WSOP 3-Bet: Ivey-Fivey, Steinberg Bracelet, Yukon Payoff

Today in the WSOP 3-Bet we bring you Phil Ivey’s fifth consecutive final table this summer, bracelet number one for Max Steinberg plus mysterious developments between Phil Hellmuth, Brad Booth and UB.

Any suggestions for the WSOP 3-Bet may be left in the comments.

Ivey Makes Fifth Final Table in 13 Days

Phil Ivey is making a mockery of commonly-held ideas about poker tournament variance at the 2012 WSOP.

After taking 2011 off, Ivey is back with a vengeance.

 

On June 8 Ivey made the final table of the $5k Stud Hi-Lo event, eventually finishing seventh. Click here for coverage of his run in that event.

Three days later he was at the final table of the $10k Pot-Limit Hold’em event, finishing second to Andy Frankenberger. Here’s our coverage of that.

Then, just three days later on the 13th, Ivey was at his third final table of 2012 where he finished third behind Scotty Nguyen and Joe Cassidy in the $5k Omaha-8 event. Click here to see how that went down.

Five days after that, on the 18th, Ivey was at yet another final table, this time finishing fifth in the $10k HORSE Championship.

And now, on June 19th, Phil Ivey is at the final table of Event 35, $2,500 Mixed Hold’em.

Ivey has already earned hundreds of thousands of dollars in this two week but there’s a good chance he’s just thinking about the millions he’s lost in prop bets by not shipping a bracelet.

A ninth WSOP bracelet and over $210k wait for Ivey at the end of this final table.

Keep an eye on the WSOP Blog tomorrow for coverage of Ivey at his fifth final table of 2012.

Max Steinberg Wins $1k Donkament, First WSOP Bracelet

This summer has been all about pro-heavy final tables and we saw exactly that scenario play out once again in the latest $1,000 buy-in donkament.

Former PokerListings blogger Matt Stout narrowly missed his first bracelet.

 

Poker pro Max Steinberg defeated Sam Gerber heads-up to win his first WSOP bracelet and over $440,000.

Amazingly for a $1k event, both Steinberg and Gerber had previously finished second in WSOP events.

Finishing third was former PokerListings.com blogger Matt Stout. “Allinat420” online, Stout has been a fixture on the live tournament circuit since 2006 and has so far earned more than $1.58 million.

Stout has an enormous list of results but a major win has so far eluded him.

Dylan Hortin, who was named a “One to Watch” on this season of the World Poker Tour, finished fourth.

Here are the final table results for Event 33, $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em:

1. Max Steinberg - $440,238 2. Samuel Gerber - $273,385 3. Matt Stout - $192,813 4. Dylan Hortin - $139,258 5. Joseph Marzicola - $101,802 6. David Nicholson - $75,314 7. Ryan Laplante - $56,372 8. Vitaly Meshcheriakov - $42,688 9. Christopher Shaw - $32,702

Hellmuth Pays Booth Mysterious $5k

All the way back in February Canadian poker pro Brad Booth tweeted that he had dirt on poker icon Phil Hellmuth, and that the Poker Brat had to come clean … or else.

Now, roughly four months later, it seems we have some closure, however cryptic and incomplete.

Booth, who’s been struggling with a mountain of debt and a shortage of cash, got active on his Twitter account yesterday and sent out a few messages regarding Hellmuth.

@phil_hellmuth I dont give a shit that your trying to win your 13th bracelet-u have a problem with me and it's time we deal with it#publicly

@phil_hellmuth maybe u should explain to the poker community your Cheque u just received from UB after Black Friday and much more?? #retweet

i also received @5000 from @phil_hellmuth last night and will be paying it back to past debt

There’s a lot going on behind the scenes but it looks like Booth is referring to Hellmuth receiving distributions from a previous stake in UB.com.

Exactly what the $5,000 payment was for is still unclear.

Shedding some much-needed light on the situation in her latest blog is Haley Hintze, former Editor in Chief of PokerNews.com.

An excerpt:

There's also the strange departure of Hellmuth from Cereus at the end of 2010, which to my knowledge has never been adequately explained. Annie Duke was already off contract and was being paid a monthly retainer, and she and Scott Tom hated each other's guts anyway; no surprise she was jettisoned. Yet Hellmuth's contract, according to AP insiders, lasted at least another year, and Hellmuth seems to have invited AP to void his deal by showing up at a December '10 poker tourney wearing "Aria"-branded gear.

We'll be bringing you more on this story as it develops.

For all the action from the WSOP in Las Vegas click through to our 2012 World Series of Poker Live Coverage section, brought to you by 888poker.com.