Phil Ivey Fan Blog

New Online Poker Room For US Players : BetOnline.com

2011-09-16T01:39:00.001-07:00

With the reversal of USA's stance on the Wire Act, it seems that legal real money poker is on the verge of reality in America. See RealMoneyPoker.org's article on the subject.

What blind structure favor Ivey?

2011-05-24T21:03:00.001-07:00

The blind structure of a poker tournament is important in terms of giving certain players an edge over one another. The number of chips that players start with, as well as the amount and frequency that blinds start and increase are all factors that influence how a poker tournament plays. When considering playing in a live or online texas holdem poker tournament, it makes sense to know the blind structure and decide whether the tournament’s structure caters to your abilities and skill level.

A holdem tournament that features shorter stacks and higher blinds typically favors the novice poker player. While such a structure does not guarantee that a new or inexperienced holdem player will win the tournament (or even cash for that matter), a short stacked poker tournament does bring a higher element of luck into the equation. Short stack poker tournaments do not afford the luxury for players to make elaborate plays after the flop, as players often run out of chips to bet. As a result, they find themselves having to shove on the flop or turn (correctly).

Being correctly able to shove early takes the edge away from the more advanced holdem players, as the new players are unable to be outplayed in many tournament situations. Basically, a shorter stack helps to protect new, inexperienced tournament players from themselves because they cannot be outplayed easily. The short starting stack and quick-paced blinds caters mostly to players who play quality hands early and hard.

While short stacked poker tournaments are ideal for new players, a deep stack poker tournament allows pros such as Phil Ivey the opportunity to shine. The deeper the chips stack relative to the level of blinds, the more ‘play’ a tournament player has in them. The more room to play that the tournament pro has, the more likely they can cause their opposing players to make a mistake. Likewise, the more opportunity for mistake, the greater the chance that pros such as Ivey can exploit and benefit from their opponent’s errors in the tournament. Consequently, a deeper stacked poker tournament that has a slow and deliberate blind structure is the type of tournament that holdem tournament experts such as Phil Ivey thrive in.

When looking for a holdem poker tournament with a blind structure worthy of Phil Ivey himself, you may want to try LuckyAce Poker tournaments. LuckyAce Poker gives a 25% instant bonus on new deposits, which means you get up to £100 in bonus money immediately upon deposit to give some of the deeper stacked poker tournaments a try. With nice blind structures, relatively loose play and an instant bonus designed to impact your bankroll immediately, Lucky Ace Poker is a great online poker room to put your skills to the test.

The WSOP Launches Famous Main Event Rematches

2011-04-07T03:47:00.001-07:00

Who isn't going to love a proper rematch? Unsurprisingly the WSOP feels poker devotees would like to see former opponents go at it one more time. The World Series of Poker announced a series of rematches from past Main Event showdowns.

The WSOP has done a fantastic job deciding on the matchups, Chris Moneymaker vs. Sammy Farha (2003), Johnny Chan vs. Phil Hellmuth (1989), and the final they are leaving up to the fanatics. You may opt for the third match up over at the WSOP Facebook fan page.

The fan options will be:

1988 WSOP: Johnny Chan vs. Erik Seidel
2004 WSOP: Greg Raymer vs. David Williams
2006 WSOP: Jamie Gold vs. Paul Wasicka
2010 WSOP: Jonathan Duhamel vs. John Racener

My personal favourite is 2004 WSOP: Greg Raymer vs. David Williams

The WSOP is doing something slightly different with each of the matches that is truly unique.

Moneymaker vs. Farha is going to be best two out of three. The first contest will have both players with the same exact chip count that they had going heads up in 2003. The second battle will reverse the chip stacks. And in the event that there exists a necessity for a third match it'll be fixed with equal chip stacks.

Chan vs. Hellmuth is a straight-up one match with even chip stacks.

No details have been supplied for the framework of the third, fan selected, match.

The Moneymaker vs. Farha rematch should be a favourite one. It was Moneymaker's win of the 2003 WSOP Main Event championship that has been credited as the beginning of the online poker boom. The story of a regular person participating in a $40 online satellite and making his way through the top poker players on the planet to win the ultimate prize in poker was nearly too good to be real.

Similarly, Raymer vs. Williams was one more story of somewhat unheard of but extremely personable players making it a lot farther than some people considered probable.

The rematches will be recorded for ESPN on June 2 in the Rio in Vegas. If you are in Vegas the events will be open to anyone and free to watch.

Full Tilt Support For Private Tournaments

2011-04-07T01:29:00.001-07:00

Just in time for their Take 2 campaign Full Tilt Poker has released the latest update including quite a few extra features, including the opportunity to ask for exclusive tournaments and your account history.

The most significant improvement in the upgrade could be the private tournament option. Though Full Tilt has offered private tournaments they were only available by making contact with support. Now, private tournaments are far more on par with the PokerStars Home Games feature that allows players to plan their own events whenever they desire without worrying about the intervention of a customer service agent.

Examples of the other highlights rolled out in the upgrade:

- Ring game tickets: Building off the concept of tournament tickets now you can order buy-ins for cash games.

- Custom bet buttons: Go ahead and arrange custom buttons depending on how you play pre and post flop.

- Request account history: Need an review of your recent history? Well, Tilt has finally released the ability for you get at this information while not having to get in touch with customer service.

Download the latest version of Full Tilt Poker now.

Full Tilt Announces 2011 WSOP Qualifier Schedule

2011-04-04T13:51:00.001-07:00

Full Tilt Poker recently announced their schedule of 2011 WSOP Qualifiers, with numerous means players to win their seat in the world’s most important poker contest.

Along with their schedule of Direct Qualifiers, Full Tilt Poker offers the following ways to win WSOP seats:

$1 Main Event Seats
Daily Shootouts
150 Seat Main Event Guarantee
Race to the Main Event
Steps to the Main Event

What's more, players are provided 10 million good reasons to win their 2011 WSOP Main Event seat at Full Tilt Poker with $10 Million Main Event Mania. If players earn their Main Event seat online at Full Tilt Poker and go on to win, they're going to be qualified for a $10,000,000 bonus on the top of their first-place prize money!

On top of the $10 million bonus, if participating players finish off in the money at this year's Main Event, Full Tilt will give to them a zero cost seat to the 2012 Main Event.

Full Tilt is also holding another carrot in front of the players whom win a minimum of one WSOP Main Event seat at Full Tilt Poker; players that win multiple seats for this year’s Main Event collect an entry to an exclusive $35K Multi-Entry Freeroll Tournament for every seat won.

Sign up at Full Tilt and we might see you at the final table.

Onyx Cup Series at Full Tilt Poker

2011-04-04T13:29:00.001-07:00

Satellite events are now running to Onyx Cup Series, which consists of six impressive high-stakes live tourneys with buy-ins from $100K to $300K. The six-event prize pool is anticipated to get to $30 million - and you have a chance to there.

Full Tilt's Onyx Cup Series Qualifier tourneys award $105K Onyx Cup Series Event 1 Prize Packages - which include the $100K buy-in plus $5K for expenses. Onyx Cup Series Event 1 Qualifier tourneys are scheduled for the below times:

March 27th at 18:30 ET - $600+$40 buy-in
April 10th at 18:30 ET - $1,000+$60 buy-in
May 1st at 18:30 ET - $2,000+$100 buy-in

Players may buy-in direct as well as win a seat for a tiny proportion of the price tag via Full Tilt's super-satellites tournaments. Players may also win their Event 1 seat if you take part in the Onyx Cup Series Freeroll events.

The Onyx Cup Series is a group of live tournaments in the USA, Europe, and Asia. The players collect points in every tourney they participate in in and the player who amasses the most points will be provided a sports vehicle.

The Onyx Cup Series is made up of:

Half a dozen primary events with tournaments ranging from $100,000 - $300,000

Only the top 3 winners of each event get points which are then totaled

Prize pool expected at $30 million

See the Full Tilt website for additional details.

Take 2 - Make as much as $25 and Double Points

2011-04-02T00:10:00.001-07:00

Take 2 with Full Tilt Poker to earn up to a whopping $25 In addition to double the Full Tilt Points that you’d traditionally get for taking part in within your preferred ring games.

Running from Friday, April 8th to Sunday, April 17th, engage in a minimum of two normal ring-game tables at the same time or any sort of Rush Poker* game during Take 2 to get double the Full Tilt Points. Play as often as you're able during Take 2 and they’ll also incentive you with up to $25 in moolah, depending upon the number of days you play the game.

Make anywhere up to $25 in Cash

The more you play throughout Take 2, the more you’ll earn. Gain no less than five Take 2 bonus points on any five days all through Take 2 to get $5 in cash. Accomplish this on nine of the ten days to get an extra $20, for a total of $25:

Level 1: Play on any 5 days for the duration of Take 2 and collect $5
Level 2: Play on nine of the 10 days for the duration of Take 2 and acquire an extra $20, for a final total of $25

Get Double the Full Tilt Points

You'll find not one but two different methods to earn double the Full Tilt Points throughout Take 2:

Play Two normal ring-game tables concurrently and receive double points at BOTH tables. By way of example, if you happen to obtain sixty points whilst playing on a single table and forty points when playing on the other, you’d normally collect 100 Full Tilt Points with your play. Throughout Take 2, you’ll earn an overall total of 200 points - 100 points on your play plus an additional 100 bonus points.

Play any type of table of Rush Poker* - the world’s fastest poker game - and generate double points. By way of example, in the event you generate 100 points while playing in a Rush Poker* table during Take 2, you’ll get an additional 100 bonus points for a total of 200 Full Tilt Points. Rush Poker* is definitely the quickest approach to make double points during Take 2.

You may use your bonus points to obtain some great products through the Full Tilt Poker Store, including plasma Televisions, iPods, customizable Full Tilt Poker jerseys plus more. You can also make use of your points to get in very special Full Tilt Points Sit & Gos and Multi-Table Tournaments.

Tips on how to Participate in Take 2

Abide by these steps to be involved in Take 2 and claim your cash and bonus points:

If you haven’t done so already, download Full Tilt Poker and set up a free account.

Sign in to Full Tilt Poker and click on the red-colored Cashier button in the game lobby.

Click the My Promotions box and then the Take 2 link.

That will lead you to your own special Take 2 page. Refer to the instructions on this page - it's important to choose to participate in this promotion or else you not pick up cash or double points for your play in the course of Take 2.

Keep an eye on the number of bonus points along with the amount of cash you’ve obtained throughout Take 2 by using your own special Take 2 page in My Promotions. Your bonus points should be placed into your player account within one hour of being acquired; any money achieved during Take 2 shall be given out as soon as the promotion has terminated.

Who Will Replace Phil Ivey?

2011-03-29T05:17:00.001-07:00

Bluff Europe is speculating on who would be the best player in the world if Phil Ivey were suddenly not with us anymore. For years, Chip Reese was considered the best poker player of all time. When he died in 2006 many from complications due to pneumonia it's since been pretty much been accepted that Phil Ivey is the best living poker player in the world.

But who would take the mantle is something every happened to Phil? Bluff speculates that Tow Dwan is the best out there. While he has an impressive record and some very good playing skills I'm not sure that Tom Dwan has had enough longevity and diversity in his wins. He gambles big which draws a lot of attention but does he have the staying power?

You can check out Bluff's argument for Tom but the internet has been abuzz with others who they feel are as good or better players. What are your thoughts?

Is Phil Ivey Opening a Poker School?

2011-03-24T07:01:00.001-07:00

Phil Ivey seems to be coming out of his shell recently. He's started to Twitter @philivey and now on philivey.com he leaves us wondering what's up with his cryptic message "Now I'm going to teach the whole world to win at poker." What does it mean? Only Phil knows at the moment but any insights into the game of the world's best poker player are going to be very valuable for poker players around the world.

Do you want to do something for the Japanese earthquake survivors

2011-03-24T05:28:00.001-07:00

The 9.0-magnitude earthquake that hit Japan and caused the following tsunami is estimated to have caused over $300 billion in real damages but the emotional damages cannot even be counted. So far 9,301 are confirmed dead and 13,786 people are missing. Homes have been destroyed. Lives ruined.

But poker players can do something to help. Full Tilt Poker is hosting Aid for Japan tournaments as well as Donation Tournaments and the money will go to the Red Cross to help Japanese survivors and their families.

Full Tilt is not only donating the funds raised but has also pledged to match every dollar collected as well.

With so many lives impacted by this tragedy it's time for us to give our voice of support in any way we can.

Next Week is Double Guarantee Week at Full Tilt Poker

2011-03-24T05:20:00.001-07:00

From March 28 through April 3 Full Tilt players will be able to grab $30 million in guaranteed prize pools over at Full Tilt Poker. Double Guarantee Week means that every weekly guaranteed tournament will have it's prize pool at least doubled. For tournaments taking place during the last twelve hours of the promotion Full Tilt is upping the guarantee to triple the normal amount. That means the Sunday tournament will have a guaranteed prize pool of $2,250,000.

On top of all of this all of the weekly guaranteed tournaments will also be multi-entry format. You can register for the same tournament multiple times which gives you increased chances of winning or moneying in the events.

For those of you not familiar with the multiple entry format, you will never be seated at the same table as one of your other entries. If you still have multiple entries in the running when it gets down to the final few tables Full Tilt will merge your accounts (combine your chipstacks) so that you never end up seated with more than one entry on a table.

Click here to find out more about Double Guarantee Week at Full Tilt Poker.

Phil Ivey Scores $432K in a Limit Poker Game

2011-03-08T06:13:00.001-08:00

PLO, NL, Limit, it doesn't matter for Phil Ivey. He kicks ass at every limit, structure, and game that he plays. Case in point is a recent session he had against Kagome Kagome who fancies himself a limit Hold'em specialist. Well if you consider getting your ass handed to you for nearly half a million dollars a specialty Kagome Kagome might have a claim to the title.

So far, Kagome Kagome appears to be down over $2 million to Ivey. This last session certainly didn't help his stats.

If you want to watch Phil Ivey play or get in a little play of your own, sign up at Full Tilt Poker.

Phil Ivey wins $900K in One Evening

2011-03-08T06:09:00.000-08:00

Phil Ivey just keeps proving that he is the best player in poker. The other night on Full Tilt Poker Phil Ivey played against Daniel “jungleman12” Cates and Scott “URnotINdanger2” Palmer and cleaned their clocks. Playing $500/$1,000 CAP PLO he took $340,000 off of Cates and close to $600,000 off of Palmer.

One of the things about Ivey is that he doesn't tend to have huge downswings in terms of his overall winnings. You might have some hot-at-the-moment player winning $1 million and losing $1 million with some frequency but for Phil it seems like win, win, win, win, win, lose. So when he does have a $1 million dollar downswing it's been preceded by $3 or $4 million in winnings.

If you want to catch Phil playing or mix it up yourself (we're assuming at much lower stakes) you can sign up at Full Tilt Poker.

Phil Ivey Bluffs Tom Dwan

2010-09-11T21:41:00.000-07:00

Just to show that Dwan isn't the only one who can bluff, Ivey lays a massive bluff on Dwan. T8 (Ivey) vs. 87 (Dwan) pre-flop. Technically some might not consider Ivey's better hand as a bluff but there's no way he can think he's got the best hand there so he's obviously bluffing trying to push Dwan off of a questionable hand. Good read!

Tom Durrr Dwan Bluffs Phil Ivey in Monster Pot

2010-09-11T21:31:00.000-07:00

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Phil Ivey Up $2 Million in August

2010-09-04T21:40:00.000-07:00

Phil Ivey is running hot on Full Tilt in August. Phil tore up the competition winning a cool $2 million.

Come check out Phil Ivey on Full Tilt Poker.

Phil Ivey Up Almost $20 Million on Full Tilt

2010-09-04T21:15:00.000-07:00

Phil Ivey, probably the greatest poker player ever, is up nearly $20 million on Full Tilt Poker since 2007 according to the High Stakes DB. That doesn't even include his offline tournament and cash game wins (or his sick prop betting). Those who speculate that Phil's net worth could be $50 million or even $100 million might not be too far off the mark if Phil has managed to not lose back a good chunk of his winnings at the craps tables or the sports books.

Fancy a crack at Phil? Check out Full Tilt Poker.

Phil Ivey Interview at the WPT London

2010-09-03T03:40:00.000-07:00

Phil Hellmuth Gets Owned By Phil Ivey

2010-08-16T00:33:00.000-07:00

Just to show how unpredictable and how unsettling Phil Ivey can be even against some of the best players, Phil Hellmuth calls the turn and the river with a hand that can only beat a total bluff.

Phil Ivey and Phil Hellmuth Mix It Up

2010-08-10T03:47:00.000-07:00

Phil Ivey and Phil Hellmuth in a huge hand on High Stakes Poker.

Play with Phil Ivey on Full Tilt Poker

Phil Ivey Confirmed to Play in WPT London

2010-07-29T02:53:00.000-07:00

Hot off of a final table appearance at the WPT Bellagio it's been announced that Phil Ivey will be participating in the WPT London.

Clash of the Phil's

2010-07-20T10:51:00.000-07:00

Phil Hellmuth who isn't exactly known for being modest or keeping his opinions to himself was recently asked if he thought Phil Ivey could ever best his 11 WSOP bracelets. Hellmuth's response was

“Ivey won't pass me in five years. That's impossible... I shouldn't say it’s impossible, I don't think it'll happen.”

Well, it's not hard to imagine that Phil Ivey has a different view on the topic. When told about Hellmuth's remarks Ivey responded

“Impossible? I don’t really like the word impossible. I think it’s very possible. It’s very likely.”

With eight WSOP bracelets already under his belt in only 8 years Ivey probably has the best chance of anyone of overtaking Hellmuth who won his first WSOP over 20 years ago (1989). Ivey is on fire in both cash games and tournaments. His only problem in tournaments is that he plays for such dizzying high-stakes at cash games that winning a tournament is -EV for him. He's kept himself engaged in the tournament world only by making similarly dizzying-stakes prop bets during tournaments. It isn't unusual for him to have prop bets going for 4 or 5 times the amount of the first place prize.

On the other hand, Hellmuth is considered one of the biggest fish when he sits down at cash games. While Ivey is dominant in almost every form of poker known to man, Hellmuth is a hold'em specialist which heavily weighs on his prospects of capturing more bracelets.

If I were a betting man (and I am) I would put my money on Ivey over Hellmuth any day of the week and twice on Sunday!

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Full Tilt Poker's FTOPS XVII Announced

2010-07-19T00:07:00.000-07:00

With the WSOP out of the way it's time for people to jump back online for a fantastic, big money, tournament series, the Full Tilt Online Poker Series. Full Tilt will be running 34 events starting on August 4th with a $750K online poker tournament and finishing up with a $3 million main event. All in all $19 million is on the table in guaranteed tournaments.

All of the normal events you would expect from the FTOPS are there, Hold'em, Omaha, HORSE, Stud, and Razz but to throw in a little twist sex events will be in Full Tilt Poker's Rush Poker format. Talk about exciting action.

As with all FTOPS you can satellite and super-satellite into the events on Full Tilt Poker so you should get over there now because the first event isn't too far away.

Find out how you can get a $600 bonus at Full Tilt Poker

Phil Ivey Finishes 3rd in the WPT Bellagio

2010-07-17T23:30:00.000-07:00

Phil Ivey had an uphill climb from the get go at the final table of the World Poker Tour Bellagio event but he made the best of it finishing in 3rd after losing to Justin Smith. This was a record setting 9th final table appearance at a WPT event for Phil and he took down $350K for his troubles. Of course, for Phil $350,000 is loose change. He's been known to win more than that in one hand at cash games. Regardless, Phil once again proves why he's such a tough competitor by setting a WPT record.

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Phil Ivey Makes Record Setting 9th WPT Championship Final Table

2010-07-15T23:45:00.000-07:00

The Amazing Phil Ivey will be sitting at the WPT Bellagio Cup final table. Ivey is fifth in chips out of the six remaining players with 1.5 million in chips. The chip leader, John Caridad has over 5 million. It will be an uphill battle for Ivey but he's shown he's a threat as long as he has a single chip left so nobody should be sitting back and thinking they can push Ivey around the table.

The other four players at the final table are Justin Smith, Rob Akery, Eric Afrait, and Moritz Kranich.

BTW, this is the same Justin Smith who, along with Mike Matusow, made a $2 million prop bet with Ted Forrest that Forrest couldn't drop 50 pounds in a month. Curious to find out who won the prop bet?

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