Once again all of you eager readers are graced with a new article about poker history! No, this isn’t History 101 from high school and I’m not here to bore you to death. This, as it has been every week, is background on the sport that we all enjoy and wish to be more familiar with. For the past couple of weeks I have been writing about individual players and their backgrounds. Many of these players are very well known both on TV and online and have established a substantial historical background for us to look at here today.

Today I decided to do a historical player profile on Phil Ivey. Ivey is a player we’re all familiar with and have seen on TV a number of times. He’s often noticed in the World Series of Poker playing at the main event and has done very well for himself over the years netting five bracelet as well as a World Poker Tour Championship title. He’s done great in both the WSOP and the WPT and has made the final table in the WPT events eight times!

Ivey developed his skill as an amateur player in the 90’s playing against coworkers. So keep that in mind, every one of these poker legends started right where we are currently at. After his early years playing at work and in Atlantic City he moved onto Las Vegas and importantly the World Series of Poker. He’s tied for a record in the World Series of Poker with Phil Hellmuth and Ted Forrest for winning the most bracelets in a year (three).

As I mentioned before, Ivey has made the final table eight times in the World Poker Tour. He’s been on television numerous times for both the WPT and WSOP and in February of this year won the WPT final table taking home 1.596 million dollars!

For being as young as he is Ivey has accomplished a lot in the world of poker. He’s cashed a total of 89 times and this has brought him a total of $8,949,083. More money then most of us will make in our lifetimes! He’s placed first 16 times and I don’t think that number will stay put for long.

So take that to the cleaners and watch out for Phil Ivey in the coming years. I don’t think he’s going to be going anywhere and is certainly a player to keep an eye out for. Stay tuned for more Poker History articles next week, where the history is anything but boring!