Phil Ivey 2010 WSOPPhil Ivey is well known for having the best poker face in the game, but when 2010 WSOP Event #37 was in the books it was nothing but grins and smiles from the 33 year old poker icon who finished off a tough final table to claim the $329,840 first place prize money and more importantly for him his eighth career WSOP bracelet. With his victory tonight Phil Ivey moved into a tie with Erik Seidel for fifth all time on the WSOP wins list.

When the event was finished Ivey casually asked “what did first place pay?” When told “about three fiddy” Ivey smiled and reached for the events gold bracelet clearly showing that’s what mattered most. While history is one aspect , another aspect more important on a personal level to Phil Ivey is the six and seven figure prop bets he has on the line, including a rumored $5 million dollar prop bet with Howard Lederer on if he can win two bracelets between the 2010 and 2011 WSOP. Whatever the motivation for his recent success, which has seen him win three bracelets over the past two WSOPs, might have been; Phil Ivey is now the youngest player to capture eight WSOP bracelets and trails only Phil Hellmuth (11), Doyle Brunson (10), Johnny Chan (10) and Johnny Moss (9) on his quest to take over the all time WSOP victory lead.

Ivey himself believes taking over as the leader in the all time bracelet chase is an eventual forgone conclusion. In his post match interview Ivey says he believes he can win 30 gold bracelets and he meant it. While this is quite a claim, if he keeps being fed motivation in the form of massive sized bracelet prop bets, we’re not so sure we’d want to take action against it and as fans are pulling for him to do just that.

2010 WSOP Event #37 Final Table

Phil Ivey went through a tough field of 487 on his road to this victory, including a star studded final table comprised of poker pro and commentator Chad Brown, David Baker who cashed for the 7th time this WSOP, two time WSOP bracelet winner Bill Chen, 2009 WSOP bracelet winner Ken Aldridge, 2008/2009 back-to-back Stud Hi/Lo bracelet winner Ryan Hughes, the tables single unknown player Albert Hahn and two poker icons that need no introduction in Jeff Lisandro and John Juanda.

When final table play started Ivey was second in chips trailing only Bill Chen. While leads shifted throughout the night when heads up play started it was once again Bill Chen in the lead with Ivey trailing. It didn’t take too long for momentum to shift and after about 90 minutes of heads up play Ivey captured Chen’s final chips sending Chen to the rail to collect $203,802 for his runner up finish.

Phil Ivey is widely believed to be the best poker player active, and perhaps the best ever period. Ivey has $13 million in career tournament winnings (most all time) and is well known as one of the biggest winners in the highest stakes cash games played both live and online. Poker-Prop.net congratulates Phil Ivey on his eight career WSOP bracelet and wishes him the best of luck picking up a couple two three more this series.

2010 WSOP Event #37 Final Table Results

Phil Ivey – $329,840
Bill Chen – $203,802
John Juanda – $129,553
Ken Aldridge – $93,418
Jeffrey Lisandro – $68,417
Dave Baker – $50,871
Albert Hahn – $38,391
Chad Brown – $29,406

Do you want a chance at WSOP glory? There is still time to qualify for the 2010 WSOP main event via the world’s largest online poker site PokerStars.com.