Phil
Ivey is considered one of the best all-around cash game players to
ever sit at a poker table, and is also one of the most feared
tournament players on earth. Having won 10’s of millions in poker
as well as 7 WSOP bracelets, Ivey is likely to go down as one of, if
not the, greatest poker player of all-time.
Following
their successful model of Bobby’s Room at the Bellagio –another
MGM Mirage Las Vegas property—the casino magnates have announced a
huge tournament to launch the high-end poker room which will feature
a single table. The tournament is by invite only and will feature a
$1,000,000 prize-pool –put up by the casino—as well as a sizeable
bounty on the room’s namesake, Phil Ivey.
The
new Ivey Room will offer players an alternative to Bobby’s
Room at the Bellagio, and has the capability of bringing in even more
high stakes players to the Las Vegas strip, now that the seats have
doubled! However, if you can’t make it out to Vegas you can Play
Video Poker Online, at online poker sites such as Doyles Room, Full
Tilt or Party Poker.
The
ARIA Resort & Casino at CityCenter will officially unveil
its exclusive one-table high-limit poker room. Named for the man his
peers deem the best all-around poker players in the world,
“The Ivey Room” will open May 22nd with an
invitation-only $1 million freeroll in which VIP players will have a
shot at a $250,000 first-place prize along with a $100,000 bonus for
eliminating the room’s namesake, Phil Ivey. The winner will
also earn an opportunity to play Ivey heads-up for an additional
$250,000.
The
Ivey Room provides high rollers with direct access to the cashier’s
cage, 24-hour table-side dining, and a 42-inch flat-screen television
― essential for sweating all those sports bets. The cage has 480
safe-deposit boxes available so your roll will always be safe. Phil
Ivey was flattered when ARIA President and COO Bill McBeath asked
him to lend his name to the room.
“I
am honored that Bill and the entire team at ARIA have decided to
place my name on their one-table high-limit room. With its recent
opening in December, ARIA has established itself as a leader in the
gaming industry and I look forward to playing at ARIA’s Poker Room
soon,” Phil Ivey said.
By
courting Phil Ivey and convincing him to lend his name to its high-stakes
room, Aria is making a very public play for “The Big Game,” which
is currently stationed in Bobby’s Room at Bellagio. The Big Game,
however, has always moved around over the years. It has been played
at Sam’s Town, the Horseshoe, and the Four Queens. For most of the
’80s the Mirage hosted the Big Game, and when Bellagio opened in
1998, it made it’s home there.
Named
for Bellagio owner Bobby Baldwin, Bobby’s Room opened in
2004 after the post-boom expansion of the Bellagio poker room.
Hundreds of millions of dollars have changed hands within its walls,
a nice chunk of that loot landing in Phil Ivey’s pocket as he
worked his way from cash-game grinder to international celebrity.
This is certainly
not the first time a Las Vegas casino has sought out a “star”
player to endorse a poker room. When the Wynn opened in 2005, it
signed Daniel Negreanu as its poker ambassador, and he hosted
a series of high-profile heads-up matches in which he took on anyone
at any game for $500,000.
In 2007, Planet
Hollywood signed Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi as its
“in-house poker celebrity.” Both of those casino-endorser
relationships, however, turned out to be short-lived.
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