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Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com
The $1 Million VIP Poker Tournament commemorates the grand opening of The Ivey Room, an exclusive one-table high-limit room named in honor of seven-time World Series of Poker champion Phil Ivey at Aria on May 22, 2010.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011 | 11:45 a.m.
The world’s best poker player will not play in the World Series of Poker this summer.
In an unexpected move, Phil Ivey announced through his Facebook account and eventually his website that he would not play in any of the WSOP’s 58 events. Ivey said he wouldn’t appear at the Rio until Full Tilt Poker, his former sponsor, reimbursed players for their funds that were frozen when the Department of Justice shut the site down in April.
“I am not playing in the World Series of Poker as I do not believe it is fair that I compete when others cannot,” Ivey said in a statement on his website. “I am doing everything I can to seek a solution to the problem as quickly as possible.”
Ivey indicated in the statement that he had filed a lawsuit against Tiltware, the owners of Full Tilt Poker, and would stop at nothing to get answers for the poker community.
“I wholeheartedly refuse to accept non-acting as to repayment of players funds and I am angered that people who have supported me throughout my career have been treated so poorly,” Ivey said.
The World Series of Poker without Ivey is akin to Wimbledon without Rafael Nadal or the Masters without Tiger Woods in his prime. Ivey is the star who commands the most attention after all his previous accomplishments.
The 35-year old Las Vegas resident has won eight World Series of Poker bracelets, including three in the last two years. He also made the 2009 Main Event final table before finishing in seventh.
When Ivey didn’t show up at the series’ first open event Tuesday afternoon, the $25,000 heads-up no-limit hold’em championship, not much was made of his absence. Most assumed Ivey had just decided to start his WSOP schedule later this year.
It wasn’t until Ivey took to his facebook that the reality of one of the foremost faces of poker not being around for the game’s premier event set in.
“For many years, I have been proud to call myself a poker player,” Ivey said. “This great sport has taken me to places I only imagined going and I have been blessed with much success.”
“I will, as I have for the last six weeks, dedicate the entirety of my time and efforts to finding a solution for those who have been wronged by the painfully slow process of repayment.”
Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or case.keefer@lasvegassun.com. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.
Funds are frozen by the Justice Department. How is staging a one-man protest against WSOP and FTP going to help?
lol they compared Nadal. No one likes Federer.
"Funds are frozen by the Justice Department"
Not completely accurate.....the Justice Department has made deals with offshore online poker sites to free up money that they want to return back to the players.
Full Tilt has made no such arrangement with the Justice Dept.
Phil Ivey is a schmuck - I'm willing to bet this has nothing to do with his "fans" and the people that supported him, he doesn't care about anyone but himself (granted that's very typical of competitive people, that attitude is probably very much why he is so good at what he does - like MJ and Tiger)
Here's what it says on the FTP website:
Since April 15th and the days immediately following, Full Tilt Poker faced numerous challenges and hurdles to ensuring the smooth operation of its international business and the orderly return of US player funds. FTP has worked tirelessly to address these issues and has made significant progress on both fronts. FTP's international business operations are returning to normal while we focus on ensuring the safe and orderly return of US player funds. We are absolutely committed to making sure that US players are refunded as soon as possible. We apologize for the delay and the fact that we underestimated the time it would take to work through these issues. We will update our US players when we have more specific information to provide.
BS - Ivey. He's totally in it for himself. He's trying to get out of his contract and cloaking it as looking out for us little people.
Read the lawsuit for yourself:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/56836292/Ivey-...
No mention of paying back funds. All he's looking for is to get out of his contract.
When did Poker become a "great sport"?