Phillip Dennis Ivey Jr. was born February 1, 1977, in Riverside, California. He is one of the most famous poker players in the world and is known as The Tiger Woods of Poker.
Poker Career
He is best known simply as Phil Ivey, and he began his poker career playing against his colleagues at a telemarketing company in New Jersey in the late nineties. He first played competitive poker using a fake I.D in Atlantic City, which caused him to become known as ‘No Home Jerome’. However, he became famous when he won three World Series of Poker bracelets in 2002, securing the Tiger Woods nickname.
Between 2000 and 2014, Phil Ivey won ten WSOP bracelets, tied with legends of the poker scene Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan. His winnings make impressive reading; he’s cashed out $31m in tournaments, and his Full Tilt Poker account shows a profit of more than $20m, a record for online poker. He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2017, the first year he became eligible.
Phil Ivey’s Net Worth
It’s never easy to put a value on a poker player; their winnings are well publicized, but often losses are not. One thing is for certain; Ivey is a wealthy man. He owns two Rolls Royce Phantoms and drives around in a 2005 Mercedes Benz SLR McLaren. He has posted on his Instagram from one of his homes in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, whilst he had previously lived in an upmarket condo west of Las Vegas. However, Ivey doesn’t flaunt his wealth; his Instagram page has since had many posts deleted, including the Cabo house, which makes his true worth hard to ascertain. Conservative estimates put it at around $100m at one point, but recently he may have taken a hit.
Controversy
Despite his unassuming and private demeanor, Ivey has been embroiled in multiple scandals. He was one of the top ambassadors for Full Tilt Poker and even had a financial stake in the company before it collapsed in 2011. He wasn’t tarnished by the saga in the same way as Chris Ferguson, as he quickly cut all ties.
Two casinos have successfully sued Ivey for edge sorting, a technique used to gain an advantage over other players. Ivey and his playing partner Cheng Yin Sung are believed to have won $9.6m from The Borgata Casino in Atlantic City using the technique in 2014 and were successfully sued. It wasn’t the first time either; Mayfair club Crockfords, a London-based casino, denied Ivey £7.3m ($12m) winnings during a baccarat session in 2012 for the same reasons. It saw assets to the value of $10m seized from Ivey in 2019 after a long spell of litigation.
Phil Ivey Today
Ivey is a quiet, unassuming player, pensive whilst at the table. He avoids attention away from the felt, instead preferring to keep a low profile. Recently, he’s shied away from the spotlight, preferring to use his fame to enter high-stakes games in Macau. He resides in Las Vegas, and until recently, the high stakes room at The Aria casino was simply known as The Ivey Room. However, the edge-sorting controversy tarnished his reputation and may have also taken a huge chunk of his personal fortune.