Last night Phil Ivey made his third final table of the 2012 World Series of Poker, and his fourth cash overall. Now a serious contender for the 2012 WSOP Player of the Year award (for both the WSOP and for Cardplayer Magazine, Bluff Magazine and the Global Poker Index) Ivey is proving that his year-long hiatus from tournament poker hasn’t had any lasting effect on his skills.

Ivey is still in search of WSOP bracelet #9 however, as he was eliminated from the $5k Limit Omaha 8 or better tournament in third place (Scotty Nguyen and Joe Cassidy will be back in action on Thursday to play for the bracelet) worth over $100k, but far from Ivey’s main goal which is the bracelet.

Ivey’s terrific 2012 WSOP run began in Event #14 when he cashed in the $1,500 No Limit Holdem Shootout event, followed by a final table in Event #15, the $5k Seven-Card-Stud 8 or better tournament (where he finished 7th). Ivey’s second final table of 2012 came just days later, when he finished second to Andy Frankenberger in Event #17, the $10k Pot Limit Holdem tournament, and last night’s 3rd place finish in Event #24, the $5k Limit Omaha 8 or better event, has firmly put Phil Ivey’s mark on the 2012 WSOP –and the tournament series isn’t even halfway over!

Ivey will likely put the elimination behind him and move on to the next tournament(s) on Thursday as he continues to try to keep pace with Phil Hellmuth who picked up his record twelfth bracelet just a few days ago; on the same day that Ivey finished second in the $10k Pot Limit Holdem event no less!

Joe Cassidy will take a mammoth chip-lead into Thursday’s heads-up match against 1998 WSOP Main Event Champion and 5-time WSOP bracelet winner Scotty Nguyen, who is one of the best O8 tournament players in the history of the WSOP (Scotty is in search of his third WSOP bracelet in the discipline).

Cassidy will take a 3.5-to-1 chip-lead into the match Thursday afternoon as he look for his first ever WSOP bracelet, and first ever major tournament victory, despite a number of close calls over the years.

* Joe Cassidy – 3,000,000

* Scotty Nguyen – 845,000

Here is a look at the final table payouts up to this point in the event:

1. 1st Place — 294,777

2. 2nd Place — $182,213

3. Phil Ivey — $136,046

4. Meng La — $102,260

5. Gregory Jamison — $77,342

6. Elie Doft — $58,873

7. Bart Hanson — $45,084

8. Mike Matusow — $34,748

9. Ryan Lenaghan — $26,940

Tags: 100k, Bluff Magazine, Card Stud, Contender, Fir, Frankenberger, Hiatus, Joe Cassidy, Main Goal, o8, phil hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Pot Limit, Scotty Nguyen, Thursday Afternoon, Tournament Poker, world series, World Series of Poker, WSOP Main Event, Wsop Main Event Champion

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 14th, 2012 at 8:28 am and is filed under Poker News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.