Poker legend Phil Ivey wins big after accidental blind raise

Phil Ivey. Photo / Twitter

Poker icon Phil Ivey is probably brazen enough to claim it was all part of a masterplan.

In reality, his rival players, TV commentators and fans around the world all know he just got away with murder at the World Series of Poker European Tour Super High Roller No-Limit Hold'em event at King's Resort and Casino in Rozvadov, Czech Republic.

The 10-time golden bracelet winner on the WSOP appeared invincible at one point in the Rozvadov main event when he cleaned up a 3.6 million chip pot on the back of a blatant "misclick" blunder.

It was still relatively early on day two of the event when Ivey bizarrely appeared to risk half his total chip count on a blind raise before the flop.

Earlier in the hand Mikita Badziakouski raised the pot to $925k, doubling the size of the pot, with a king of hearts and 10 of spades.

Ivey bizarrely responded by throwing in half his total chips in to raise the pot a further $2.7 million to $3.6 million.

The ultra cool competitor gave himself up for the accidental blockbuster raise when his arm darted back out to the chips in the middle of the table when he realised he'd thrown in a small fortune.

Ivey was able to play it cool from that point on with his face showing no signs of the panic he must have been feeling inside.

Badziakouski sensed immediately that his rival had just committed a blundersome error and a huge grin flashed across his face.

Misclick or did he mean it? 🤔
Either way, Phil Ivey is doing Phil Ivey things at the €250K Super High Roller feature table. https://t.co/5rUlItuiNK 🐐 pic.twitter.com/hO3llGuHaw

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) October 17, 2019

The live TV telecast estimated Badziakouski had a 62 per cent chance of winning the pot if he'd have decided to call Ivey's blind bluff.

However, in a moment that will cause him agony for a long time to come, Badziakouski wrestled with the decision for more than 90 seconds, before ultimately deciding not to meet Ivey's drastic raise 3-bet raise.

After throwing in his cards to give Ivey the pot, Badziakouski immediately challenged the American WSOP hall of famer about the "misclick" — but Ivey refused to reveal his secrets.

By the end of the hand, Ivey had picked up a cool 925k addition to his chip stack and was back among the high rollers sitting at the final two tables of the event which began with more than 100 competitors.

Unfortunately the hand appeared to throw off both of the players involved and they were both casualties late on day two as the field was whittled down to a final table of seven players.

Despite his incredibly lucky streak Ivey eventually crashed out with 12 players remaining.

German Dominik Nitsche is the chip leader on $46.5 million heading into the final day of play in the Czech Republic in the winner takes all $400k event.

Meanwhile, Ivey's reappearance on the WSOP has surprised some poker commentators as he continues to fight a $9.6 million lawsuit verdict which saw him forced to hand back his winnings from a Baccarat game at Borgata Hotel Casino in Atlantic City

The casino's lawsuit alleges that Ivey exploited manufacturing flaws in playing cards during four sessions of Baccarat at the casino in 2012.

He is reportedly yet to pay back the money and is continuing to fight the verdict.