Michael Jordan (sorry, LeBron James followers). Tom Brady. Tiger Woods. Serena Williams. Phil Ivey. What do these 5 superstars have in frequent? They’re all broadly thought-about the most effective to have ever performed it of their respective sports activities.
On Thursday, Ivey captured his eleventh World Sequence of Poker (WSOP) bracelet when he took down Occasion #29: $10,000 Restrict 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw Championship (6-Handed). That places him alone in second place behind the 17 bracelets Phil Hellmuth holds.
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However the frequent best of all-time (G.O.A.T.) argument for Ivey over Hellmuth, or some other participant, is that he is dominated each in money video games and dwell tournaments, and gained huge on-line on Full Tilt Poker again within the day. The newly minted WSOP champion has two World Poker Tour (WPT) titles (Hellmuth, 0), $45.3 million in dwell match cashes, in response to The Hendon Mob (Hellmuth $30 million), and he is been identified to crush a few of the highest stakes money video games on the earth.
Does Everybody Agree Phil Ivey is Poker’s Biggest?
Years earlier than Ivey captured his eleventh bracelet, many poker followers and gamers had already dubbed him the G.O.A.T. That features Daniel Negreanu, a fellow Poker Corridor of Famer, who has lengthy argued his longtime pal and opponent is the most effective ever. He congratulated the latest bracelet winner on Quantity 11 and reiterated his argument in his Friday WSOP vlog.
PokerNews requested some gamers on the WSOP why they suppose Ivey is the G.O.A.T., and we obtained some attention-grabbing solutions from a few of the finest within the sport.
“I imply, again within the day watching him six-bet shove the queen-eight on jack-jack-x in opposition to some man was fairly epic. And I have been an enormous fan ever since,” Probability Kornuth, a three-time WSOP bracelet winner and founding father of Chip Chief Teaching, mentioned. “So, I imply, he is gained a bracelet in 9 totally different video games, I believe. I believe that kinda exhibits how good he’s.”
UFC announcer Bruce Buffer, an avid poker participant who’s competing in Occasion #39: $50,000 Excessive Curler No-Restrict Maintain’em (8-Handed), showered Ivey with reward.
“You recognize what, Phil has wonderful endurance, wonderful abilities, you may’t learn him. It is form of taking a look at a wall and figuring he is smiling at you. Years of expertise. Warrior spirit of the inexperienced felt battle of champions. And, let’s face it, to me it takes BSC — balls, abilities, and confidence, proper? However you want that 10-20% luck issue to win this factor,” Buffer argues.
One poker participant who is not satisfied Ivey is the G.O.A.T. is boxer Ryan Garcia, an newbie participant who has appeared on Hustler On line casino Reside a number of occasions. Garcia as an alternative believes Tom Dwan is the most effective ever, with Ivey a detailed second.
In response to Garcia’s tweet, Dwan mentioned he appreciated the praise, however argued that he does not have a “nice tourney file,” in contrast to Ivey. Dwan has $6.9 million in dwell match cashes and hasn’t gained a WSOP bracelet. He is at all times been extra of a excessive stakes money sport specialist, and like Ivey, famously smashed the largest video games on Full Tilt Poker within the late 2000s.
“He’s a really gifted participant, and a gifted businessman,” Aleksejs Ponakovs mentioned of Ivey. “The whole lot about him is insane.”
Nacho Barbero was impressed with Ivey’s efficiency within the 2-7 occasion and confidently referred to the 11-time bracelet winner as “the best of all-time.”
There is definitely arguments to be made for Hellmuth as the most effective ever given he is far and away the title file holder in essentially the most prestigious sequence in poker. And one might argue G.O.A.T. standing for gamers reminiscent of Doyle Brunson, Chip Reese, and some others. However there isn’t any doubt that Ivey is the most typical response when poker followers are requested to call the most effective poker participant of all-time.
Comply with Phil Ivey’s Chase for #11 at PokerNews
