Phil Ivey Eliminated By Max Steinberg in Largest Pot of the Main Event

Mickey Doft

Level 14 : 1,500/3,000, 500 ante

Phil Ivey began the day by chipping up from 198,800 to 330,000 in Level 11. He appeared on the verge of jumping into the top five, but lost a sizable pot to fall back to about 180,000. After grinding his way to back up the counts to about 425,000, Ivey got his chips in again with a chance to command a top-five stack, but what appeared on the surface to be a golden opportunity was in fact the worst case scenario for him.

Ivey raised to 7,500 from under the gun and was called by Olaoluwa Okelola in the hijack, Max Steinberg in the cutoff, and Anthony Gregg in the big blind.

The flop came down and Gregg checked to Ivey who bet 16,000. Okelola raised to 41,000, Steinberg called, and Gregg folded. Ivey took a few moments before reraising all in for roughly 416,000. Okelola folded, but Steinberg called immediately and tabled . Ivey was left with one out in the deck as he showed .

Neither the turn nor river saved Ivey, ending his Main Event.

The usually stoic Ivey exited through the back of the ESPN stage with his hat in his hand, slapping it as he made his way to the back hallways of the Rio.

Meanwhile, Steinberg now sits second in chips with just above 1 million after starting the day with a mere 39,000.