There has never been another poker player quite like Phil Ivey, the subject of this new Paul Phua Poker School video interview. This year he was finally inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.
WHEN DID YOU FIRST START PLAYING POKER?
Phil Ivey: I started when I was 8 years old. The first few hands I played, I played with my grandfather. He taught me how to play. The first game I played was 5-card stud. He taught me the rules. We’d play with pennies. Yeah, I can remember my mother walking in and saying, ‘What are you guys doing, are you gambling?’ And he said, ’No, I’m just teaching him to play.’
HOW DID YOU IMPROVE YOUR GAME?
Phil Ivey: Well, I just practised a lot. I played every day. I played – from the time I was 20 years old, I played probably 14-15 hours a day for ten years, so I just practised. I played all the time.
WHAT MAKES A GREAT PLAYER?
Phil Ivey: Well, you have to have a good work ethic, for starters. You have to be willing to put in the hours. You know, you have to pay attention to what’s going on around you. Thinking about different strategies, different ways to win. When you lose, thinking about why you lost, what were the situations that came up and how you can improve on them. You know, when you sit at a table and you recognise that someone is better than you, you have to really pay attention to what they are doing and how they play certain hands, and strategise in order to beat them.
DO YOU FIND POKER STRESSFUL?
Phil Ivey: No, I don’t find poker stressful. You know, there’s not really much you can do. I mean, once your money’s in the pot, once your money is in the middle, there’s not really much you can do. All you can do is play the best you can.
DO YOU LIKE TO EXERCISE?
Phil Ivey: I like to exercise and try to keep fit as much as I can. Put myself in the best mental shape to play, especially because sometimes you end up playing long sessions with the group of guys I play with. I like to golf, it’s very relaxing. It feels good to be outside. You know, you can play against other poker players, you can gamble at golf for high stakes.
IS IT DIFFICULT TO BE FRIENDS WITH PEOPLE YOU PLAY AGAINST?
Phil Ivey: You don’t think about being friends with someone when you are playing big money, I guess, you know we’re very competitive. I mean, we are just trying to win the most amount of money we can from the person regardless of whether they are your friend or not. Sometimes you can kinda get to know someone a little bit better and understand them a little bit better, and then you know they wouldn’t bluff in certain situations. Also, sometimes it can confuse you because you have gotten to know this person a little better, you think they won’t do something, and they end up doing it. So you need to be a little bit careful with that. But I think overall it probably helps.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE TO PLAY?
Phil Ivey: My favourite place to play, I guess, would be Melbourne. The Crown, Melbourne. I enjoy playing down there. I just get a good feeling every time I go down there, it feels like I should be there. I’ve done very well down there and… I just love it.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR CHARITY
Phil Ivey: My charity that I’m involved with is with my mother, and it’s called The Budding Ivey Foundation. I give money to my mother and she donates it to kids with scholarships and things like that, and it’s good to give back. It makes me feel good because I put in a lot of work.
WHAT’S YOUR BEST MOMENT IN POKER?
Phil Ivey: The best moment I had was when I won my first bracelet, against Amarillo Slim. I was 23 years old. Wow, that was a long time ago. I turned 40 this year – how about that!
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