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Phil Ivey is highly regarded as one of Pokers greats, and possibly one of the best players in the world, with over $10,000,000 in poker earnings in his professional career.
Ivey, originally from Riverside, California, was born February 1, 1976. When Phil turned 18, he got hold of a fake Identification card, which would be his passport to the start of his gambling ways, and eventually, a professional career.
The reality was that for any beginner, Phil wasn’t winning, but didn’t regard it as a loss, simply a learning curve, and just like you might pay for a college course, this was a form of education, which would later, become crucial.
After moving to Atlanta at the age of 20, Phil Ivey began to enter tournaments, such as the World Series of Poker, which he entered just after his 21st birthday. The tournaments were not completely successful, but it Phil did see some action, including a $2500 Pot Limit Omaha, beating some of the big names in the business.
Victory quite obviously was the fuel for Phil’s future success, and eventually led Phil to play in games requiring higher stakes, and to the victory of winning three WSOP bracelets in 2002, being one of three players to win three bracelets in any given year.
Following on from the ongoing success Phil eventually entered the Monte Carlo Millions Tournament and The FullTiltPoker.Net Invitational Live from Monte Carlo, winning both and collecting a cool $1,600,000 as a prize. It wasn’t all good news though; Phil has reached a total of six World Poker Tour final tables, but never walking away with the title.
Now Phil enjoys a life in the Las Vegas, Nevada area, with his wife, and is very often involved in $4000/$8000 games and will continue to give beginners and experts alike, hints and tips and experiences, taking advantage of his Full Tilt Poker Pro status.

It seems hard to believe that there are actually people who dedicate themselves to poker by making it a career. These people rely on playing poker as their bread and butter and are so-called professionals where this card game is concerned.

How professional players turn pro

The professional poker players who actually make a living from this game do not need any accreditation from any group or institution. To become a professional poker, you simply decide on it. Most of the existing professional poker players have decided to make poker as their job because of either of these two reasons: 1) they love the game so much; 2) they figured they’ll be making more money playing poker compared to a regular 9 to 5 job.

Without a screening committee or organization, there really is no way that any group can oversee the skills of those who consider themselves as professionals in this card game. That is why there are actually poker professionals who actually lose in a lot of games.

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When in the company of certified poker aficionados, there is no way a debate of all-time poker greats won’t crop up. In fact, poker fans can spend the whole day arguing a veritable list of who’s who in the poker world and talk about them some more when the sun does its inevitable descent. After that they would be planning to meet and talk some more.

If golf has Tiger Woods and basketball has Michael Jordan, poker has Stuart Errol “The Kid” Ungar, arguably one of the best poker players of all. His mathematical skills at calculating the odds is phenomenal, only his adeptness in gin rummy beats his skill in poker. Many consider him the greatest No Limit Hold ‘Em player of all time. Ungar’s genius IQ level and photographic memory made him three-time World Champion with 5 WSOP bracelets under his belt. He won his first championship with virtually zero experience in No Limit Hold ‘Em.

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