Phil Ivey is one of the most talented poker players in the world today. At the age of 34 and with a total of more than $13M career tournament earnings, he is considered by many to be a symbol of poker world shift from last generation Titans to the young players today.
Ivey’s poker path started when he was only 8 years old. His grandfather taught him how to play the five card stud game. When he was 18 he obtained a fake ID to help him start his professional poker career in Atlantic City Casinos. He used the name Jerome Graham for his ID, which, together with the long hours of playing, bought him with the nickname, “No home Jerome” a name that accompanies him to these days.
Ivey’s tournament success includes 8 golden bracelets in the World Series of Poker (WSOP), 2 of which in 2009, and the last one in 2010. This puts him in 6th place in the all time WSOP bracelet winners list. He won his first WSOP golden bracelet when he was only 23. At the age of 25 he won 3 more golden bracelets. In 2005 he won his 5th golden bracelet, to become the youngest player ever to win 5 golden bracelets. He also cashed 42 times at the WSOP and earned a total of more than $5M in his WSOP appearances.
With 9 final tables in the World Poker Tour (WPT), Ivey also holds the record for reaching the most final tables in this tournament. After a streak of 7 final tables without a victory, he won his first WPT final table in 2008.
But Ivey is also one of the most successful cash players in the world. He regularly plays, and also wins, the “Big game” - $4,000-$8,000 mixed cash game at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas, considered by many, as the most prestigious cash game in poker. He also won a staggering $16M in a heads up game against billionaire Andy Beal, as the representative of “the corporation” - a group of high-stake poker players. He is a member of the Full Tilt Poker team, and often plays online at full tilt poker room.
