Polarizing is Phil Ivey's new screen name on Full Tilt Poker. He used to play under his real name as a Team Pro prior to the Black Friday.
Known as the “Tiger Woods of Poker” or “No Home Jerome”, Phil Ivey is lately hyped as the online poker industry’s best hope for legalization in the US. Ivey currently plays poker online out of Mexico.
Born in February, 1976, in Riverside, California, Ivey moved to New Jersey with his family when he was barely 3 months old. He began to play poker at the telemarketing company where he worked, mainly against his co-workers. In order to get into the Atlantic City casinos, he crafted a fake ID, a practice which eventually landed him another nickname: No Home Jerome.
Considered the best poker player in the world by most experts, Ivey was a regular at the nosebleed cash game tables on Full Tilt poker before it closed its doors to US players on April 15th 2011. As he also was a part-owner of the site, it’s estimated that a big part of his revenue derived from there. Despite his affinity for cash games, he’s certainly no push over when in comes to tournaments.
He has no fewer than 7 WSOP bracelets and of which he won an impressive number of 3 bracelets in 2002, and secured PL Omaha bracelets in both 2000 and 2005. In 2009 he added a further 2 bracelets to his collection. Main Event-wise he has been wildly successful as well - He finished in the top 25 four times, from 2002 to 2009.