Ryan Schmelzer

As you might already know, Phil Ivey won this year’s WPT L.A. Poker Classic Main Event. I also might have known that he set the record for most WPT final tables with that win with eight. Did you know that he did so in eight cashes? That’s right, he has final tabled every WPT he has cashed in.

This is absolutely a remarkable feat. It took him eight times to finally pull it out, but this might show that when Ivey is determined, he gets the job done. Yes, he has blown some early and mid-tournament leads. Did he want to win those tournaments as bad as he did the LAPC. I wouldn’t doubt it. But the first place prize, while still lucrative for him, he could make in a good week in the cash games he plays in. Hell, he could make that much money in a good 24-hour session probably. Because of this, it has to be hard for him to be 100% focused during the entire tournament. But, when he hits that money, he is in for the long hall and nothing will get in his way.

Another amazing accomplishment was done by one Chris “Jesus” Ferguson. The NBC National Heads-up Championship is an event the most of the pros love. Despite people complaining about the fast structure to it, the winner is always given a lot of credit. He finished second in the tournaments inaugural year to Phil Hellmuth. The next year, he finished runner-up for again; this time to Ted Forrest. This was the fourth year of the event and once again made it to the best of three format finals. He lost the first match to Andy Bloch. It looked like he might finish second for the third time in four years. He managed to fight back and win the next two matches and the event, however.

No matter how much luck it takes to win the event with its less than perfect blinds, his dominance of that event shows that he has a ton of skill heads-up. A little luck doesn’t hurt either. When he won the 2000 WSOP Main Event, he got all-in for all the marbles with A-9 against T.J. Cloutier’s A-Q. A river 9 gave Ferguson the championship. Don’t get me wrong, I think Chris is very good and has proven it with this tournament. Don’t let my luck tangent lead you to think otherwise.

I will almost guarantee that Ivey will win another WPT before he is down. Considering the fact that he said in an interview lately that he will always play poker, that probably isn’t a brave prediction considering this man’s skills. I’m sure you will also see Ferguson do well in the heads-up. Keep your eyes on these two.