One of the interesting stories to emerge during this year’s WSOP was that of Phil Ivey. Poker’s greatest star held the overnight chiplead in the $50K Poker Player’s Championship (PPC) and seemed in great shape to win a bracelet before crashing out in 8th place the following day. This collapse, and his bustout in the first hour of the Main Event were uncharacteristic, but initially, there was no reason to think something might be distracting the ten-time bracelet winner. As it happens, there was plenty going on behind the scenes.
Borgata seizes $124,410
According to Flushdraw, court records have confirmed that Borgata seized all of Ivey’s $124,410 prize money from the PPC.
Having won the “edge sorting” case against Ivey which began in 2012, Borgata then successfully applied to seize his assets in Las Vegas, having failed to find anything substantial in terms of assets in New Jersey. It seems they were still struggling to unearth anything which might help clear the sum of just over $10 million that a court has ordered Ivey to pay, as they then resorted to seizing WSOP winnings before he could collect them.
The WSOP received a writ of execution on the same day Ivey busted the PPC, laying claim to any winnings he might collect, along with the WSOP bracelet were he to win it. Later that day Ivey busted in 8th and the WSOP were forced to send his winnings to U.S Marshals. It is unclear whether he was informed of the situation before taking his seat on the final day.
Knock-on effects for Ivey’s future career
With any winnings earned by Ivey now set to be seized before he can ever see them, it seems likely that his WSOP career is now over. His tally of ten bracelets, 67 cashes and $6,820,287 will now likely be his final tally for the WSOP. Fans will of course, be devastated by that news but there is still a glimmer of bracelet hope remaining. Ivey can still currently play in WSOPE events and keep his winnings it seems, and so he could still add to his bracelet haul. When it comes to chasing down Phil Hellmuth’s 15 bracelets however, that fight is now over.
Ivey also lost a case against Crockfords Casino in London, for a seven-figure sum which was then withheld by the casino due to edge sorting. It is perhaps telling that he skipped Triton London this year but did attend Triton Rozvadov. This raises hopes that Ivey will not just disappear into private games overseas and will still compete in tournaments publicly, even though those tournaments will almost certainly all be outside of the USA. With the upcoming WSOPE set to take place in Rozvadov, there is a good chance that Ivey will attend, but beyond that, the career of one of poker’s greatest talents will continue to be restricted and still remains unclear.
Article by Craig Bradshaw
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