Famous Poker Players: Phil Ivey
Phil Ivey

Phil Ivey grew up in New Jersey and started his poker pro career at an early age.  he managed to win his first WSOP title at the age of just 23 beating Phil Helmuth and Amarillo Slim in Pot Limit Omaha (PLO).  To prove this was not a fluke he went on to win two additional WSOP in 2002 and got a bad beat against Chris Moneymaker in the 2003 main no limit holdem event.  He's also won two Bellagio tournaments, one WPO, and two Commerce Casino poker tournaments.  He has made an appearance at three WPT final tables. Although Phil Ivey is best known for his TV appearances and has had a good deal of success on the tournament circuit, he is also a serious player in ring games where he frequently beats some of the biggest money poker games in the world. Despite his litany of poker achievements he frequently comments that his poker ability is not as good as it needs to be.

Phil Ivey

His slight resemblance to golfer Tiger Woods has, led to him being referred to as the "Tiger Woods of Poker."  However, Phil plays this down somewhat stating flatly that he is no where near at the same level in the Poker world as Tiger is in the golfing world.

It is perhaps this drive and determination to be a better player that makes him such a force in the game.  He is still only 27 so it is hard to imagine what he can archive in the next few decades if he continues to work on his game.  One of his strongest traits at the poker table is his tremendous focus and reading ability.

Phil Ivey recently moved to Las Vegas with his wife (his high school sweetheart).  When he is not playing poker he likes to play basketball, listen to music, or watch his favorite sports team, the Los Angeles Lakers.  He has also taken up golf, although he is still learning that.

Ivey is involved in the relatively new poker web site FullTiltPoker.com, best known at this stage for a number of high profile celebrity poker player backers.