Phil Ivey, arguably the greatest poker player of all time, competed against dozens of poker fans in a special low-stakes World Poker Tour (WPT) Christmas Meet-Up Game (MUG) on Tuesday at Wynn Las Vegas.
The 11-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner and WPT Champions Club member played some $1/$3 and $2/$5 no-limit hold'em from 9 a.m. to noon. He was joined in the packed crowd by many other big names in the poker community, including fellow WPT Global ambassadors Brad Owen and Ethan "Rampage" Yau.
The holiday MUG took place during the WPT World Championship festival, which has attracted thousands of players to Wynn over the past two weeks. Poker fans had a shot at grabbing some Christmas "Bradley Dollars" from Owen, the most popular poker vlogger in the world with 760,000 subscribers on YouTube. There were some other popular vloggers in the house, including Jaman Burton, Mariano Grandoli, and of course Rampage.
Meet-Up Games, a creation of Andrew Neeme and Owen years ago, give poker fans an opportunity to meet and compete against their favorite vloggers, streamers, and pros. Tuesday's event, like most MUGs, provided a relaxed environment for casual poker players to play a little poker with Ivey, Jamie Kerstetter, and WPT commentators Tony Dunst and Lynn Gilmartin.
Matt Savage, the WPT's Executive Tour Director, even showed up in true holiday spirit, dressed as Santa Claus. It was fun times for everyone, especially those who won some money against their favorite poker players and personalities.
*Images courtesy of the World Poker Tour.
