Daniel L. Cox
Editor, Poker Insider Magazine
July 1, 2009
Las Vegas - Though Phil Ivey is considered one of the best poker players in the world, amassing over nine million dollars in tournament earnings in the last 10 years (not counting the $16 million he took off of billionaire banker Andy Beals as part of “The Corporation”). He is not only a consummate tournament player, he is also a top cash game player, with regular winning paydays at Bellagio Casino’s $4,000/$8,000 Mixed Games (known as The Big Game).
He began his WSOP career in 2000, when he won his first bracelet in the $2,500 Pot-limit Omaha event. In 2002 he pocketed (armed) three more bracelets in $1,500 Limit 7-Stud, $2,500 Limit 7-Stud Hi-Lo and $2,000 Limit S.H.O.E. (H.O.R.S.E. without the RAZZ) events. In 2005, he became the youngest player to win five WSOP bracelets, when he took down the $5,000 Pot-limit Omaha title. That year, Bluff Magazine honored him as their Player of the Year.
This year, Phil won his sixth gold bracelet in Event 8, the $2,500 No-limit Deuce to Seven Lowball tournaments and his seventh bracelet in Event 25, a $2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Low-8 or Better tournament. When he won his sixth WSOP gold bracelet, it moved him into a five-player tie for seventh place on the all-time wins list, joining Layne Flack, Men “the Master” Nguyen, Jay Heimowitz, and T.J. Cloutier. With his latest win, he became the youngest player to reach seven bracelets, joining low-ball player extraordinaire Billy Baxter in a tie for sixth place on the all-time WSOP Championship list. He is fast approaching Phil Hellmuth’s record 11 wins and only trails Doyle Brunson (10 wins), Johnny Chan (10 wins), Johnny Moss (9 wins), and Erik Seidel (8 wins) in total bracelets. If Ivey should win the Main Event he would duplicate the record of three bracelets in one series that he holds with Phil Hellmuth, Ted Forrest, and Puggy Pearson and was matched by Jeffery Lisandro this year.
In an interview following his most recent win he said, “I didn’t play in as many tournaments as I used to because I figured, it doesn’t really make much difference, you know. But then, as I started getting older I started to realize this does matter. Winning bracelets, it does matter. Just having the chance to put myself in poker history and I know I have the chance to win and be the all-time bracelet leader if I can continue at this pace. So, I’m looking forward to the opportunity.”
Though he has seven WSOP wins, he has never won a bracelet in any of the Hold’em disciplines. He does have a World Poker Tour title (in seven final tables) and several smaller titles to show his prowess in Hold’em, He came closest to winning a Hold’em bracelet in 2000, with a 5th place finish in the $2,000 No-limit Hold’em event and this years’ 8th place finish in $5,000 buy-in No-limit Shootout.
In a previous post-tournament interview following his 5th WSOP gold bracelet number win in 2005, Ivey stated: “I think I can win thirty [gold bracelets]. Tournaments are much tougher to win now because the fields are [so big]. I don’t play as many tournaments for that reason, but I still think I can get to 30.” There is a major difference between the two Phil’s. On the one hand Hellmuth is considered by many (just ask him) to be the best Hold’em player in the world today. With seven bracelets in numerous disciplines in the last 10 years, Phil Ivey has to be on everyone’s short list for today’s best overall poker player and the “Best Player to Have Never Won a Hold’em Bracelet.”
Though Phil was born in California, his family moved to New Jersey when he was young. From the time he was 18, he was a regular at the Taj Mahal (using a fake ID) until he turned 24, when he moved to Las Vegas. He then started playing tournament poker and through numerous WPT and WSOP final tables, he gradually attained superstar status. Winning his first-ever WSOP gold bracelet during the first WSOP of the new millennium was truly emblematic of poker’s generational and cultural shift, defeating poker legend “Amarillo Slim” Preston in heads-up play in the 2000 $2,500 Pot-limit Omaha tournament. It was Ivey’s first-ever WSOP final table appearance, and Preston’s last (though Slim still participates in the WSOP each year).
Phil Ivey, at age 32, is one of poker’s most publicity-shy players, rarely providing interviews unless he is contractually obligated. Ivey insists that he does not want to be famous and no desire to be a celebrity. He has told those who know him best that what he enjoys most is competing and winning. He is driven by a fierce obsession to win and succeed in everything he does.
