The dry spell is over, and Phil Ivey has taken down his sixth career World Series of Poker bracelet. Ivey came into the final table of the $2,500 deuce-to-seven event sitting in second-to-last on the leader board and even bought into the 5 p.m., $10,000 mixed world championship tournament, fearing he might not have a long stay ahead of him. Instead, Ivey proceeded to double up several times, taking out a few players along the way, and put himself back into contention.

A few hours later, Ivey had his heads-up opponent, John Monnette, on the ropes. But his 9-2 chip lead wasn’t safe, and Monnette doubled up twice to take the lead. Then, after grinding his way back to a small advantage, the final hand came down that gave Ivey the win.

Event Results

1 Phil Ivey $96,361
2 John Monnette $59,587
3 Yan Chen $38,892
4 Eric Kesselman $26,757
5 Rodeen Talebi $19,346
6 Raphael Zimmerman $14,663
7 Elia Ahmadian $11,627
8 Layne Flack $8,453

Coming into the final table of seven players short-stacked Phil Ivey would need some help to win his sixth bracelet and become the youngest player in WSOP history to reach that feat. Without a doubt, the night belonged to Ivey.

Even after winning his sixth bracelet Thursday night, Phil Ivey never let go of his poker face.

Ivey won the no-limit deuce-to-seven draw lowball event Thursday night, collecting $96,361. His first bracelet since 2005 and sixth in his career puts him in a tie with Layne Flack, Men Nguyen, Jay Heimowitz, and T.J. Cloutier. His first bracelet came in 2000 as he defeated "Amarillo Slim" Preston heads-up, and since that time, Ivey's legend has grown.

Ivey now holds bracelets in lowball, seven-card stud, pot-limit Omaha, SHOE and seven-card stud high-low split. He does not have a bracelet in no-limit hold 'em, with fifth place being his best finish in that game.

"It was a grueling event," Ivey said to Nolan Dalla of the WSOP. "When we got head-up, we played a long time head-up. I did not expect it to last that long. I expected it to break either way. It was a tough final table. I don't play that much Deuce, so I am pretty proud that I won a bracelet in this event since I had not won this game before. It really means a lot. Every time you win a bracelet, especially now, it is a major accomplishment."

Amazing to think that he doesn't play much in the game and now is a member of an elite group of deuce-to-seven champions. This was Ivey's 31st WSOP cash and impressive 19th final-table appearance.

"Don't report that he won the tournament," Howard Lederer told Dalla. "We're working hard trying to prove that poker is a game of skill, and Ivey winning is going to ruin everything."

The game attracts primarily high-stakes cash-game players, and while the field of 147 players will be one of the smallest fields during the 2009 WSOP, it was definitely one of the toughest.

Other notable finishers include Layne Flack (eighth), Tony Guoga (ninth), Freddy Deeb (12th), Vanessa Rousso (17th), Barry Greenstein (18th) and Erick Lindgren (20th).

Below are the complete results of Event 8 at the 2009 World Series of Poker:

Event 8: Deuce-to-seven draw lowball
Buy-in: $2,500
Entries: 147
Prize pool: $338,100
Players in the money: 21


1. Phil Ivey ($96,367)
2. John Monnette ($59,586)
3. Yan Chen ($38,891)
4. Eric Kesselman ($26,757)
5. Rodeen Talebi ($19,346)
6. Raphael Zimmerman ($14,663)
7. Elia Ahmadian ($11,627)
8. Layne Flack ($8,452)
9. Tony Guoga ($6,292)
10. Xavier Laszcz ($6,292)
11. David Grey ($6,292)
12. Freddy Deeb ($4,959)
13. Chris Bjorin ($4,959)
14. Torsten Iversen ($4,959)
15. Michael Kamran ($4,094)
16. Mark Weitzman ($4,094)
17. Vanessa Rousso ($4,094)
18. Barry Greenstein ($4,094)
19. Erle Mankin ($4,094)
20. Erick Lindgren ($4,094)
21. Anargyros Karabourniotis ($4,094)