Last updated: 2026
Phil Ivey is an American professional poker player who many of his rivals call the best the game has ever seen. He has won 11 World Series of Poker bracelets, more than anyone except Phil Hellmuth, and he joined the Poker Hall of Fame in 2017. He is also known for a long legal fight with casinos over a baccarat technique called edge sorting. This Phil Ivey life story covers his early years, his career, his controversies, his estimated net worth and his latest results in 2026. Many older pages still list only 10 bracelets, so the numbers below have been checked against current sources.
Phil Ivey at a Glance
Here is a quick summary of the main facts. Where sources disagree, the table or the text under it says so.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full name | Phillip Dennis Ivey Jr. |
| Born | 1 February 1977, Riverside, California (a few low-quality pages say 1976) |
| Age | 49 (as of October 2026) |
| Raised in | Roselle, New Jersey |
| Profession | Professional poker player |
| WSOP bracelets | 11 (the latest in 2024) |
| Other titles | One World Poker Tour title (2008); five Triton titles |
| Hall of Fame | Inducted 2017 |
| Live tournament earnings | About $56 million (Hendon Mob data, varies by page) |
| Estimated net worth | Around $125 million (estimate only, as of 2026) |
Early Life and Background
Phil Ivey was born in Riverside, California, but his family moved to Roselle, New Jersey, while he was a baby. He found poker in the 1990s while working at a telemarketing company in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and soon started playing in Atlantic City. He was only 18 when he began, and the legal gambling age in New Jersey was 21, so he reportedly used a fake ID under the name Jerome Graham. He played so often that other players called him “No Home Jerome”, and later the poker world gave him another nickname, “the Tiger Woods of poker.”
His birth year is one detail worth checking. A few weak websites say 1976, but the better sources, including a June 2026 report that called him 49, fit the 1977 date. I could not find a school or family record, so details of his childhood beyond this are not well documented.
Phil Ivey Career: From Atlantic City to the Top
Ivey played mostly cash games at first, then entered tournaments in 2000. In April of that year he won a $540 Limit Hold’em event in Tunica for $53,297. A few months later he went to the World Series of Poker, cashed three times and won the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event for $195,000, which gave him his first bracelet. He won three more bracelets in 2002 and another in 2005.
In November 2005 he collected his first seven-figure prize, $1 million at the Monte Carlo Millions. In February 2008 he won the L.A. Poker Classic on the World Poker Tour. The next year he won two more bracelets at the WSOP and reached the Main Event final table, where he finished seventh for $1,404,014. He added a bracelet in 2010, and he also did very well in Australia, with two big wins in the A$250,000 Challenge at the Aussie Millions. The first, in 2012, paid A$2 million, and the second, in 2014, paid A$4 million, which is still his largest single tournament prize.
His ninth bracelet came in 2013 at the first WSOP Asia-Pacific, and the tenth came in Las Vegas in 2014. He was 38, which made him the youngest player to reach ten bracelets. After that came a ten-year wait, because his bracelet number 11 only arrived in 2024.
Playing Style and High-Stakes Cash Games
Ivey is known for strong aggression and for reading opponents very well. A surprising fact is that none of his eleven bracelets came from No-Limit Hold’em, the most popular form of poker. All of them came in other games such as Omaha, Stud, lowball and mixed formats, and he holds the record for the most mixed-game bracelets with five.
Outside tournaments, his cash-game reputation is just as big. He was part of a group nicknamed “The Corporation” that played against the billionaire Andy Beal, and in one heads-up session against Beal, with stakes as high as $50,000 and $100,000, Ivey finished about $16.6 million ahead. These games were private, so exact totals are not public.
Edge Sorting and Other Controversies
The best-known controversy is the edge-sorting case. Ivey and a companion won several million dollars playing high-stakes baccarat at the Borgata in Atlantic City and at a casino in the United Kingdom, but the casinos refused to pay, saying he had used an unfair advantage. Edge sorting means spotting tiny differences in the pattern on the back of cards and using that to guess their value. Judges sided with the casinos, and Ivey reportedly settled with the Borgata in July 2020, about six years after the case began.
He was also part of the team behind Full Tilt Poker, an online site that collapsed and left many players unable to withdraw money until PokerStars bought its assets. Divorce court papers showed that he had been paid large sums by the company behind the site. In April 2023 he sued a Las Vegas cannabis dispensary, NuVeda, for $1.9 million over an investment, and the company later filed for bankruptcy. Each of these stories has more detail than fits here, and I have kept to what reputable poker news coverage reports.
Latest Updates in 2026
Ivey is still active at the top level in 2026. At the WSOP in June he finished eighth in the $250,000 Super High Roller for $553,270, and then took third place in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship for $600,698. That second event is one of the few big titles he has never won. The event was won by Benny Glaser, so his twelfth bracelet will have to wait.
In September he played the Triton Super High Roller Series in Jeju, South Korea. He finished seventh in a $50,000 event for $271,000 and ninth in a $40,000 mystery bounty event for $62,000. He was also the first player to be knocked out of the record-breaking $200,000 Triton Invitational on September 12, when his pocket aces lost a huge pot in the first level. The Invitational allows rebuys, so he went back to the rebuy desk.
Phil Ivey Net Worth and Earnings
Ivey’s live tournament earnings are about $56 million according to Hendon Mob data shown by PokerNews, though different pages show slightly different totals, from about $54.5 million to over $56 million, depending on the date they were updated. Some older websites still say “$30 million”, which is out of date. His real wealth is higher because the number only counts tournaments, and not cash games, sports betting or business ventures.
PokerNews gives an estimated net worth of around $125 million, while another site says “$100 million or more”. Both are estimates as of 2026, and neither is confirmed, because Ivey does not publish his finances.
Personal Life
Ivey keeps his private life quiet. He was married to Luciaetta Ivey for seven years before they divorced in December 2009. PokerNews reports that he has no children, but that source does not give a recent date, so I treat it as unconfirmed for 2026. Poker databases list him as a Las Vegas player, but I found no official source that confirms where he lives.
How This Was Researched
I researched this biography using the PokerNews player profile, Card Player and WSOP results pages, Hendon Mob data, and recent PokerNews coverage of the 2026 WSOP and Triton events. I compared bracelet counts, earnings and birth details across several of these sources and noted where they differed. Many pages that rank for this name are repeated, low-quality articles with old numbers, so I focused on up-to-date facts, a full bracelet table and a clear controversy section. I have no personal contact with Phil Ivey and nothing here comes from private sources.
Accuracy Note
This biography is based on publicly available information, including poker news coverage and tournament databases. Earnings and net worth figures change often and some are estimates. If you spot anything outdated or incorrect, please let us know so we can update it.
Written and researched by Usama Khan, contributor at lopin magazine.
FAQ
Who is Phil Ivey?
Phil Ivey is an American professional poker player and Poker Hall of Fame member who has won 11 World Series of Poker bracelets.
How old is Phil Ivey?
He was born on 1 February 1977, so he is 49 years old as of October 2026.
How many WSOP bracelets does Phil Ivey have?
He has 11. His most recent one came in 2024 in the $10,000 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Championship, and only Phil Hellmuth has more.
What is Phil Ivey’s net worth?
PokerNews estimates it at around $125 million, but this is an estimate as of 2026 and not a confirmed figure. His live tournament earnings alone are about $56 million.
What is the edge-sorting case?
Ivey won millions at baccarat in Atlantic City and the UK using edge sorting, and the casinos refused to pay. The courts sided with the casinos, and he reportedly settled with the Borgata in July 2020.
Has Phil Ivey won the WSOP Main Event?
No. His best Main Event result is seventh place in 2009 for $1,404,014.
Is Phil Ivey married?
He was married to Luciaetta Ivey until their divorce in December 2009. I found no confirmed report of a current marriage.
Usama Khan is the founder and editor-in-chief of Lopin Magazine, where he oversees the site’s biography and news coverage with a focus on accuracy and well-researched storytelling.
