Phil Ivey

General Information about Phil Ivey

Phil Ivey was born on February 1, 1976 in Riverside, California. At the age of three, his family moved with him to Roselle, New Jersey. He grew up very close to Atlantic City, which did not seem to prevent him from dreaming of becoming a professional player. Because even at an early age, he began to proclaim. Phil has warmhearted memories of his grandfather, who taught him to play 5-Card Stud, while playing secretly wrong. The deterrent did not work because Phil was passionate about poker.

For a few years he spent playing games at home, where a friend of his father’s hosted, to further develop and refine his immense innate talent. Phil got a cover name and called himself Jerome Graham. He quickly became a fixture at the poker tables at Tropicana Casino in Atlantic City. It seemed he would never go home, earning him the nickname “No Home Jerome.” At the age of 20, he finally moved to Atlantic City and went with 21 years with his alias name directly to the shift leader, which was taken with a smile. “No Home Jerome” finally left the casino and Phil Ivey appeared on the scene.

Online Poker and other achievements

While tournaments were quite successful for him and they are always a challenge for him, Ivey shows his true skills in live cash games. Of particular note here is that he won over $ 16,000,000 in the 2006 game against Texas billionaire Andy Beal. He also won online substantial amount of money at Full Tilt Poker, from 2007 to 2010, about $ 18 million.

Ivey is also a well-known philanthropist. He gave $ 50,000 to the nonprofit organization Empowered 2 Excel in Las Vegas in 2008. He also founded the Budding Ivey Foundation, named after his grandfather Leonard “Bud” Simmons. This organization collects money for various charitable purposes. These include literacy programs for children and provision of food for the homeless.