unknown players, including a former Bear Stearns Cos. executive who won his seat in a hometown poker league, the publisher of Card Player magazine and Darvin Moon, a married, self-employed logger from Oakland, Md., who currently leads with 30 percent of the chips at the table.

“Everyone at this table is way better than I am,” said Moon, 45, who said this trip was his first to Las Vegas. “Something is helping me.”

World Series of Poker
Laura Rauch / AP
Players who made the final table in the World Series of Poker main event pose for a photograph on Wednesday. They are from left, James Akenhead, Jeff Shulman, Phil Ivey, Antoine Saout, Darvin Moon, Joseph Cada, Steven Begleiter, Kevin Schaffel and Eric Buchman.

Moon busted 27-year-old professional poker player Jordan Smith in 10th place on Wednesday night by catching an eight on the board to match the pair in his hand for a set. Smith held pocket aces — the best starting hand in Texas Hold ’em.

The bust sent the nine players and hundreds in the crowd into a collective frenzy and instantly paused the tournament after nearly eight hours of play on the players’ eighth session.

The tournament started July 3 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas when each player bought in and was given 30,000 starting chips. The field was so large that its start was split over four days, with the players remaining joining together on their third session.

ALSO ON THIS STORY

“It’s just mind-boggling — it’s overwhelming, the whole scene with all the photographers,” said 51-year-old Kevin Schaffel of Coral Springs, Fla., a regular in $10-$20 cash games who said he was playing through a cold the past few days.

“It’s just such a thrill, I mean I can’t express it any other way,” he said. “The money will sink in down the road and that’s going to be great.”


advertisement
More news
Image: Pekingese Palacegarden Malachy trots in ring at the 135th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York
Reuters
Pekingese favored to be top dog

Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.

NY cable dispute blacks out Knicks, 4 NHL teams

NEW YORK (AP) - As the glow fades from the Giants' Super Bowl triumph, some New York sports fans are tuning in to basketball and hockey, with the Rangers in first place and the Knicks' overnight sensation, Jeremy Lin, sparking "Lin-sanity.''

Image:
AP
Six new breeds will join show at Westminster

Robins: This year, six new breeds will be making their debut on the green carpet for the Westminster Dog Show, which begins Monday.

Slide show
Image: Snee, 8, son of New York Giants player Chris Snee and head coach Coughlin's grandson plays in the confetti after the New York Giants defeated the New England Patriots in the NFL Super Bowl XLVI football game in Indianapolis
  The Week in Sports Pictures
The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more.

more photos

Slideshow
Boston Celtics v Indiana Pacers
  Who's hot on Twitter?
Check out which of your favorite athletes have the best pages and most followers!

NBCSports.com

Special feature
"American Woman: Fashioning A National Identity" Met Gala - Arrivals
When athletes and celebs get together
A look at the many links between sports and Hollywood stars.

NBCSports.com

Slideshow
Image: To match Special Report CAMPAIGN/ROMNEY-OLYMPICS
  Presidential candidates and sports
How do President Obama and his Republican rivals stack up when it comes to their sports backgrounds?
Slideshow
Image: Snee, 8, son of New York Giants player Chris Snee and head coach Coughlin's grandson plays in the confetti after the New York Giants defeated the New England Patriots in the NFL Super Bowl XLVI football game in Indianapolis
  The Week in Sports Pictures
The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more.

more photos