Phil Ivey Wins His 8th WSOP Bracelet

Phil Ivey, one of the biggest icons in the world of poker, has managed to retrieve his eighth WSOP bracelet by winning Event #37 ($3,000 H.O.R.S.E) after beating Bill Chen in the heads-up. Event #37 was followed by a huge crowd of spectators, as the final table happened to be one of the toughest seen at the WSOP this year. Ivey had to battle Chad Brown, David Baker, Bill Chen, Albert Hahn, Kenneth Aldridge, John Juanda and Jeff Lisandro in order to grab this very valuable 8th bracelet. 

With this first place, Phil has won $329,840, plus God knows how much more, with all the side bets going on. According to PokerListings, for example, Ivey and Howard Lederer have an ongoing 5 million dollar bet that Ivey would not win two WSOP bracelets until the end of 2011. Well, Howard can start trembling, as Phil has plenty of time to win another bracelet, and is quite confident about the subject. This is what Phil commented after his victory: “I think I can win 30 gold bracelets.  I think I can reach that if I keep playing and stay healthy.”

Even Phil Hellmuth seems to have respect for Ivey and his tremendous poker skills. Hellmuth reacted to Ivey's win on Twitter, saying: "Amazing win Phil Ivey: bracelet no 8, congrats! Ivey now best all around player in world!"

With this statement, he condradicts his earlier tweets and comments made before the start of the WSOP, all saying that he, Phil Hellmuth, is still the best poker player in the world, and could probably beat anyone.

With eight WSOP bracelets, Phil Ivey is currently at the fifth place (together with Erik Seidel) on the all-time WSOP bracelet list, behind Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, Doyle Brunson and Johnny Moss.