If you are into playing poker and watch live poker tournaments or those shown on TV, you must have heard of Phil Ivey. This 27-year-old poker addict had bagged a lot of winnings since he started playing poker about 10 years ago. 

Phil Ivey was born in Riverside, CA and moved to New Jersey when he was just about three months old. Phil’s first encounter with poker was thru his grandfather when he was eight. His grandfather would deal out hands of penny-ante Five-Card Stud and would cheat by grabbing cards from the bottom of the deck. He wanted to teach Phil about the dangers of gambling. 

However, Phil did not turn his back from poker. He actually liked it and he kept telling his teachers when he was a teenager that he will become a professional gambler. He first joined an adult’s poker game when he was 16 and he soundly beat them all. That started his search for more opportunities to play more. 

Phil even scored a fake ID so he can get into the poker rooms in Atlantic City casinos. He started to develop a mastery of all poker games even if it means losing more than winning.  

In 2000, soon after he turned 21, he played in the World Series of Poker where he won his first WSOP bracelet in a $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event. He started playing in high-stakes cash games in Las Vegas and became one of most feared players of poker. 

Phil Ivey’s career breakthrough was in 2002 when he won three WSOP bracelets, each from a different game: Seven-Card Stud, Seven-Card Hi/Lo, and SHOE. That just proves Ivey’s all-around mastery in poker. 

Other big wins of Ivey are the following:

• World Poker Open – January 2003 – 2nd place
• WPT Championship – April 2003 – 3rd place
• 2003 WSOP No Limit Holdem (main event) – May 2003 – 10th place
  

 

Phil Ivey is named by some people as Tiger Woods of poker. But he has his own identity, totally in a class by himself. His aggressive style in the table made him known in the poker game world.  

He is always focused on all his games. He seems to pay attention to all details, and absorbs every piece of information that the other players give him. He is known to bluff a lot, but that is what makes him win a lot, too. 

One good thing about this young guy is that he does not realize just how good he is. He even claims that he needs to work on his skills a bit more. And that just makes him even better because he constantly works on his skills. 

Indeed, this young man has accomplished a lot in the gaming world. Thanks to his grandfather who actually “threatened” him with the game. That just made him one of the greatest poker players around.  

And it is just amazing how he bested other poker stars at such a young age. Surely, Phil Ivey will have a long, long way to go. He still has lots of time to take for him bag the most number of bracelets in the World Series of Poker.