Phil Ivey

Phil Ivey is considered by many in the poker world to be the best all around player alive. He is most well known for his success in high profile tournaments, but he is also an extremely successful cash game player. At a young age, Phil Ivey has already made a big name for himself and it’s interesting to see what else he will accomplish in his poker career.

Background

Phillip D. Ivey was born on February 1st, 1976 in Riverside, California. Just a few months later his family moved to New Jersey, and that is where he would grow up. His first encounters with poker came while he worked at a telemarketing firm in New Jersey. He started playing poker against his co-workers and then eventually got a fake ID so he could play in Atlantic City.

Like all poker players, Phil Ivey started out as a losing player. He just couldn’t earn a steady income at the tables no matter what he did. Rather than giving up, however, Phil buckled down and studied the nuances of poker strategy. He became a strong poker player within a relatively short time, and started making a name for himself shortly thereafter.

Poker Tournament Career

Phil Ivey has won seven World Series of Poker bracelets, beginning with the Pot Limit Omaha event at the 2000 WSOP. He then went on to win three bracelets during the 2002 WSOP, one at the 2005 WSOP and two more during the 2009 World Series.

Phil has not yet won the Main Event at the WSOP, but he has had plenty of success there as well. Between 2002 and 2009, Phil Ivey managed to make it to 25th place or better four times. This feat is impressive considering the level of competition and size of the playing field at the WSOP.

In addition to the WSOP, Phil Ivey has won several million dollars playing in other tournaments such as the World Poker Tour. To date, Phil Ivey has won nearly $13,000,000 playing in live tournaments. Considering his relative youth, it’s hard telling how much more money he will earn during his poker career.

Cash Games

As a skilled cash game player, Phil Ivey has won millions of dollars playing in super high stakes cash games in Las Vegas. One of his most notable cash game sessions occurred in 2005 when he played as a member of “The Corporation” against the billionaire Andy Beal.

This cash game was specially arranged so that Andy Beal could try his luck against the best poker players in the world for super high stakes. He played against a group of poker players that included Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson and more for stakes of $25,000/$50,000. Andy Beal quickly got a lead on the group, but then lost that lead when he played against Phil Ivey and lost more than $16,000,000 over the course of three days.

In more normal times, Phil Ivey plays in the big game in Las Vegas for stakes of $4,000/$8,000 against other big name poker players. Although no official records are available, it is generally believed that Phil Ivey is a consistent winner in the big game.

Online Poker

Phil Ivey is a skilled online poker player as well. He represents the poker site Full Tilt Poker and can be found there playing under the screen name “Phil Ivey.” According to the High Stakes Database, Phil Ivey has won roughly $15,000,000 at Full Tilt since 2007.

He can frequently be found playing in high stakes no limit games in which the blinds are $500/$1,000 and the buyin $100,000. He also plays fixed limit Holdem, Omaha and mixed games at stakes of $2000/$4000. If you’re lucky (or unlucky), you just might run into Phil Ivey during his occasional forays into small stakes poker tournaments.