Why I'm picking Phil Ivey to win the 2009 Main Event

[Fonzi]

With no cash games of interest during this years WSOP, Full Tilt Poker pro Phil Ivey has found a new way to make a living. He's successfully combined WSOP tournaments and prop bets with fellow players to generate a staggering income this summer. For his 2 WSOP wins and 5 cashes Ivey has collected a meager $356,994. But in prop bets with fellow poker pros, he's said to have collected an eight figure income.

On day 1d of the WSOP Main Event, Ivey's table was selected by ESPN to be the featured table but Ivey refused to move, leaving his table mates angry over losing out on up to 10k each in sponsorship money that featured table players usually make. Most people assumed it's just Phil being stubborn, but we later found out that there's a very good reason for Phil to avoid as many distractions as possible.

Phil Ivey wants to win the Main Event.

In years past he was happy to play some of the larger World Series tournaments while focusing his attention on the large cash games in Bobby's room. Maybe it's the struggling economy or maybe he got a prop bet he couldn't refuse. Whatever his reasons are, the player I consider to be the best in the world is on a mission and ESPN and poker in general may end up the biggest winners. It's been years since a pro took down the Main Event and many think it's nearly impossible to get through such a large field without making a mistake or losing to a suckout. Wouldn't it be something if the best player in the game were to win the Main Event?

At a very young age, Phil Ivey, decided that he wanted to be a a professional gambler. He never wanted to do anything else with his live but gamble and be good at it. HE started playing in the Atlantic City, NJ poker rooms before he was 21 using the name Jerome.

Phil doesn't care much for personal achievements. A while back while he was away at a tournament his wife thought it would be nice to have someone come in and install a display case for all his bracelets and trophies. Upon arriving at home, Phil asked her to take it all down only leaving up one trophy, the one he won in Monte Carlo. Something tells me he would leave up a WSOP Main Event bracelet, but I'm also fairly certain that he's playing the best poker he can for an even larger prize. How much that prize is will probably never be known.