Sam Farha defeats Phil Ivey in Omaha Hi Lo 8 event

Whilst skill is paramount for real poker success, luck plays a huge role too. Take Phil Ivey, six time bracelet winner who only months ago was being rightly lauded for a series of brilliant victories in international tournaments, but was this week beaten to the bracelet in a World Series of Poker match.

The second of the Omaha Hi/Low 8 or better WSOP in which Ivey was entered turned out to be a truly exciting match between the nine top players at the final table, which looked like this:

1. Jim Ferrel – 143 000
2. Jeff King – 40 000
3. Mike Wattel – 312 000
4. Phil Ivey – 174 000
5. Sam Farha, 225 000
6. Kirill Gerasimov – 186 000
7. Brian Nadell – 47 000
8. Ryan Hughes – 106 000
9. Mike Henrich – 62 000

Wattel was the most favored by expert poker players due to a good chip lead and a reputation as an aggressive Los Angeles and Vegas Omaha poker player. He reportedly had a number of side bets for big money on the game as an added incentive to win.

One of the pro players who failed to get near the final table in the tournament commented that Wattel was the best Omaha exponent at the final table, and said that with a good chip lead he would prove almost impossible to beat.

And by the time the fifth player had been eliminated, it looked as if the prediction was correct, with Wattel firmly in control of the game despite aggressive players like Ivey, Gerasimov and Farha in contention

But then Wattel lost a huge pot to Kirill Gerasimov and became crippled through a devastating beat on the next hand and Farha soon eliminated him when Wattel's A-3-4-5-7 low was counterfeited by a 3 on the river.

It eventually came down to Ivey, Gerasimov and Farha - three world-class players - with Gerasimov in the chip lead with 530 000.

Seven tough hours of wildly fluctuating play followed as the three struggled aggressively to dominate the game and although Gerasimov frequently looked like the inevitable victor, he too fell by the wayside - again to a Farha play.

The final heads up match between Ivey and Farha started with the former almost 300 000 head in chip lead; however that was not to last long as Farha embarked on winning a series of large pots from Ivey to take a dominating chip lead.

After that it was just a matter of time - in fact a little over an hour - before Farha finally ended Ivey's chances at a sixth bracelet and walked away with the winner's check for $398 560 and his second gold WSOP bracelet, leaving a disconsolate Ivey with a still healthy $219 208 for second place.