Phil Ivey Wins $363,650 At 2010 WPT Bellagio Cup VI Main Event

Despite being one of the last players to enter the 2010 WPT Bellagio Cup VI Main Event, Phil Ivey still managed to walk away with an impressive third place finish, and $363,650 in prize-money from his initial $10,000 investment.
Taking advantage of the late registration available in the competition, Ivey didn’t even enter the frey until the third day of action and had only a short-stack of 20BB standing between himself and instant elimination.
Nevertheless, by the end of the day Ivey had built a 568k stack and by Day 4 he had collected 1.595 million in chips, and booked himself a place at the six man final table. Going into Day 5, Ivey was lying in 5th spot and knew he had a lot of work to do if he was to challenge for the prestigious WPT title and he came close to doing just that after holding the chip lead on several occasions.
First out 46 hands later, was Eric Afriat in 6th ($118,950), after getting all his chips in pre-flop holding pocket 5’s only to run into Justin Smith’s pocket J’s. Next out was the UK’s Rob Akery in 5th ($169,930), who pushed all-in holding Ah-Js but found himself badly dominated by Phil Ivey’s Ad-Qh.
Four and a half hours later, a short-stacked John Caridad was unlucky to make an all-in button steal holding Js-6d just as Justin Smith on the big blind was dealt a pocket pair of Q’s. With no help from the board, Caridad walked away with a 4th place finish and $237,902 in prize-money.
Out of the three players remaining, Moritz Kranich held the chip lead with 6.35 million in chips, while Smith had a 4.43 million stack and Ivey was on 3.35 million.
Unfortunately for Ivey, his challenge came unstuck after being dealt J-9 to Kranich’s Q-J. Kranich then check-called Ivey’s bets on the flop and turn on a A-J-4-A board, eventually calling Ivey’s 700k push on the river when a 3d fell. Holding the same two pair but with a lower kicker, Ivey was then eliminated from the competition in third, collecting a cool $363,650 for his efforts.
Two hours later, Kranich dispatched his final opponent holding K-10 to Justin Smith’s pocket J’s. With a K falling on the turn, Smith was eliminated in second place for $594,755, while the German poker pro took down the prestigious WPT title and the $875,150 first place prize. With his latest victory, Kranich has now earned $2,080,399 from live tournament cashes.