About Phil Ivey

Name	Phil Ivey
Current Residence	Las Vegas Nevada
Born	Feb. 1, 1976
Birth Place	Riverside California, US

It looks like the face of a kid who just roofed his tennis ball - eyes darting left and right, like he's figuring out how to get it down without being sent to the office.

It also, however, happens to be one of the most frightening faces in poker. Particularly if you're on the other side of a big pot from it.

The face belongs to Phil Ivey: deified tournament hero, feared cash-game icon and quite possibly the best all-around poker player on the planet. He's grown from known and respected to famous and feared, and he reaps the rewards of that status, on the table and off.

And he's earned it.

Born in Riverside, California in 1976 but transplanted to Roselle, New Jersey shortly thereafter, Ivey was introduced to poker young. His grandfather dealt from the bottom of the deck while he taught an eight-year-old Ivey Five-Card Stud, trying to hustle him out of becoming a gambler.

It didn't work. By 16, he was playing backroom games for money. By 18 he had a $50 ID from a guy at his telemarketing job named Jerome Graham and was playing - a lot - at the live tables in Atlantic City. He spent so much time there players in the casino nicknamed him "No Home Jerome."

His nickname, unfortunately, didn't progress very quickly to "Bringing It Home Jerome." He lost. And often. Things weren't great. There were times the rent was late, the hot water shut off, the electricity cut.

But shortly thereafter, as with all feel-good stories (and you knew this was going that way ... he is Phil Ivey, after all), the tide turned.

He started a relationship with a woman he met at the telemarketing job, Luciaetta, who eventually became his wife. He continued playing poker. He turned 21; announced his name was Phil to the casino floor staff. He continued playing poker. And he made progress.

And then came the World Series of Poker. In 2000, at the age of 24, he took the leap to the big time. And never looked back.

In $2,000 No-Limit Texas Hold'em, he finished fifth.

In $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha, he sat down at the final table with poker legends Amarillo Slim Preston, David "Devilfish" Ulliott, and Phil Hellmuth and walked away with his first bracelet.

And that was that. The Phil Ivey legend was born.

In 2002, he won three more WSOP bracelets in three different games: Seven-Card Stud, Stud Hi-Lo and S.H.O.E., tying Hellmuth and Ted Forrest for most wins in a single year.

He took his fifth bracelet in a Pot-Limit Omaha event in 2005, putting him almost halfway, at younger than 30 years old, to the standing record of 11.

In 2006, he almost took the total up to seven, placing second in an Omaha Hi-Lo event and third in the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event, cashing in for over $800,000.

By any measure, Ivey has proved his poker mettle. Tournament success? The five WSOP bracelets. Six World Poker Tour final tables. Wins at the Monte Carlo Millions, the Bellagio, the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles.

Cash-game resume? Consistent wins in the "Big Game," the $4,000/$8,000 table at the Bellagio - to some, the pinnacle of poker cachet - where he butts heads regularly with Doyle Brunson, Chip Reese, Chau Giang, Jennifer Harman, Barry Greenstein and Ted Forrest.

Not big enough? How about serving as clean-up hitter for "The Corporation" - a collection of the absolute best high-stakes poker players in the world - in their latest match-up with billionaire banker Andy Beal, and reportedly taking him for over $16 million?

How about kicking off 2007 taking $120,000 on NBC's Poker After Dark from Phil Hellmuth, Tony G., Mike Matusow, Andy Bloch and Sam Farha?

The list goes on.

And for those who suggest - and believe it or not there are a few, despite all evidence declaring otherwise, who do - that he still hasn't finished at the top enough to justify his reputation:

Phil Ivey has made nine final tables at the World Series of Poker. He's finished first five times. And when asked how many bracelets are possible before he's done? "I want to win 30," he says.

In a sport notoriously void of consensus and rife with backdoor excuses (can't compare cash games to tournaments, old to new, Omaha to Hold'em, fat guys to little guys, etc.), Ivey's status as one of the best all-around poker players, past, present and future, is as close as it gets.

The "Professor," Howard Lederer, says before his career is over Ivey may well be considered the best player in poker's history. Legendary philanthropist and big game player Barry Greenstein calls his raw talent "unmatched."

Phil Ivey is a player's player: the one the talkers keep their mouths shut around and the silent talk nervously through hands with.

He believes he'll win if he plays how he's capable, and no evidence has ever surfaced to the contrary.

Nothing, likewise, has surfaced to suggest it has gone to his head. While some players have spent more time promoting their image away from the tables than winning tournaments at them, Ivey stays focused on being just a guy who really likes what he does for a living, letting the fame and fortune sort itself out.

Aside from poker, Ivey likes videos games and basketball. He likes traveling with his wife and going to the movies. His MySpace profile says he likes the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers; when pressed in an interview he says his favorite team is the one he's got money on.

He's taken time to tutor up-and-coming pro Victor Ramdin. He plays regularly online at his sponsor site, Full Tilt Poker, showing up at $0.50/$1 tables to play with people who might not get a chance to play with him in a real game; he offers tips, and sticks around long enough to show he's interested in seeing them used.

He likes prop bets, shooting dice, playing golf. But mostly he just likes to play poker.

"I'm not a prodigy," he says with his usual humbleness. "I just work at what I do.

"I work at poker very hard. And I'm always thinking about how I can get better at it."

And everyone in the game is in trouble if he does.

Trivia

• Regular winner in “The Big Game” at the Bellagio in Las Vegas
• Five WSOP bracelets before the age of 30
• Tied with Phil Hellmuth and Ted Forrest for most WSOP bracelets in one year, winning three in 2002
• In November 2005, won back-to-back tournaments at Monte Carlo Millions and Full Tilt Poker Invitational for $1.6 million total
• Took Phil Hellmuth for $536,000 in a Chinese poker side game at the European Poker Tour Grand Final in 2007