Cardplayer has released its weekly, exclusive excerpt from Phil Hellmuth’s book ‘Deal me in’, with the focus on the immutable Phil Ivey. The book documents the trials and tribulations of twenty poker stars.
It may seem like the whole poker community is jumping on the Ivey bandwagon after his superb WSOP Main exploits, but the extract gives an insight into his tough beginnings in the gambling world.
Ivey explains he is an inherent gambler, and because he had a humble upbringing, he just ‘tries to make good decisions’, and is oblivious to the amounts of money being exchanged. He attributes his success to ‘playing harder’ and at smaller stakes, if he needs to recoup losses.
It seems Ivey didn’t always have things his own way. He describes how Henry Orenstein repeatedly bust him at $400/$800 in Atlantic city, but he kept persevering and re-built his bankroll in $75/$150 games. Ivey notes how, ‘the overly cautious player will lose just as much as a reckless player — just more slowly’, advocating a more aggressive style.
Ivey, who is now second in the all time money list with $12 million in tournament winnings, is one of the ‘November Nine’ competing for the coveted World Series Main Event title.