Poker pro champion Phil Ivey was born 1 February, 1976 in Riverside, California, but was raised in the suburbs of Roselle, New Jersey. He built his great ability to concentrate by playing video games and as a teen Phil was an innovative entrepreneur type. He started on a telemarketing sales project before getting involved in poker. In his late teens, still too young to get into Atlantic City casinos, Phil Ivey used a fake I.D. with the name, Jerome Graham. He was known to play poker up to 12-14 hours a day. Phil’s grandfather had an ironic role in helping him become a professional poker player because he actually tried to discourage his grandson from the game because of the dangers of professional hustlers. Phil Ivey’s grandfather...Read More

Known as “The Poker Brat” because of a tendency toward temper tantrums after being outdrawed, Phil Hellmuth did not become interested in poker until he attended college. Born 16 July, 1964 in an upper middle class family in Madison, Wisconsin, his father was a college dean. However, Phil’s family didn’t play poker at home; he became involved in low stakes poker and then higher stakes games with professors while attending the University of Wisconsin. After a few years of college, Hellmuth went to Las Vegas with about $20,000. He lost most of it and earned more money playing in poker games at college in Wisconsin. Phil loved the game of poker and headed out to Vegas at least 10 times even though he lost more than he won there. He was still able to earn enough...Read More