Freddie Ellis Wins World Championship 7 Card Stud Event, Phil Ivey Wins His 6th WSOP Bracelet

Posted by pokerguru on June 5, 2009

It took over 12 hours to finish the deed, but Freddie Ellis won the first World Championship Event of the 2009 WSOP by besting Eric Drache in Event #6. Ellis was perfect from day one and he had quite a few obstacles to get by in the process. If you play cards in Atlantic City and New York, you know the name. Now the world knows how Freddie Ellis is.

The final hand of the tournament, Drache found himself very short stacked and in deep trouble. The 100,000/200,000 blinds had all but gobbled up his stack and it was time for an all in. Drache raised on the river for his final couple of chips and that was all she wrote. Ellis finished the hand by hitting a flush and Ellis was sent to the rail. Ellis walks away with $373,751, a bracelet and the respect of every player that sat down at his tables. Other notable finishes were Max Pescatori (4th), Greg Mueller (7th), Jeffrey Lisandro (9th) and Daniel Negreanu (10th).

Event #8, the $2,500 Deuce to Seven Draw Lowball No Limit Event, was about as entertaining as it gets. In all likelihood, Ivey had more on side bets than he would win by taking down the bracelet, but he can’t collect unless he gets the jewelry. It was rumored that he stood to win more than $1,000,000 if he took down a tournament.

John Monnette was equal to the task and the two players went head to head for over three hours. At one point, Ivey was all but out and then made a huge run and it looked like the tournament was over as Ivey had over 900,000 of the 1,100,000 in chips. Then with two quick double ups, Monnette had Ivey on the ropes. It was Ground Hog Day all over again as within a few minutes, the situation was reversed and Ivey was back on top. After a few hands, the chip stacks evened back out and the player started trading blinds again for a bit.

The final hand finally happened about 3 and a half hours into heads up play. Monnette was on the button and made a raise when Ivey pushed everything into the middle of the table. Monnette never hesitated and everyone stood up in anticipation. Each player would be taking only one card on the draw. Ivey has holding 7-6-4-2 and Monnette held 9-7-5-2. Monnette was unlucky and drew a 7 to give him a pair and was now officially dead in the hand. Ivey turned over his 5 and the tournament was over.

Ivey now has 6 WSOP bracelets and not one of them is for a NL event. While Ivey is taking down $96,367 for his win, the real payday will come when he walks around the room and collects the money from all the side bets that are out there for a player to win a WSOP event. The will all more than likely ante up again, but Ivey has to feel good about this one.

In other tournaments…

Event #7 is at the final table, but we are still quite a ways from a winner. As of this posting, there are still 7 players remaining in the $1,500 No Limit Event. Craig McConville is currently the chip leader with 3,100,000.

Event #9, the 6 Handed $1,500 NL Hold’em Event is now down to 42 players. This one still has a long way to go with barely a recognizable name left in the field. There has been plenty of action and the number by the end of play today should have us pretty close to a final table.

Event #10, the $2,500 Pot Limit Mixed Game has players dropping like flies. As of this posting, there were only 36 player remaining in what appears to be one of the better fields for this deep in the tourney. A name we have not heard much from in recent times, David Sklansky is still hanging in but times are getting dire with only 32,000 left in his stack.

Event #11 started today and we have seen about half of the field walk away from the tables. The $2,000 NL Hold’em event is moving a bit slower than the bulk of the other tournaments, but the pace is still okay to hit the final table as scheduled. The story of the day in this tournament is Jason Mercier who is making an early bid for his second bracelet of the season.

The second World Championship event kicked off late tonight with the $10,000 World Championship Mixed Event. Negreanu, who has already gone deep in the 7 Stud World Championship Event is playing great poker and catching cards. This is not good news for the rest of the field as there are few better when he is on his game. He is already at the top of the leader board and seems like he is a man possessed. We all know how aggressive he is and he is just as likely to continue his run as he is to be broke by the time the blinds get back to him. However, after last year’s showing, you would have to think he will play a little more conservative when he gets a big chip lead this time around. Forget that, its Kid Poker, full steam ahead!