Phil Poker Player
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16 hours ago A 15-time World Series Poker (WSOP) champion, Phil Hellmuth is regarded by many as the best poker player in the world. Dominating in Texas. Phil Gordon is an American professional poker player who has made a tidy fortune for himself in the world of poker. Apart from poker, he has also made great impact in other spheres of life. His commitment to cancer prevention and research is a worthy venture that has endeared him to many.
The long legal battle between poker superstar Phil Ivey and East Coast casino Borgata over nearly $10 million that the former won in baccarat may finally be coming to a close.
Help us to 100K Subscribers - you are reading this, comment. Watch other Videos: Bluffs Gone Wrong - https://youtu.be/ffawyLHW4fY. 1 day ago Hellmuth has long proclaimed that he’s the best poker player in the world. Few established pros pay much attention anymore, and most write off the comments as. WSOP legend Phil Hellmuth is having a rough day at the office. After setting up what he believes to be a brilliant psychological tactic, he runs into the tur.
NJ Online Gamblingreported Wednesday morning that Ivey and Borgata had reached a settlement, citing a July 2 filing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Per usual in these cases, terms were not disclosed.
Ivey initially won the money all the way back in 2012, playing a series of sessions with gambling partner Cheung Yin “Kelly” Sununder agreed-upon conditions that enabled the pair to have a sizable edge on Borgata, unbeknownst to Borgata officials.
Borgata filed suit in 2014 and a legal war ensued for the next half decade.
According to gaming attorney and sometime PokerNews contributorMac VerStandig, the only real surprise is that the two sides took this long to come to terms.
'It's unsurprising to see litigation settled, especially at the appellate stage where both parties have had the opportunity to air respective grievances, and the cost of going forward may outweigh what either party stands to gain,' VerStandig said. 'Cooler heads normally prevail sooner but it's not at all surprising to see it come to pass here.'
History of Legal Back-and-Forth
While the legal war started in 2014, it took until late 2016 for a big inflection point to finally occur. At that point, the judge presiding over the case sided with Borgata and ordered Ivey and Sun to return more than $10 million they'd won — the at-issue baccarat millions plus some craps winnings.
The case continued on appeal, and some sources reported Ivey was in danger of losing tens of millions to Borgata if things continued to go poorly in court.
Further damage against Ivey came when Borgata was granted clearance to seize his Nevada assets early last year. They followed through on that in high-profile fashion, garnishing Ivey's winnings when cashed in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship.
Ivey's Hidden Progress
However, while every turn was seeming to go against Ivey, he was all the while making some small gains in the background, like a poker player stealing enough blinds to stay afloat in a tournament.
'Borgata's case has always had serious vulnerabilities'
The appeals process was apparently going far better for Ivey than the initial case. Of central concern was the issue of whether he had cheated by marking cards. While nobody disputed that he hadn't marked the cards in the traditional sense, Borgata argued that turning the cards in different directions so Ivey and Sun could identify tiny imperfections in them — 'edge sorting' — constituted marking.
NJ Online Gambling reported that Ivey was likely a small favorite on appeal, a sentiment with which VerStandig agreed.
Conclusion Not Thrilling, Not Surprising
If Ivey were to win his appeal, the case would have continued on remand, going back to a lower court for reconsideration.
Borgata would have been forced to return the $124,410 it had already seized from Ivey, and nothing would have been guaranteed going forward. Both sides would have also been on the hook to continue shelling out attorney fees, which have been mounting the entire time in the long-running case.
Furthermore, even if Borgata emerged a winner in court, it's uncertain whether anything but a Pyrrhic victory would have been achieved. A New Jersey search for Ivey's assets only turned up a 'zero-dollar' bank account, and Ivey has been keeping most of his poker-playing activities out of the U.S. and away from Borgata's reach.
NJ Online Gambling also pointed out that ultimately losing the case 'could potentially create a precedent that could harm parent company MGM Resorts International in future cases involving cheating or advantage casino play.'
Given that there appears to have been more downside than upside at this point for Borgata, the settlement seems unlikely to have been very costly for Ivey.
'Borgata's case has always had serious vulnerabilities and Borgata is certainly justified in getting whatever settlement it can get and not risking those vulnerabilities on a remand,' VerStandig said.
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Phil Ivey
Many people have heard “The Gambler” by Kenny Rogers in their lifetimes. But few have ever heeded the wisdom within it, articularly the line, “You’ve got to know when to fold ‘em.”
Amateur real money poker players often see folding as a sign of weakness, and occasionally, it can be. But you can’t go guns blazing into every single hand, or it will catch up with you sooner rather than later. Even though it can hurt to do so, there are times when laying the cards down and walking away is the best strategy. It’s that whole thing about living to fight another day.
Folding to Perfection
Phil Laak Poker Player
All of this came into play in the most recent edition of High Stakes Poker, the hugely entertaining online revival that hosted perhaps its most memorable hand yet on the recent edition. First of all, there were the two players involved who made it quite momentous.
On one side, there was Phil Hellmuth, arguably the most well-known player in the game over the past two decades whose mouth-running antics can sometimes overshadow his undeniable skill.
On the other side was Doug Polk, whose own profile has risen massively in a relatively short time period. Polk is the head of the new breed of poker stars, ones who know how to brand themselves and use social media to increase the stature of their play.
And the heat behind him is as high as its ever been thanks to his recent conquest over long-time rival Daniel Negreanu in the so-called “Grudge Match of the Century.”
The Cards on the Table
The drama unfolded this past week on the PokerGo Network with the unflappable Gabe Kaplan making his invaluable commentary.
It involved one of those hands that can only take place in Texas Hold’em, where community cards can sometimes jumble the picture for players in a way that can make it almost impossible to see all the angles. But to Polk’s everlasting credit, he managed to do so and prevent what could have been a massive loss.
At this point, both Polk and Hellmuth has already drawn straights with two cards left to come, with Hellmuth having the more favorable high card. Both initially looked like they wanted to slow-play it by checking, but Bord forced the action by raising with his lonely pair of deuces.
Phil Hellmuth Net Worth
Polk check-raised to a $7,000 bet at this point, trying to suggest a good hand but not the monster he actually possessed.
That’s when Hellmuth went for the throat with an all-in raise of $97,200. That sent Bord scurrying for the hills and put Polk on the spot. It was a spot that he inhabited for about five minutes while trying to make a decision that most would have thought impossible.
Making the Right Call
Put yourself in Polk’s shoes at this point. The odds of flopping a straight, even when you have two hole cards that make that possible, sit at around 75 to 1. Knowing that, you have to believe that having made the straight puts you in charge of the hand.
Kaplan knew that as well, which is why he immediately started speculating that Polk had no choice but to call. The most common thought process would be to believe that Hellmuth had flopped three of a kind which, again, Kaplan quickly surmised.
A straight beats three of a kind, of course, so if Polk believed that’s where Hellmuth stood for sure, he would have called and taken his chances on Hellmuth not somehow drawing lucky into four of a kind or a full house.
But the size of Hellmuth’s bet immediately gave Polk major pause. Why would he be going all-in with only three of a kind? That’s the kind of move that somebody only makes when they know they can’t be beat.
It was at this point that Hellmuth appeared to hurt his cause by trying to talk Polk into calling. When Polk wondered aloud what Hellmuth might have to make such a bet, Hellmuth suggested he could have a nut-flush and straight draw or that he could have a pair of 10s as “blockers.”
With a pair of tens, it would be extremely difficult for Polk to draw a straight, if that what’s he needed to do, which, of course, he didn’t.
The other players at the table soon began speculating, even making side bets. Kaplan sounded audibly upset by this, as their actions discussing what was going on could have been seen as interfering with the thought process of the players involved. But Polk didn’t seem to be paying any attention, instead trying to stay focused on his brutal decision.
Listen to Kenny Rogers
Remember that line again: “You’ve got to know when to fold ‘em.” Put yourself in Polk’s shoes one more time. And now, imagine the courage it must have taken to fold his hand, which is what he did.
If he had folded, and Hellmuth was bluffing entirely, he would have been ridiculed for being outsmarted. It would have been worse yet if he had folded and Hellmuth was indeed going all-in with a set or a pair of blockers.
People would have lambasted him for his lack of faith in an all-but-unbeatable hand, and considering the high-profile nature of the situation, making a poker mistake like that could have stuck with Polk for years.
Poker Player Phil Ivey
Hellmuth, on the other hand, decided to hide his cards once awarded the pot, which contained most of his own money anyway. This, he did, despite the protests of the players in the side bets who needed to know. One would guess those guys did make good once they watched the video online.
In any case, the hand gives you an indication of what a unique game poker can be. Praise is being showered on Polk for what ultimately turned out to be a losing hand. And Hellmuth is getting some criticism, not for how he played the hand but for his feeble attempts at Jedi mind-tricking Polk into calling, even as he took the pot.
In any case, you have to believe that Doug Polk not only heard the words of Kenny Rogers, but he also took them to heart. It made for about a 100-grand difference.
And for you, the amateur poker players, it’s a good lesson that might help you avoid the future heartache of losing a massive pot only because you didn’t have the courage to flick your cards away when the occasion called for it.