Despite all that jockeying back and forth, it all came down to a final hand where both John Monette and Phil Ivey picked up strong four-card hands. Monnette raised on the button and Ivey moved all in. Monnette decided to call, being outchipped by a slight margin. He showed 9-7-5-2 and then turned up a bum card to show he was drawing one.

Ivey revealed a much stronger 7-6-4-2 and was a favorite to take the title. Monette drew a 7 to pair up and took all the suspense out of Ivey’s fifth card because he was drawing dead. But, just for good measure, Ivey showed a 5, making the near nuts on the hand to take the title.

Monette earned $59,587 for his runner-up finish and Ivey picked up $96,361 for the win. (Although, it is rumored that this win was worth approximately $3 million in side bets)

Almost immediately after some photos were snapped, Ivey joined the rest of the field in the $10,000 Mixed Games Event, after having blinded down to about half of his original stack. The first thing Ivey did was give a loud “Hello” to Eli Elezra sitting a table over. Elezra congratulated Ivey on his accomplishment and both Erick Lindgren and David Grey each came over to share their congratulations as well.

With his sixth career bracelet, Ivey now sits in a tie for 7th place all-time at the WSOP.

Blinds: 5,000-10,000 with a 3,000 ante

Players Remaining: 2 out of 147

Chip Counts:

1. John Monnette — 615,000
2. Phil Ivey — 481,000

Average Chip Count: 551,250

Notable Eliminations:

3. Yan Chen – $38,892

Elimination Hands

Yan Chen Eliminated in Third Place ($38,892)

Yan Chen moved all in from the button for 139,00 and Phil Ivey made the call. Chen stood pat and Ivey drew one card. Chen turned up a jack-low and Ivey flipped over 9-4-3-2 before he drew his final card. Ivey received a 5 and Chen was eliminated in third place.

Blinds: 3,000-6,000 with a 1,500 ante

Players Remaining: 3 out of 147

Chip Counts:

1. John Monnette — 490,000
2. Yan Chen — 370,000
3. Phil Ivey — 275,000

Average Chip Count: 367,500

Notable Eliminations:

None

Blinds: 2,000-4,000 with a 1,000 ante

Players Remaining: 4 out of 147

Chip Counts:

1. Phil Ivey — 400,000
2. John Monnette — 350,000
3. Yan Chen — 210,000
4. Eric Kesselman — 95,000

Average Chip Count: 275,625

Notable Eliminations:

7. Elia Ahmadian – $11,627
6. Raphael Zimmerman – $14,663
5. Rodeen Talebi – $19,346

Big Hands:

Elia Ahmadian Eliminated in Seventh Place ($11,627)

Yan Chen raised to 9,000 from the small blind and Elia Ahmadian reraised to 28,000 total from the big blind. Chen made the call and he drew one card. Ahmadian stood pat and then Chen moved all in. Ahmadian made the all-in call and Chen turned up 9-8-4-3-2. Ahmadian revealed a ten-low and he was eliminated from the tournament in seventh place.

Phil Ivey Doubles Up

Phil Ivey raised to 12,000 from the small blind and Raphael Zimmerman moved all in from the big blind. Ivey made the call and both players elected to draw one card. They each revealed their hand before the draw card:

Ivey: 7-6-3-2
Zimmerman: 9-7-6-2

Ivey then drew an 8 to leave Zimmerman drawing dead. Ivey doubled up on the hand and he will be dangerous with chips at his disposal.

Raphael Zimmerman Eliminated in Sixth Place ($14,663)

Phil Ivey raised to 12,000 from the small blind and Raphael Zimmerman reraised a significant amount. Ivey then reraised all in and Zimmerman made the all-in call. Ivey stood pat and Zimmerman drew a card. Ivey turned up 8-7-5-4-3 and Zimmerman mucked his cards. Zimmerman was eliminated in sixth place, while Ivey took the chip lead with 400,000.

Rodeen Talebi Eliminated in Fifth Place ($19,346)

Rodeen Talebi moved all in for 50,500 and Yan Chen made the call. Both players stood pat and Talebi flipped over a J-10 low. Chen revealed a 9-8 low to win the hand and eliminated Talebi in fifth place.