Phil Ivey was born February 1, 1976 in California. Phil Ivey is one of the most popular players and is widely considered the best tournament player in the world. Growing up in New Jersey, Ivey improved his poker game by playing against his co-workers at a telemarketing company.
Currently, Phil Ivey plays mostly cash games like the 'Big Game' $4,000-8,000 mixed cash game at the Bellagio Casino in Las Vegas. but his rise to fame started with his dominance at the World Series of Poker in 2002 when he tied Phil Hellmuth's and Ted Forrest's record of winning three bracelets in one year. Combined with his Pot Limit Omaha bracelets in 2000 and 2005, Phil Ivey has a total of 5 WSOP bracelets. His first victory in 2000 made him the first player ever to beat Amarillo Slim heads-up. Phil Ivey has never won the main event at the WSOP, but has come close a number of times including finishing 23rd in 2002, 10th in 2003, and 20th in 2005.
Phil Ivey's WSOP bracelets:
2000 $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha $195,000
2002 $2,500 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo $118,440
2002 $2,000 S.H.O.E. $107,540
2002 $1,500 7 Card Stud $132,000
2005 $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha $635,603
A much publicized event in 2006 was the cash games Phil Ivey played in Limit Texas Hold'em versus Texas billionaire Andy Beal heads up. The stakes reached as high as $25,000/$50,000 and Phil Ivey won over $16 million in three days which more then made up for "The Corporation", a group of poker pros who pooled their money and took turns playing against Beal. The rest of "The Corpooration" lost $10 million but after Ivey righted the ship Beal said he was giving up poker.
Phil Ivey has made several appearances on Poker television shows like Poker After Dark and the Game Show Network's High Stakes Poker. When playing, Phil Ivey appears to be totally focused and you can see it in his eyes that he is absorbing all the information at the table so his actions are very calculated. Phil Ivey regularly the favorite when it comes to the odds in Las Vegas for the pick to win the World Series of Main Event.
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