Known as the “Tiger Woods of Poker” or “No Home Jerome”, Phil Ivey is lately hyped as the online poker industry’s best hope for legalization in the US. Born in February, 1976, in Riverside, California, he moved to New Jersey with his family when he was barely 3 months old. He began to play poker at the telemarketing company where he worked, mainly against his co-workers. In order to get into the Atlantic City casinos, he crafted a fake ID, a practice which eventually landed him another nickname: No Home Jerome.
Considered the best poker player in the world by most experts, Ivey is a regular at the nosebleed cash game tables on Full Tilt poker, where it’s estimated that a big parf of his revenue comes from. Despite his affinity for cash games, he’s certainly no push over when in comes to tournaments.
He has no fewer than 7 WSOP bracelets and 35 WSOP money finishes. He won an impressive number of 3 bracelets in 2002, and secured PL Omaha bracelets in 2000 and 2005. In 2009 he added a further 2 bracelets to his collection and he’s set to play for all the marbles on Nov 9th at the Main Event’s final table. Main Event-wise he has been wildly successful too. He finished in the top 25 four times, from 2002 to 2009.