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Money on the Line

But Phil Ivey Apparently Can’t Afford a Tivo

by , Jun 11, 2008 | 4:58 am

Comments (8)

photo: Aaron Hendrix / The Poker Mentor

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:
[flickr album=72157605556879389 num=14]


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8 Comments to “Money on the Line ”


  1. zach     says:
    June 11th, 2008 at 9:31am

    And he is so bored with poker that he bets flop roullette on every flop if someone gamble with him. Which can throw you off your game no doubt. I saw it first hand


  2. donkey     says:
    June 11th, 2008 at 9:57am

    “ALT HED: I Like Big Bets!” Nice, Dan…you need to copyright this phrase and get someone to do a rap video starring Ivy.

    Man, is this guy heading for self destruction or what? If he loses the Laker’s bet and the WSOP prop bet, he will never be the same person.


  3. DanM     says:
    June 11th, 2008 at 1:04pm

    Well that’s the thing … I don’t know that I believe those numbers. Unless Ivey has $40mm in his bank account, I can’t imagine him risking $4mm.

    I could be wrong, of course.

    I also hear that every time he has a big win, he buys real estate. So overall he seems to have handled his money well. Why would that change?


  4. Bundas     says:
    June 11th, 2008 at 3:11pm

    I heard that Barry greenstein had been asked about Ivey’s gambling and Barry stated not to worry about Phil. because Phil has more in CASH then Barry has in all his assets combined.

    And I’m sure Phil has a lot more assets if he has been buying property.

    And if this is true Phil must have a lot of CASH because I believe Barry’s a very rich person.


  5. Ed     says:
    June 13th, 2008 at 10:03am

    Just read he lost the *200k* bet he had with Daniel on who would get a bracelet first. Maybe that amount for the bracelet bet was a total dollar amount between multiple people. I didn’t think he had a $1-2 mil bet with just Daniel…that would be silly.


  6. mike g     says:
    June 18th, 2008 at 11:59pm

    Looks like he lost the Lakers bet too, however much it actually was. Ah schadenfreude…


  7. Ivey's Bookie     says:
    June 19th, 2008 at 9:06am

    Anyone seen the little worm? He owes me $2 mil plus juice


  8. Sony laptop     says:
    March 2nd, 2012 at 9:26pm

    Thankful segment dude. Whatever you allocated here about Phil Ivey problem need to thinking deeply. Thanks mate.