Phil Ivey is one of the best players under 30 in the poker universe. He is an excellent all-around player with World Series of Poker titles in four separate events (Pot Limit Omaha, Stud, Stud Hi/Lo, and S.H.O.E.). Phil Ivey is also one of the most feared No Limit players on the tournament circuit today. He has over $3 million in career tournament winnings since 2002 and shows no signs of slowing up.
Phil Ivey - Source: Las Vegas & Poker
Phil grew up in Atlantic City, New Jersey and excelled at video games as a youngster. He focused on becoming a professional poker player and paid his dues at local card rooms in Atlantic City. He played cards for 12 to 14 hours every day in order to build up his bankroll and gain experience at the tables. He's still very young and it's to scary think into how much better of a player Phil Ivey will evolve in the future. He shrugs off the comparisons to Tiger Woods and knows that he still has to work hard everyday if he desires to be one of the best players of all time.
Phil Ivey has won four World Series of Poker bracelets. He won his first bracelet in 2000 at the age of 23 in the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event. That might be considered one of his greatest victories because he beat out several top names at the final table including Phil Hellmuth, Amarillo Slim, and Devilfish Ulliott. In 2003, Phil Ivey added three more bracelets to his collection. He tied a WSoP record (with Ted Forrest and Phil Hellmuth) for winning three bracelets in a single year. In a twenty day period, Phil Ivey went on a major rush. He won bracelets in the $1,500 Seven-card Stud event, the $2,500 Seven-card Stud Hi/Lo event, and $2,000 S.H.O.E. event. Phil came close to winning his fifth career WSoP bracelet in 2003, when he finished in 10th place at the Main Event. Ivey missed the final table when Chris Moneymaker sucked him out on the river to beat his full house.
Phil Ivey was a part of poker history when he won $500,000 in the first televised live poker tournament, which took place at the Turning Stone Casino in upstate New York. He has also appeared at five TV tables on the World Poker Tour. Although he's never won a WPT title, he came close in 2003 at the Jack Binion World Poker Open in Tunica, MS. He lost to Devilfish Ulliot and finished in second place. After coming in sixth place at the 2005 Five Star World Poker Classic at the Bellagio, Ivey has amassed almost $1 million in career earnings on the WPT.
Phil Ivey married his high school sweetheart and they currently reside in Las Vegas, NV. He can often be found playing high limit poker at the Bellagio or sitting in some of the largest private cash games in the world with Doyle Brunson and Chip Reese. You can play against Phil Ivey online at his site, Full Tilt Poker.
