|
 As reported earlier, Phil Ivey was the main headline for the final 6 at the 2008 WPT LA Poker Classic. Him and another “notable” Phil [Hellmuth, that is] were the heavy favorites to take down the event, with tournament pros Nam Le and Quinn Do the dark horses looking to spoil their party.
It was a high-flying final table, even though the action was relatively slow when it came down to starting the taping of the event. Phil Hellmuth was surprisingly knocked out very early in the match, and the final 3 players pitted a WSOP bracelet winner (Quinn Do) and a veteran WPT champ (Nam Le) against the almighty one - Phil Ivey himself.
Nam Le was in huge contention to outduel Ivey and Do - that was until his pocket Aces were cracked by Phil’s pocket 3’s when an unlikely turn card brought the “Tiger Woods of Poker” a stunning set. When no Ace came on the river, Nam Le was left in shock as he exited in 3rd place.
That pot brought Phil Ivey’s stack to over $11M, with his heads-up competition in Quinn Do only having a little over $2.5M in chips. It was a daunting and almost-impossible lead to overcome, and unfortunately for Do, there was no miracle comeback that took place.
2 hands into heads-up play, Ivey induced Quinn Do to commit the rest of his stack on the turn, where Phil hit an unbeatable full house. Quinn Do’s two pair was drawing dead, and Phil Ivey was declared the winner of the 2008 LA Poker Classic. The win is Ivey’s FIRST World Poker Tour victory. His previous 7 final tables ended with less-than-favorable results, so his win in this tournament vaulted his career resume even further.
Phil Ivey took home over $1.6 Million for his efforts, as well as a free buy-in to the season-ending $25,000 WPT Championship. When play ended, Phil was ready to pack up his bags to fly back to his home town of Las Vegas, where he is slated to play in the NBC National Heads-Up Championship - which begins play this weekend.
Like This Story? Spread The Word By Booking It To:      
| 
