Poker after Dark has shown some prime Ivey moments this week.
At one point he says, “That feeling that you get where you have lost so much money that you can’t breath? I like that feeling.”
I wonder if there has ever been a gambling intervention for someone who was a successful gambler. Do they have to go broke for the outside world to be able to tell? Phil, you’re broke, we felt that this was an indication that your gambling is not healthy for you. Where were they before you dropped 100 million dollars betting on Chinchilla racing?
Previously, Phil Freaked me out by essentially flipping a fifty thousand dollar coin on every flop with Ilari Sahamies.
Now he shows up cross booking 30% of Patrik Antonius’ action, which has to be the worst example of decreasing your variance of all time.
On an early hand Phil, Daniel Negreanu, Tom Dwan, Patrick Antonius, and Gus Hanson all put $100,000 into the pot blind. This was of course won by the luckiest man alive Patrik Antonius, which meant that Ivey lost another 30% of the $400,000 that Antonius won.
After that, Antonius sat out the future four way flips. Sort of. He was still cross booking Ivey so every time Ivey lost one, Patrick won $30,000. If Ivey had won one of these flips, Patrick would have lost close to another hundred grand.
When you considerably ratchet up the stakes with absolutely no possible edge, that’s a pretty good indication that you are either the ballsiest man alive or need to be stopped immediately. Probably, both.
Because really it’s not gambling, and Phil Ivey is a degenerate gambler, if it doesn’t have the possibility to hurt.
By the end of the first week, Phil was looking to gamble size on anything, anyone could think of.
He was down $600,000 and was looking to double it down, because after all that would be the best bank roll management decision.
I guess that Full Tilt Poker puts him up $50,000,000 to start every year, which is nice if you have a gambling problem.
If you gave Stu Ungar $50,000,000 to start each year with, even he might not have gone broke.
Actually, I am sort of glad that Ivey is out there doing it for me to live vicariously through.
This week’s sickest gamblers alive rankings- Poker after dark cash game edition
1. Phil Ivey – The king, he is really only challenged by himself.
2. Patrik Antonius – Even sicker than Ivey, but seems to have replaced Ivey as the luckiest man alive. For some reason God loves him. In the next life, I would like to come back as a model/tennis player/successful high stakes gambler too. Next time anyone asks you a question about God, show him pictures of Patrik Antonius and Eric the Midget side by side and ask them exactly how that works.
3. Tom Dwan – Has to be feared because of his age. He’s almost keeping up with Phil Ivey already, who knows what will happen when he hits his prime.
4. Gus Hanson – If you hear news about someone losing a gigantic pot, it’s usually won by Patrik and lost by Gus, so his ability to hang with these guys continues to amaze.
5. Daniel Negreanu – Would be the most heartbreaking of melt downs. Nevertheless, I get the opinion that he knows when to call it quits. I’ve never really seen any evidence of this on television, so maybe sweet Daniel has got us all fooled.
6. Phil Hellmuth – He isn’t even on the show to gamble it up anymore. He’s just there so that the people who aren’t really paying attention think that Phil is anywhere close to being as sick as the other five. He sat out the flips, and if anything, is starting to seem like the most responsible gambler in America these days. Phil knows that he shouldn’t be hanging with the especially sick top four, but this knowledge just causes massive psychic pain for his gargantuan ego. Amazing how the one time youngest main event winner of all time is now such a tight old man.
All in all pretty amazing television – it’s not really poker any more though. Who cares about a poker hand for $200,000 when Phil Ivey is about to bet Gus and Patrick half a mil each that the waitress will get him his drink in less than 75 seconds?
