Phil Ivey Gobbles Up Chips Over Thanksgiving

Guess you can say that Phil Ivey helped himself to seconds this Thanksgiving. Not second places, but a second tournament win in a row.

On Wednesday, he took home $1,000,000 by winning the Monte Carlo Millions tournament in, amazingly enough, Monte Carlo.

The next day, while the United States was gorging itself on turkey, stuffing, and green bean casserole, Ivey bellied up to the table again, this time at the FullTiltPoker.net Invitational, aired live on Fox Sports from Monaco. This was a true challenge, as it was a $120,000 buy-in single-table tournament against some the best the poker world had to offer. The other six competitors were John Juanda (second place, $280,000), David “Devilfish” Ulliott (third, $120,000), Phil Hellmuth, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, red-hot Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, and Gus Hansen.

Once again, Ivey came out on top to claim the $600,000 first prize.

Interestingly, there was nary a Full Tilt jersey to be seen. The tournament was held in the high stakes room, and honoring the rules of the house, all players dressed in formal wear.

Originally published November 28, 2005