ESPN Inside Deal Welcomes Phil Ivey, Steven Begleiter

This week, “Inside Deal,” which airs on ESPN.com, welcomes two of the 2009 November Nine, Phil Ivey and Steven Begleiter, both Full Tilt Poker pros. “Inside Deal” is released every Tuesday.

The show began with a recap of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event, which saw November Niners Antoine Saout and James Akenhead reach the final table. Last year, Ivan Demidov became the first player to make the feature tables of the WSOP Main Events in Las Vegas and London, prompting “Inside Deal” host Bernard Lee to comment, “I previously said that I never thought Ivan Demidov’s performance making the WSOP final table and making the WSOP Europe final table would ever happen again in the same year.” Sure enough, two players proved Lee wrong this year.

“Inside Deal” then recapped three legal battles raging in the industry, headlined by the closure of Pitbull Poker, a Flash Poker Network site, amid superuser allegations. In addition, Lary “pokergirl z” Kennedy and Greg Omotoy have sued Full Tilt Poker over bot use, while funds destined for internet gamblers in Maryland were seized from six bank accounts by the Federal Government. On the latter, Lee remarked, “Players must be able to trust that their virtual money is safe. If not and they can’t turn this money into cold, hard cash at any moment, the money is pointless.”

Begleiter then joined Lee and “Inside Deal” host Laura Lane donning Full Tilt Poker and 1-800-WIRELESS logos. He’s seen fellow November Niners excel since play concluded in July, including Kevin Schaffel finishing as the runner-up to Prahlad Friedman in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Legends of Poker in August; Begleiter finished ninth. Begleiter noted, “I’m rooting for these guys. We’re all going to be linked forever and as time goes on and we’ve had this joint success, it raises the profile of the table.”

An exclusive interview with Phil Ivey then aired. In it, Poker Edge host Phil Gordon asked the November Nine member about his recent success. Ivey explained, “I was very prepared and I was on a very good schedule. I was very in tune with poker.” On what makes him a force to be reckoned with at the tables, Ivey remarked, “There’s no perfect way to play against me because I make a lot of adjustments. I’m pretty good at adjusting to what my opponent is doing and I think that’s why I’ve had a lot of success heads-up.”

According to Wicked Chops Poker, Ivey placed a $20,000 bet with Andy Bloch at 200:1 odds that he’d take down the Main Event. The bet was made when 2,500 players remained and may soon pay off to the tune of $4 million. Ivey would not discuss his various Main Event prop bets with Gordon, saying that he wasn’t comfortable talking about them on camera.

Begleiter once again took center stage and commented on the similarities between the poker world and his profession in the financial industry: “Understanding risk, understanding limits, and understanding your bankroll matter when you make a [decision] at the felts or [a decision about] your IRA.” He revealed that he folded pocket kings pre-flop on Day 1 to a 5bet (his opponent showed aces) and flopped a flush on Day 5 to double up. On Day 7, he was all-in with A-Q and cracked pocket kings to vault him into the November Nine.

Begleiter earned his $10,000 WSOP Main Event seat from a recurring home game and owes league members 20% of his earnings, a figure that currently stands at nearly $250,000. Begleiter’s league boasts a buy-in of $300, $60 of which is reserved for a year-end prize pool; the other $240 is allocated for that week’s game. The 27 player league has played out three seasons, with Begleiter winning seven of 36 games, recording one final table title and one regular season championship.

Check out the rest of “Inside Deal” by visiting ESPN.com.