Phil Ivey: King of the Poker World

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In the words of ex-World Series of Poker (WSOP) commissioner Jeffrey Pollack, Phil Ivey is the most talked about, feared and revered poker player on the planet. He is a player entirely in his own category, untouchable, serene and secure at the top of the heap, an enigma with a Cheshire Cat grin and the deadly glare of a Wild West gunslinger.

He once explained the thing that makes him a good poker player is that he has a complete disregard for money. That if he is sitting at a table and has to bet $300,000 or $400,000 in a hand, and he’s bluffing, he’ll do it, he just doesn’t care.

This disregard for money also allows the 34-year-old to fly around the world in a private jet, writing personal checks for a million dollars to play in private craps games in casinos, where millions change hands in the course of an hour.

To relax, he enjoys prop betting, sports betting, craps and golf, but poker to him is a day job and not considered gambling at all.

He has won a total of 7 WSOP bracelets and a World Poker Tour title. His earnings in live tournaments are constantly being adjusted upward, yet at last count were in excess of $12 million. On Full Tilt Poker alone, a site of which he has ownership interest, his online play in 2009 has earned him slightly over 6 million dollars.

Phillip D. “Phil” Ivey was born on February 1, 1976 and raised in New Jersey where his father worked in construction and his mother was employed by an insurance company. His grandfather, who lived in the basement, had air-conditioning — something his family home lacked — so young Phil snuck down there every chance he could. It was here, through the tutoring of his grandfather that the future legend learned to play the game he has come to dominate.

His first job flipping burgers at McDonalds didn’t last, nor did a stint as a telemarketer, as the young Ivey could not resist the lure of nearby Atlantic City. Though underage, he managed to obtain a fake I.D. in the name of Jerome Graham. And because he never left the casinos, regulars began calling him “No Home Jerome.”

Ivey would play poker in the casinos for 16 to 18 hours a day, and a few times he lost all his cash and ended up sleeping under the boardwalk, something he called disgusting.Yet he gained valuable table experience and made a rep as a high-stakes player to be contended with.

Following the live tournament circuit, at the age of 23, he won his first WSOP bracelet, edging out Amarillo Slim and Phil Hellmuth in the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event in the year 2000.

In 2002 he picked up 3 more bracelets in the $2,500 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo event, the $2,000 S.H.O.E. event, and the $1,500 7 Card Stud event.

In 2005 he claimed his fifth owning the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha competition. Then came 2 more in 2009, for No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball and Omaha Hi/Lo / 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo.

He is also notorious for turning his last $50,000 into $2 million playing in one of the juiciest cash games in the world held at Larry Flynt’s Hustler Casino when he was 24.

If that wasn’t enough to etch his name high in the legend book, he further enhanced his fame in February 2006 when — backed by the Corporation, a loose affiliation of pro poker players who staked him — he won over $16 million going heads-up with billionaire Andy Beal over the course of 3 days.

After coming in 2nd in the 2010 Aussie Millions AU$100K Challenge, Phil Ivey has now moved into the number one position on the All-Time Money List.

Phil Ivey plays online exclusively at Full Tilt Poker.