Phil Ivey has gambler’s blood running through his veins.
Now considered to be one of the best poker players in the world this Southern California native moved to New Jersey when he was still a baby.
Phil credits his grandfather with first getting him into poker, although that was hardly Grandpa’s intent.
He used to openly cheat at Five-Card Stud to discourage his grandson from gambling, but it had the opposite effect. Growing up, he told adults that his ambition was to become a professional gambler.
Ivey’s grandfather tried to discourage him from gambling by openly cheating at Five-Card Stud. It backfired — young Phil was fascinated by the mechanics of the game and became obsessed with cards from that point on.
Ambitious Choices
At 17, Ivey was frequenting casinos in Atlantic City and was known to cardroom players and managers as “Jerome” until he turned of age. That’s when he really started making the push to play professionally.
Ivey’s ambition was to make as much money he could at the biggest games he could win at. Sounds simple, but very few have the boldness that Phil Ivey does. Hearing him talk about the game it’s clear he doesn’t see any reason to play with a fear of losing money.
Phil doesn’t see the point in playing unless he’s challenging himself and playing at table stakes of $4,000/8,000 or above.
When asked about what it takes to be one of the top players he said that it comes down to beating every form of poker at every limit and making the most money. What else could it be about?
Understandably, Phil Ivey’s main concern is with high-stakes Las Vegas cash games, where he can make (or lose) upwards of $1 million per session. He frequents the big game at Bellagio – regularly spread for players like the late Doyle Brunson and .
During interviews, Ivey has described scenarios where he would dump off his tournament chips and head over to a $4,000/$8,000 side game where he could exceed the tournament’s first-place money in an evening.
This is a concept that many amateurs don’t understand about pros and big tournaments: they don’t usually play because they need the money – they play for the win.
Unlike most famous pros, Ivey sees tournaments as a sideshow. He’s described dumping tournament chips to rush to a $4,000/$8,000 side game — because the expected hourly rate in cash games dwarfs any tournament equity. Most amateurs don’t understand this calculus.
Tournament Results
Despite playing a sparse tournament schedule to concentrate on cash games and a life at home in Las Vegas, Ivey has created a name for himself in tournament play.
He won his first WSOP bracelet in 2000 and his latest in 2024 with a total of 11 all-time. By 2005, Ivey already had five bracelets before turning 30 — a pace that only Phil Hellmuth has matched.
As of 2025, Ivey has over $54 million in lifetime live tournament earnings.
His biggest live cash to date came from the win in 2014 $250k Aussie Millions challenge, which saw him take home AU$4,000,000, which translates to about $3.6 million in US Dollars.
Ivey also had two very deep WSOP Main Event runs in 2003 and 2009, finishing 10th and 7th, respectively. Those were disappointing results for the man many consider to be the best all-around player in the world, as the Main Event victory would practically complete his professional curriculum vitae.
Online poker results
Apart from his live results, Phil Ivey has had a great deal of success on virtual felt as well.
According to HighStakesDB, he won just shy of $20,000,000 playing on Full Tilt between 2007 and 2011.
After Full Tilt went down and re-emerged, Ivey appeared under a new alias: “Polarizing”.
A massive downswing in recent years
Things haven’t been so hot between 2013 and 2016 for Tiger Woods of poker, as he accumulated total losses of $6.3 million.
Also, according to some sources, he plays as “RaiseOnce” on PokerStars and that account stood at -$2.5 million in 2016.
Even with all these losses added up Ivey remains one of the biggest online winners of all time. During the golden years of Full Tilt, he was a regular fixture at the nosebleed tables, feared by pros and amateurs alike.
Between 2007 and 2011, Ivey won nearly $20 million playing on Full Tilt Poker — one of the largest online win rates ever recorded. Even after a $6.3 million downswing between 2013–2016, he remains one of the biggest online winners in history.
The Edge Sorting Scandal
Apart from his undisputed poker skills, Ivey caught media attention for a technique called “edge sorting” — exploiting tiny manufacturing defects in playing card backs to identify high-value cards at the baccarat table.
Two casinos, London-based Crockfords and the Atlantic City Borgata, accused Ivey of using this technique to beat the house in punto banco. The amounts in question were $12 million (Crockfords) and $9.6 million (Borgata).
Crockfords refused to pay Ivey his winnings. The London High Court ruled that edge sorting constituted cheating. Ivey appealed all the way to the UK Supreme Court, which unanimously ruled against him in October 2017.
The Borgata case progressed through U.S. courts, where a judge ruled Ivey had breached his contract with the casino. In July 2020, the two sides reached a confidential settlement.
Through it all, Ivey has remained active on the tournament circuit. He won his 11th WSOP bracelet in 2024 — the $10,000 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Championship — ending a ten-year bracelet drought.
Edge sorting exploits tiny manufacturing defects in playing card patterns. By requesting the dealer rotate certain cards, a skilled observer can identify high-value cards from behind. Casinos call it cheating; Ivey’s defense argued it was a legitimate advantage play — no different from card counting.
The Crockfords case ($12 million)
Ivey won £7.7 million (~$12M) playing punto banco at Crockfords casino in London using edge sorting. The casino refused to pay. The London High Court ruled that edge sorting constituted cheating. Ivey appealed all the way to the UK Supreme Court, which unanimously ruled against him in October 2017.
The Borgata case ($9.6 million)
Borgata in Atlantic City filed a lawsuit seeking $9.6 million from Ivey for edge sorting at their baccarat tables. A judge ruled Ivey had breached his contract. In July 2020, the two sides reached a confidential settlement.
Ivey's response
Through it all, Ivey has remained outwardly unfazed. He continued playing high-stakes poker, maintained his public appearances, and never expressed regret about the edge sorting incidents. His position has always been that he used skill, not deception.
Phil Ivey is poker’s most naturally gifted player. While others are known for personality or a single defining moment, Ivey is known purely for skill — dominance across every format, every stake, every era. His 11 bracelets, $54 million in live earnings, and $20 million online make the statistical case. The edge sorting controversy only added complexity to an already legendary career.