Ivey Successful Everywhere but the WSOP Europe
Right now, Phil Ivey is the largest stack we see in the tournament, sitting on 9,600 in chips coming out of the first break. That's not a bad way to start off a tournament in the first two levels, ballooning your stack to over three times what he started with.
Jerome Graham got his start playing poker in the casinos of Atlantic City when he was just 21 years old. What the casinos didn’t know was that Jerome’s real name was Phil Ivey, and that his real age was 18. It was only after a few years of fake I.D. use that Ivey legally turned 21 and was of age to play in the casinos. Upon turning 21, “No Home Jerome” as he was called for the amount of time he spent playing in card rooms, strolled into his regular casino and introduced himself to the floor staff as Phil Ivey.
Putting in long hours on the felt and honing his game just about every waking hour that he could, Ivey grew and grew as a player. While Ivey had a very recognizable face on the East Coast poker scene, he didn’t waste much time cleaning up out in Las Vegas. In 2000, Ivey took on the WSOP, cashing in three events. The third cash out of the three proved to be his best when he took home the bracelet and almost $200,000 in prize money. Ivey then returned to WSOP glory just two years later he won three more bracelets after cashing in seven events.
Another year later in 2003, Ivey made a name for himself on the World Poker Tour circuit at the Five-Star World Poker Classcs where he won two events and placed third in the Main Event. One can’t also forget back in 2003 when Ivey bubbled the final table of the WSOP Main Event at the hands of eventual winner Chris Moneymaker. Who knows which direction poker would have gone if Ivey had instead bested Moneymaker in that key hand. The poker world would probably be spinning in a much different direction.
After that, the tournament winnings just seemed to pile up. In 2005, Ivey had his best year to date when he made multiple deep runs in WPT and WSOP Circuit events before winning his fifth bracelet in the summer at the WSOP.
Multiple big cashes were to follow his fifth bracelet. Some of the most significant wins include a first-place finish at the Monte Carlo Millions in 2005 and a first-place finish at the L.A. Poker Classic WPT event in 2008. Those two events alone netted Ivey over $2.5 million.
Skipping ahead to 2009, Ivey found his way to the WSOP Main Event final table. Most deem him the greatest player in the game today, but even if that's true, he was unable to win the world's greatest poker event, succumbing in seventh place for over $1.4 million.
Tournaments aren't all that Phil Ivey does though. He is a regular fixture in the “Big Game” in Vegas where he locks horns with some of the greatest players in the game today including Doyle Brunson, Barry Greenstein, Chau Giang, and Jennifer Harman. Ivey can also be seen on a regular basis playing at the highest limit tables available online in an array of games against some of the best players around the world. It’s even reported that Phil won over $16 million from banker Andy Beal after he challenged some of the best high-stakes players to a match. Oh, and the Aria named it's newly opened high-stakes poker room after Ivey.
Ivey is confident, yet humble - often referred to as the “Tiger Woods of poker” for his resemblance to the golf professional and also because he expects to win every time he performs to his greatest ability. He also loves to gamble and can regularly be seen shooting dice, wagering on sports, prop betting, or gambling on a game of golf while away from the poker table. If a wager can be made, Ivey's in on it.
When it comes to the WSOP Europe though, Ivey's not the juggernaut everyone may think he is. Since the WSOP Europe began in 2007, Ivey has only recorded one cash. He final tabled the £2,500 Limit H.O.R.S.E. back in 2008, finishing in sixth place for £13,750 - chump change by Ivey's standard. That's also far off his standard of high performance because when it comes to the WSOP in Las Vegas, Ivey has quite the record. He holds eight gold bracelets, sits in 11th on the all-time WSOP money list and sits in 28th on the all-time WSOP cashes list. Not to mention that he's number one on the all-time money list overall, covering all events, all countries, since the beginning of time.
Ivey's off to a fast start here in this one, but we've seen that before and seen his chips dusted off before he's come close to hitting the money. Ivey plays to win and nothing else really, especially with all of the bracelet bets he's always got lined up.
Will this be the event he cashes in on those bets for numerous times the amount that first place will give out? Make sure to stick with PokerNews for all the live coverage as only we can bring it to you from the floor!