Phil Ivey is good at poker. That’s bad for the people that have to sit as his table. It’s even worse for the sportsbooks.

Ivey made it all the way to the final table at the World Series of Poker Main Event. Unfortunately for the sportsbooks, he was favored to get there all along. Even with the “best” odds at winning, Ivey was a 150-1 shot to win the tournament. Those were the best odds any player was given — so a $100 bet on Ivey pays out $15,000. Before the event, Ivey was listed as a co-favorite along with three other poker pros. The pain doesn’t end there for bookies. They also allowed people to wager on who’d make the final table. Ivey’s odds were 20-1 — so a $100 bet pays out $2000. If you bet on Ivey, you could already cash that betting slip.

Currently, there are nine men left in the tournament. If you wanted to bet on the winner now, Darvin Moon (58,930,000 chips) at +250 and Eric Buchman (34,800,000 chips) at +350 are the favorites. Even though Ivey has the 7th largest chip stack out of nine players, he’s listed as the third-most likely player to win at +450. But if you want to make a bet on Ivey, don’t bet on him to win. BetUS is taking bets on “Which Player Will Eliminate Phil Ivey” and “Phil Ivey Not Eliminated” pays out +550.

Ivey is truly an amazing player and has a decent chance to win. Even if he doesn’t, I’m sure he won’t be too sad. The 9th place finisher is set to receive $1,263,602. And if you saw the excellent ESPN video on Ivey’s life, he’s not exactly hurting for money right now.

Tags: gambling, hold 'em, main event, phil ivey, poker, sports betting, sportsbook, wagers, world series of poker, wsop