Ivey Drops In on European Poker Tour

It should come as no surprise to anyone that has watched a single televised World Series of Poker match on ESPN that Phil Ivey is among the players to survive Day One at the European Poker Tour kicked off in Barcelona. Though it was quite a surprise that he showed up at the event in the first place. Ivey was not registered for the sold out event and seemed to head to Barcelona as an afterthought to his playing a tournament in London. Needless to say, the organizers allowed him to play. Saying no to Ivey at a sold out, high-profile poker tournament would be akin to saying no to Kobe Bryant in a pick-up basketball game after you′ve already chosen your players. It may not be fair, but some things are good for everyone involved. After nine hours of poker, Ivey finished the day with about 27,000 in chips, which is about average for the field.

Ivey is among a few other notables who also made the trip to Barcelona and survived the first day. Among them are online poker maverick Johnny Lodden, Humberto Brenes, Rob Hollink, and Jeff Lisandro. Isabelle Mercier and Mike "The Mouth" Matusow are also scheduled to play in the next round of the tournament.