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There were quite a few big bets placed on Phil Ivey to win the 2009 World Series of Poker before the event even began. Fortunately for the online sportsbooks, Ivey was eliminated in 7th place on Saturday.
Before the 2009 WSOP Main Event began on July 3 in Las Vegas, one of the poker pros you could bet on to win the Main Event was Phil "Poison" Ivey, who at the time had won five WSOP championship gold bracelets in his career (he won two more at the '09 WSOP), reported Thomas Somach of Gambling911.com.
Costa Rica-based online sportsbook BetUS.com, for example, listed Ivey as one of four co-favorites to win the '09 Main Event, along with Daniel "Kid Poker" Negreanu, Gus "The Great Dane" Hansen and Tom Dwan.
Each co-favorite had betting odds of 150-1 to win the Main Event, meaning a $100 bet made on Ivey to win it all will earn $15,000 if he does so. Many other Internet sportsbooks that took wagers on the WSOP installed Ivey, whose top skills make him poison to his opponents, as the favorite or co-favorite at high odds to win the Main Event.
And at books where he wasn't the fave or co-fave, he was listed at even higher odds.
Bookmakers the world over were biting their nails heading into Saturday, NordicBet.com being one of them out of Scandinavia. They were now offering odds on both men still standing, Joe Cada and Darvin Moon.
Kim Rud Petersen, spokesman for NordicBet.com said on Friday, "A victory for Phil Ivey will cost our company alone hundreds of thousands of dollars in payouts, and I believe it's the same for most bookies in the industry. If Ivey wins, this actually might turn out to be the most expensive poker tournament for bookmakers ever." NGG's starting odds for Ivey were 750.
Ace King, Gambling911.com
