The Man. The Myth. The G.O.A.T. – An Interview With Phil Ivey

The following is an interview with a man who needs no introduction.

During my time at the world-class Bombay Club in the heart of Estonia’s capital city of Tallinn, I had the pleasure of interviewing the €10,000 Bombay Invitational Anniversary Winner Mounir Tajiou, and, the subject of the one that follows; a man who is widely considered to be the greatest ever to play the game of poker — a man who has inspired many to take to the felt throughout his three-decade-long poker career, who has been at the very top of the game and remains there today.

Hall of Famer, 11-time WSOP Bracelet Winner, 10th on the All-Time Money List with $52,200,084 in recorded tournament earnings, cash-game crusher, tournament beast, and top-class all-arounder, “No Home Jerome” himself, Phil Ivey. 

He was kind enough to give me a few minutes of his time around 30 minutes after he enjoyed a steak dinner, and, on a not-so-savourable note, a 14th-place bust-out from the €10,000 Bombay Invitational Anniversary, which made him the bubble boy. Ivey three-bet jammed ace-queen offsuit for around 15 big blinds into the aces of eventual winner, Mounir Tajiou. 

Ivey is a prolifically busy man; during the interview, he did not stop working, sending multiple texts, emails, and placing various bets. Here is a brief interview with Phil Ivey. 

The Bombay Club, Tallinn, 5.52 p.m.

What makes this venue in particular world-class, and what attracted you to it?

What drew me here? Well, one, I’ve never been here before. I always like to go to new places. I’ve heard amazing things (about the Bombay Club), so you know, I kind of wanted to see it.

What do you like about Tallinn?

You’ve been an ambassador with WPT Global since 2022. What is it about that particular brand that made you want to get involved?

Ivey then took a moment to answer one of the many texts and emails he had received in just a small amount of time, before going on to say. 

Remarkably, you’re missing a No-Limit Hold’em bracelet in your WSOP resume. Is it a big goal of yours to win one?

You know, one reason is, I don’t play many No-Limit Hold’em tournaments at the World Series because they are harder to win in general; there are so many people. But yeah, it’d be nice, you know, to win one. 

Here is a look at Ivey’s glittering resume of WSOP Bracelets.

Are there any games or different variants that you have been playing recently? 

For those who don’t know, Squid involves players competing for tokens. If they win a pot, they win a token. If you don’t win a token in a full orbit of play, you will have to pay a penalty, which is determined by the number of tokens in play or is a set amount. Squid is derived from the Stand Up game, which involved the last person standing who hadn’t won a pot would pay a penalty.

You’ve previously spoken about your fondness for Seven-Card Stud in your MasterClass course that was released in 2019. Would you say that was your favourite game?

That’s the game I learned on. When I started playing poker, it was Seven-Card Stud a long time ago, but yeah, I’d love to play, but there aren’t many games.

Do you see this boom in popularity with poker continuing to grow?

Do you prefer playing live or online? 

Live. There’s more interaction, and you can see everyone.

And when you’re not playing, what does a day in the life of Phil Ivey look like?

Duty called once more for Ivey, and he spent a moment responding to messages and emails, ensuring the money was on the games before the off, before saying: 

You’ve been at the top of the game for decades. How do you stay so sharp and so motivated to keep crushing? 

Do you adapt your strategy at all from playing in the US to playing in Europe, or does it stay the same? 

Strategy changes based on who you are playing. It’s as simple as that, it changes player to player.

What has been the most important lesson that poker has taught you?

To Conclude

And that wraps up the interview with Phil Ivey. I would like to thank Ivey for his time and wish him continued success on and off the felt. 

The possibility of interviewing people like Ivey came about thanks to Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk, who introduced us to the Bombay Club, and enabled us to attend the Bombay High Stakes Week.

I thank him, pokerlistings.com, and Ivey himself once more, for making one of this reporter’s dreams come true. 

That’s all for now, folks, but there are two more interviews to come that were conducted during last week’s instalment of the Bombay Club High Stakes Week in Tallinn.

Until next time.