Phil Ivey and Phil Hellmuth carry around with them two of the largest reputations in the poker world. Ivey is considered by many to be the top all around player in the world and Hellmuth is the self-proclaimed best tournament player in the world with the results to back up his claim. What neither Ivey nor Hellmuth had on their poker resumes leading up to the LAPC was a victory in a World Poker Tour Event.

Ivey came in with an amazing streak of 7 cashes in WPT events and every time he cashed he made it to the final table of 6. Out of those seven final tables, he had not been able to close the deal and emerge with a title. After making the money again at the LAPC, the buzz started around Ivey potentially going 8 for 8 if he made another final table. Once he had made the final table, the buzz switched from an amazing accomplishment of 8 cashes and 8 final tables, to could Ivey go 0 for 8 without winning a title?

Leading up to final table play, there were a few key hands that helped propel Ivey to the chip lead. When play was down to 2 remaining tables and around 14 players left, Ivey was in the 1 seat with Hellmuth in the 8 seat and Blair “blur5f6” Hinkle in the 9 seat. Blair had been very active, raising and re-raising to win a lot of pots and chipping up considerably in a short period of time. While Hellmuth kept commenting on Hinkle’s aggressive play Ivey sat silently, folding hand after hand letting Hinkle accumulate chips. Finally Ivey got the spot he had been waiting for. With the blinds at 12k / 24k and a 4k ante, Hellmuth opened for 90k and Hinkle flat-called. Ivey raised to 290k form the button leaving just over 700k behind.

Hellmuth tanked for a bit before folding and then Hinkle (right), who had been constantly stacking chips for the last few hands as he continually raked in pots, looked up and asked how much it was. After learning it was 200k more to call Blair looked back at his cards and announced a raise. He put out the 200k to make the call and then put out 400k on top. Ivey moved in over the top for an additional 314k and with a pained look on his face Hinkle made the call. Ivey had pocket kings while Hinkle had the J9 of hearts. Blair flopped a flush draw and turned a gutshot straight draw, but missed both on the river to double Ivey up to over 2 million chips and the chip lead. That hand was the beginning of the end for Hinkle.

Blair was able to double up in a coinflip with Ivey to get back to a million, but then dropped back again, losing an all-in to a short stack with his pocket fives to the A4 of Jeff Schwimmer. Jeff hit an ace and doubled through Hinkle, again leaving Blair short. The other Phil finished Blair off in a hand that caused a lot of talk. Hellmuth completed from the small blind to match the 30k big blind and Blair moved all in for 410k more. Hellmuth said he thought Hinkle had a weak holding such as a small suited connector and made the call with Q2 offsuit, much to the surprise of everyone around the table. Hellmuth’s assumption about Blair’s holding was pretty close, as Hinkle had the 97 of hearts. Hellmuth’s queen held up to bust Hinkle in 11th place for $61,610.

Another PocketFiver also received the $61,610 payout. Mike “SirWatts” Watson (left) finished in 10th place. He had been steady around 1 million chips for much of the late stages of the tournament, but as the blinds escalated he ended up in an all in pot with one of the shorter stacks that ate away at about half of his stack. Watson had raised with AQ preflop and was called. On the jack-high flop, he bet enough to put Wei Kai Chang all-in. Chang thought for a long time, before finally deciding he didn’t have enough chips left to fold. He called with pocket nines which held up on the turn and river to double Chang and leave Watson in a push or fold situation until he was finally eliminated.

The double through Hinkle put Ivey in the chip lead and he was able to stay above 2 million and continue to chip up. The other Phil moved into the chip lead ahead of Phil Ivey though, but then the two played a massive pot all-in preflop. Hellmuth opened a pot and Ivey raised. Hellmuth came back over the top all-in and Ivey turned over his pocket aces to make the call for a pot of over 5.5 million chips. The aces held and Hellmuth was down to a million chips while Ivey had taken a massive chip lead which he carried into the final table.

At the final table, Ivey took a hit on the very first hand. He raised and Charles Moore moved all-in for 1.5 million. Ivey debated before finally calling with A9 suited. Moore’s AK held up and he took the chip lead from Ivey. Phil continued on a downward spiral for the first few minutes of play, losing the larger pots and only winning small ones. He then changed gears and was passive for the middle stage of the final table, while Hellmuth ended up being the first elimination, out in 6th place for $229,820. Ivey continued to hang around before turning the heat up and taking a large chip lead during four handed play.

Nam Le was Ivey’s toughest competition and looked like he was going to close the gap on Phil’s chip lead when he was all-in with pocket aces against Ivey’s pocket threes, but the three of diamonds on the turn busted Nam Le in 4th place while adding to Ivey’s chip lead and eliminating his toughest competitor. After that it was smooth sailing for Ivey, who quickly busted Charles Moore in third leaving him heads up with Quinn Do. Ivey went into heads up play with a large chip lead and on the second hand heads-up, he flopped two pair and turned a full house to leave Do drawing dead when the last of the chips went in.

Ivey’s victory is his first WPT title and is worth $1,596,100, plus any additional value of having the WPT monkey off his back. Ivey followed up his victory by making it to the final four in the NBC Heads Up Championship before losing to Chris Ferguson.