I personally don't think he's the best poker player in the world anymore. There are a number of guys who've overtaken him in recent years, the likes of Kanu, Trueteller, Ike, WCGRider, Sauce123, jungleman, Galfond etc. and there are many other talented midstakes pros who will probably overtake him in the next few years. I think he'd struggle to beat as low as 2kNL on Stars over a decent sample.

On his Full Tilt account Polarizing, he's down $4.5 million after 140k hands, since December 2012, and Patrik Antonius has overtaken his lifetime online cash game profits if you include all of their accounts. I know swings in high stakes games are huge, but you can't deny that his graph is on a clear downward trend.

Even in tournaments he's fallen behind in relative ability. At last years Main Event, even the amateurs were reading him like a book (remember that hand where Mader folded trip queens vs Ivey's full house?) and his set over set hand that got him knocked out, despite it being a cooler, was played poorly. At the 2013 PCA, he got badly outplayed by Doc Sands in the 52s vs A5s hand and tilt-called off the rest of his stack when he wasn't getting the correct odds.

What do you think? Do you think Ivey is no longer the best poker player in the world?

He won a bracelet this year and just had a deep run in the main. Still the best ever IMO

negreano is da best

I guess NLHE = poker now

Hurry!!, we need a new Tiger Woods of poker, or maybe we can settle for a Messi of cash games?, a Federer of turbo MTT?, a Pele of chinese?

According to OP "Poker" is the same thing as "No Limit Holdem."

It's always been common knowledge that NL was Phil Ivey's worst game.

Where have you been?

Threads make this make me laugh, gg OP.

A more correct statement would be players around Ivey and the game got better especially no limit. Still the best.

Lol at this awful OP

Kanu, Trueteller, Ike, WCGRider, Sauce123, jungleman, Galfond etc.

Lets break this down shall we. OP was "best poker player" NOT "best holdem player"

Kanu - only wins at holdem

Trueteller - only wins at holdem

Ike - starting to play a bit of PLO and mixed

WCG - lolholdemplayer

Sauce - finally an actual contender! he actually wins at mixed games, but obv is strongest in nl holdem. and hes not the best

jungle - only wins at holdem

Galfond - another actual poker player, one of three on this list. galfond actually pretty strong in 2-7 triple draw it seems

Now, to the OP, the best poker player isn't any of these. Its probably still Ivey if he still crushes the big mixed games. It could also be David Oppenheim who also crushes them arguably harder. It could definitely be Antonius, or one of the other crushers who sits online, Alexnomoon, Seb86.

The future of poker is mixed games, NL is done. And I for one can't wait.

So...i was right when i said "In b4 Can ivey beat nl100?" thread

there is for sure a player better than ivey in every single game, but i dont know if there is one as good as him overall.

When you win 10 bracelets at that young of an age, and when you final table almost every tournament you play (in every game possible), and when your peers all agree that you're an absolute shark, and when you have so many deep runs in main events, and when you win in literally all televised cash games you play, then you're the best player in the world.

He might have lost $4.5m but how much has he won online over the years?

My only problem with Ivey is that he is a gambler. If he only focuses on Poker, he literally could be one of the richest people around.

I mean, he just won a bracelet and was chip leader of the main event on day 3 or 4. That means something.

Never forget...

Killing at baccarat though.

Interviewer- Can you beat 25NL

Ivey-who's 25NL

he just won a bracelet man what are you talking about

Agree with everything you said except this. NLHE still represents a HUGE majority of the poker games that are played, and it's not even close. PLO was supposed to be the next big thing, but sadly it really isn't (yet).

the HUGE swings in PLO will prevent the avg player from ever embracing the game, HORSE really only game that has a chance to be big in future

As a mixed game player, I wish I could say I believe you're right. I don't see it happening, however.

OP jealous he doesn't have the BR to shoot dice for what Ivey shoots a toss at

This is actually a much more interesting question IMO. Live, nose-bleed cash, full ring 7-stud hi, who's better than Ivey?

OP, who would you stake against Phil Ivey heads-up in a live game? That should answer your question.

Annual Ivy busts main doomswitch pull.