It’s clear Phil Ivey is a problem gambler. The question is whether he’s a problem for casinos and his prop bet opponents or himself. One well-respected ambassadorial poker friend of Ivey’s has said he worries that Phil is too into gambling — to the extent that he doesn’t really have the time of day for anyone who isn’t up for a big-money wager. And this year one of his Full Tilt cronies has reportedly said that if he keeps up the prop bets at his current pace, he’ll be broke in two years.

Yeow, I don’t know Ivey’s real numbers, but his friend who said the latter certainly knows a thing or 12 about going broke. The dollar amounts circulating for Ivey’s off-table wagers are $2 million. On two separate wagers — one about whether or not he will win a bracelet, and the other on the outcome of the Laker-Celtics series. Supposedly Ivey has $2 million riding on the LA winning the NBA Championship. Not sure if I believe it of course — just seems a little coincidental that both his big bets would tally $2mm on the dot … but maybe … regardless, a lot of people saw Ivey auditioning to be the next Spike Lee courtside at Game 1, and yesterday, Game 3/Day 1 of a $2,000 Limit Hold’em event, it was very apparent that he had a lot of something riding on the outcome.

During the tournament, Ivey had no problem convincing the floor to replace the big-screen tournament clock with the basketball game, and his opponents at this table got a rare glimpse of Phil without his usual inscrutable poker face (as Daniel Negreanu occasionally popped by to laugh).

ALT HED: I Like Big Bets!

Phil Ivey’s Laker Tells
Photos by Benjo:
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Harrah’s Chairman and CEO Gary Loveman owns 2.4 percent of the Celtics, and that may or may not be a conflict of interest. The directive reportedly comes straight from David Stern the NBA, and thus no Harrah’s properties will be taking bets on the NBA finals. Talk about a hit for Harrah’s, the Rio, Caesar’s Palace, Paris, Bally’s, Imperial Palace, Flamingo, Bills, Harrah’s Lake Tahoe, Harrah’s Reno, Harrah’s Laughlin … perhaps a mini-boon for Bellagio.

The Palms and Silverton also won’t be taking bets on the NBA finals, as their owners also have ownership stakes in other NBA teams. I find this pretty darn interesting … because if the NBA can remove betting on the finals at these casinos, why wouldn’t they want to maintain the same level of “integrity” throughout the regular season?