This is just more bad news for poor Phil Ivey. He’s on track to lose his edge-sorting case against Borgata, and now it turns out that the famous cash game room in Aria will no longer be called “Ivey Room”. But can these two things be related?
Last week, the Aria Casino’s Director of Poker Operations Sean McCormack tweeted out that they are renaming their high stakes cash game room. Up until now, it was called “the Ivey Room”, evidently named after the 10-time WSOP champion poker legend Phil Ivey. Now, the high stakes room in the gambling hub in Las Vegas will be simply referred to as “Table 1”.
We’ve renamed our high limit room @ARIAPoker! Some ask why “Table 1”? Well, when our players ask to reserve this room they always ask “Is Table 1 available” and we thought it was a perfect fit.
Naming Cred: @ElayneTheHost pic.twitter.com/Pe0L2Z9SfP
— Sean McCormack (@ThePokerBoss) February 20, 2019
In the tweet, McCormack briefly explains that the players calling in for reservations always used that name anyways so they decided to make that official. He even gives “credit” for the decision, naming Elayne S. Teitelbaum. Some people may perceive this move as passing the buck.
As one might imagine, the public didn’t receive the decision well. Many people pointed out that Aria is owned by MGM Resorts, the corporation that is the parent company to the Borgata Casino in Atlantic City. Borgata is currently suing Phil Ivey for over $10 million.
Even Joey Ingram chimed in on the subject. However, apparently he didn’t mind that Ivey’s name is being taken off the marquee. He just wants a “more exotic” new name for the room.
Pretty historic moment took place today as the Ivey's high stakes room at the @ARIAPoker is no more. No
The sign outside the door was changed at around 9 A.M. this morning to Table 1.
I think we need to figure out a bit more exotic of a name for the room. @ThePokerBoss pic.twitter.com/gTqL06uCxP
— Joey Ingram 🇲🇽🇲🇽🇲🇽 (@Joeingram1) February 20, 2019
After the heavy criticism from the online poker community, “the poker boss” McCormack elaborated on the reasons behind the name change in a Twitter video posted on the Aria Casino’s account.
Live from TABLE 1 w/ @MikeWPokr and @ThePokerBoss. https://t.co/iWMka5zSTH
— ARIA Poker (@ARIAPoker) February 22, 2019
“Like in any business, and especially in the Vegas market, we are always moving forward. Renaming, rebranding is an everyday occurrence in this town. (…) Yes, there are some iconic names, but nothing lives forever. And we wanted to come up with a name that has an ‘evergreen’ feel to it. One that could never die” – McCormack said in the video.
He also pointed out that no-one outside the senior leadership of Aria knew about the decision until it was announced. This was a response to the criticism that the poker media allegedly already had articles ready to go at the time of the release of the statement.
Another point McCormack emphasized is that his clients, the high stakes players who actually play in the room, like the name.
What Was the Ivey Room?
The Ivey Room opened in 2010. It was a super high stakes room with a single cash table in it where all the poker world’s greatest came to play. It was inside the Aria Resort & Casino located on the Strip in Las Vegas, NV.
Please note: the late Ivey Room is not to be confused with another iconic high stakes cash game room, Bobby’s Room. Bobby’s Room is in another Vegas casino, the Bellagio and it is named after 1978 WSOP Main Event champion Bobby Baldwin. That is where the $20,000 minimum buy-in cash game, the Big Game is played.
This Isn’t Only Thing with Ivey’s Name That Closed
Phil Ivey’s poker coaching website named “the Ivey League” shut down in 2017 after 5 years of operation. You could get video lessons on poker from Ivey himself or Patrik Antonius on that site.
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