Phil Ivey is one of the world’s most legendary poker players, often referred to as the ‘Tiger Woods of poker’. Among his accolades reside 11 World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets – ranking him the second person of all time, after Phill Hellmouth, to have the most WSOP bracelets. Currently, Ivey has a net worth of at least $125m. BonusFinder, an online casinos comparison site, dives deeper into the life of legendary gambler, Phil Ivey.
Who is Phil Ivey?
Phil Ivey was born February 1, 1977 in Riverside, California. However, before he was of legal gambling age, Ivey would use a fake ID under the pseudonym ‘Jerome Graham’ or ‘No Home Jerome’ to play in the casinos. Before this, his grandfather introduced him to poker at the age of just eight. So it’s fair to say he was more than experienced by the time he reached the legal age to play at the tables.
Despite his riches, and high net worth, Ivey has never won a WSOP Main Event. And for those who are unaware, a WSOP bracelet is considered the most prestigious non-monetary prize a poker player can win. Ivey became the youngest player to reach 10 bracelets by the time he turned 38; eventually acquiring 11 in total.
Most legendary gambling wins
One of his most iconic wins is perhaps where it all truly began. Back in 2000, he secured his first WSOP bracelet by winning the $195,000 prize from a $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha Event.
After this, the bracelets just kept coming – and so did the money. In 2005, he made his mark internationally after winning the Monte Carlo Millions and earning the $1m prize pot. In 2012, he ventured to Australia to compete in the Aussie Millions $250,000 Super High Roller Tournament and won that too, taking home AU$2m.
However his largest tournament win to date is when he faced a group of professional poker players called ‘The Corporation’ and beat billionaire banker Andy Beal to take him a whopping $16m. Meanwhile his second highest prize was when he won the Aussie Millions $250,000 challenge again in 2014, taking home AU$4m.
As well as tournaments, Ivey is a regular face at the Big Game in Las Vegas. These events host some of the most notorious names in poker such as Jennifer Harman and Doyle Brunson.
Ivey has even set a world record, after winning $1.1m in a single hand in a televised cashgame poker tournament called the ‘Million Dollar Cash Game’. This happened back in 2009 and the Guinness World Record was for the largest pot in a televised poker game.
Overall Ivey has won more than $31m from live tournaments and over $19m in high stakes cash games on Full Tilt.
Biggest gambling losses
In 2014, Ivey was down $1.1m in just two weeks after losing $506,006 and $614,348 during 28 sessions. This got worse the following year, in 2015, when Ivey was labelled as ‘2015’s biggest loser’ in poker after his PokerStars account was down $2,481,266 and his Full Tilt account down $1,250,806, making him down to a total of $3,732,072 (reported by PokerStrategy.com).
However, one of his most significant losses and controversial highlights of his career was the infamous Crockfords Casino court case. Ivey tried to sue the UK-based casino after they refused to pay him his £7.7m ($10.2m) in winnings. However, it wasn’t as simple as that; the casino alleged Ivey had been cheating via edge-sorting and that was their justification for withholding his winnings. The court battle ended in 2017, with Ivey forfeiting his winnings.
However, this wasn’t his only court battle either. Also in 2017, Ivey lost a court battle against Borgata Casino in Atlantic City – for the same reasons – which cost him an additional $10.1m, meaning the professional poker player was down $20.3m in 2017 just through legal disputes alone.
Where is Phil Ivey now?
He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2017, as soon as he turned 40, following his impressive career. And yes, he still plays poker. In fact, he took part in the 2025 WSOP event but was out on the first day.
As for his personal life, he got married to his high school sweetheart in 2002, however that didn’t end quite well… They ended up getting divorced in 2009 and she took $180,000 a month in alimony and over $2m in jewelry and luxury handbags. He is currently single and has no children.
Outside of the poker realm, he has dedicated his life to philanthropy and traveling. He founded The Budding Ivey Foundation, with his mother, to honor his grandfather who had dedicated his life to helping underprivileged children.
Last year he also published his very own book called Phil Ivey: A Career Sculpted by Strategy and Skill (2014), which walks you through his life from gambling with his gramps to paving his way to being a poker legend.
