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Sport Allstar Bio: Phil Ivey

Born in February 1976 in Riverside, California and known under a host of different nick-names, Phil Ivey is generally considered the most complete and the best overall poker player today.

From his place of birth, Ivey moved to Absecon, New Jersey as a child. He supposedly began playing poker against his colleagues at a telemarketing firm in New Jersey. With Atlantic City close by and with a fake ID in his pocket to prove that he was old enough indeed to play, there was no stopping No Home Jerome (his nickname back then) from becoming the scourge of the Atlantic City poker rooms.

He was quick to jump online as soon as online poker appeared in a reasonably playable format, but to this day, he is known for the live poker antics he's pulled over his career, culminating in 7 WSOP bracelets and a 7th place finish in the Big Dance in 2009.

He hit the live tournament lime-light in 2002, when he won no fewer than 3 WSOP bracelets. With that move, he equaled Phil Hellmuth, Puggy Pearson and Jeffrey Lisandro for the most bracelet wins during one edition of the series.

Though that was when he truly drew attention to himself, he'd begun his bracelet-winning ways earlier: he won a PLO bracelet in 2000. Ivey is still considered one of the top PLO players today, and he's repeatedly proven that point online at Full Tilt Poker where he was one of the few players who made money off Isildur1 back in his heyday, when he appeared unstoppable for a while.

Despite the fact that he's never managed to win the Big Dance, the WSOP Main Event has been one of Ivey's favorite roaming grounds. He's finished in the top 30 no fewer than 4 times and given the participant numbers and Main Event prize-pools, that is by no means an everyday achievement. His closest brush with Main Event glory came in 2009, when his final table run ended as his A,K fell to Darvin Moon's A,Q. Ivey did once muck the best hand during that event, thus effectively giving up a huge pot just because he failed to read the flush he'd made.

Ivey has made 22 WSOP final tables, and he finished in the money an astonishing 36 times. He also has a WPT title and 8 WPT final tables. He once made it to a EPT final table as well.

The fact that he is such an awesome tournament player doesn't mean he's not an equally good cash game player too. His Full Tilt Poker cash antics are well known by all the railbirds, and he is a regular participant in the Big Game at the Bellagio, where in 2006, he relieved Andy Beal of $16 million over about three days, while playing for the "Corporation".

He took part in Poker After Dark and in GSN's High Stakes Poker too.

He is currently an in-house professional for Full Tilt Poker, and besides representing the brand in various live events (like the 2010 Aussie Millions $100k event, where he finished 2nd) he makes tons of money at the nosebleed stakes cash tables. According to estimates, he's made $6.33 million at Full Tilt in 2009.

For a good rakeback deal, sign up to rakemeback.com. Get your Full tilt rakeback there or secure a generous poker prop deal.

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Posted at 7:00 AM

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