Michele Lewis

When Phil Ivey was eliminated from the 2009 WSOP final table, there was a minor explosion because Phil Ivey…left the building. Ivey gave a couple of interviews then he, we’ll assume, drove home. That’s when the WTF’s started. Interviews are part of tournament coverage and it can be uncomfortable asking a player about a recent upset. But complaining a player left after a huge upset? So. Would it have made a difference in the world had Ivey stuck around to decline 50 people? Did Ivey owe his mourning time because the media created a job for Ivey or did Ivey create jobs in media? Or did he owe it because that’s what everyone else does, it’s standard procedure, it’s the norm. If that’s the case then that makes sense because everyone should do what everyone else is doing.

Maybe Ivey was in a hurry to beat traffic, maybe he wanted Daniel Negreanu to have an exclusive blog post or maybe, and this is kind of out there, maybe he was upset and wanted a break. I know, crazy isn’t it? Here’s a few ways Ivey could have made things better:

1. A painful career moment, equivalent to a national televised job termination, should’ve been given to anyone who wanted a piece of him. It’s more important to get a downtrodden AK interview than allow a human a little wound licking. I guess Ivey was unaware of the tournament elimination rules. Wait, do they have tournament elimination interview rules for players? Who cares, everyone should follow all non-law-breaking rules at all times whether they’re experiencing pain, humiliation, sadness or whatever. Human feelings should come second to media. In fact, Larry David might even be able to prove Moses said this to his people.

2. Living in Vegas, Ivey might show up for some interviews but didn’t he know Confucius say “He who hit enter first have big traffic.” And when it comes to traffic…well, first things first. Had Ivey given interviews, others could have benefitted from his night of gloom which might have turned around the economy. The fact that reporters were getting paid regardless of Ivey’s behavior shouldn’t matter. It’s more important to help the this-is-what-I-want-to-say-about-it-all rat race.

3. Ivey could have boosted his ego by stopping the tournament or at least taken precedence over any hands conducted at that time. Who cares about the other players pivotal hands, eliminations, chip counts when Ivey has been eliminated. The rest of the world should be a little more patient because hey, it’s Phil Ivey.

4. WSOP final table adrenaline is exhausting. Exhaustion causes people to think unclearly (hence this post on early Sunday morning). Ivey had the most final table experience, he should have written a memo on his hand that said… If you bust, make sure you bond with your teammates in the locker room before interviews. Wait, no team mates? You mean every move he made will remain in his own head forever?

5. Ivey should have used brutal honesty for a good story by saying something like “Hey, I know everyone wants to talk to me because I’m the biggest upset but I’m tired, need some space plus I’ve been talking to media for three months… so, I would prefer to be with people who don’t want anything from me.” Or at least, Ivey should’ve given one of those bs self-seeking humble statements like “I will interview tomorrow but for now let the other guys shine.” Seriously, that would have been sufficient… not many can see through lip service disguised as kindness. You know, attention-seeking, praise demanding statements that are actually ways to get a pat on the back. While it might take a stronger person to walk away while risking negative attention due to misunderstood higher intentions, no one cares about that crap when they’re just trying to do their job.

First Could Have Been Better Poker post.