Brian Altman's Big Call: Looking Back at Phil Ivey's WSOP Main Event Bustout
This year's World Series of Poker Main Event attracted a huge field of 7,874 players with John Cynn ultimately emerging as the champion to claim the $8.8 million first prize.
Of those 7,874 players who took part, 10-time bracelet winner Phil Ivey perhaps earned the most attention early on, particularly after lasting into Day 4 while accumulating a decent-sized stack.
But that's where Ivey's Main Event run ended with a 547th-place finish ($23,940) following a final hand versus Brian Altman.
With the blinds at 5,000/10,000, Ivey opened to 22,000 from middle position with 9♠9♣, then Altman three-bet to 75,000 from the hijack seat holding Q♠J♣.
It folded back to Ivey who called, and the pair saw a flop come Q♣J♠2♠, giving Altman two pair. Ivey check-called a bet of 60,000 from Altman, then both players checked the 8♠ turn card that made the board even wetter.
The 3♦ river completed the board and Ivey checked again. Altman bet 195,000, then Ivey jammed all in for his last 629,000. Altman had to think for more than a minute before finally calling. They tabled their hands, and Ivey complimented him with a "good call" before departing.
In the video below, Altman discussed the hand with PokerNews the next day while still alive in the tournament.
"It's a really gross spot," says Altman, noting how easily Ivey could have had a flush or straight.
Listen to Altman look back on how queen-jack was one of the worst hands he could call with, and hear his comments about playing on a feature table and using the available information when doing so. The hand analysis begins about one minute into the video:
Altman ultimately made it all of the way to 113th ($57,010), adding further to his lifetime tournament earnings which now exceed $2.7 million.
