Phil Ivey was noticeably absent from the World Series of Poker last year. He withdrew from playing in any event in Las Vegas over the continuing drama of Full Tilt Poker's inability to pay its players after Black Friday.
He was not seen at the felt in any of the 2011 events.
This week, Phil Ivey returned to the tournament felt in a big way, taking down the $250,000 buy-in event at the Aussie Millions challenge in Melbourne, Australia.
The field was small - just 16 players - but every opponent was a difficult one to take down. Ivey entered the event after finishing 12th in the main event of the Aussie Millions out of 659 entrants, but crushed the field in the high-roller event.
Ivey took home over $2 million (US) for the win. Patrik Antonius, another Full Tilt pro, finished second to take home almost $1.3 million. One more Full Tilt player, Gus Hansen, rounded out the cashers with a third-place finish for about $850,000.
Ivey had played one tournament in Macau in November, but this was his first real tournament entry since walking away after the actions of Black Friday. With Full Tilt embroiled in scandal, Ivey declared he would not play any events until plans were made to reimburse all of Full Tilt's players. Since then, Ivey and Full Tilt have filed lawsuits against one another, while the site itself has been sold to a French group headed by investor Bernard Tapie.
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