Filed under: Celebrity News, Dr. Boyce Money
If you're looking for Poker's version of Tiger Woods (last year's Tiger, of course), his name would be Phil Ivey. Ivey, a black man in a sport without many prominent black faces, has become the most dominant poker player on earth. He intimidates the field like Tiger (well, before the sex scandal), has Tiger-like intensity in his eyes, and even looks like Tiger in the face. Perhaps they're actually brothers.
Ivey has won eight World Series of Poker bracelets, which is only two less than the most ever won by any player. He tied the record for the most World Series of Poker bracelets won during one year, winning three of them in 2002. He is also the all-time leader in earnings from tournament poker. The fact that he is only 34-years old makes his achievements that much more phenomenal.
Ivey learned to play poker at the age of three (similar to Woods, who played golf in diapers). Since he was a teenager, he's always wanted to be a professional poker player. At the age of 18, he started playing poker in Atlantic City with a fake ID. He then became a master at many variants of poker, which later developed him into the man whom many consider to be the most well-rounded poker player on earth.
Howard Lederer, one of the leading figures in the poker world, says that Ivey has a chance to become the greatest poker player in history. Other opponents admire his intelligence. Nearly all of his opponents fear him.
Poker participation has grown dramatically since 2003, when Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker after starting off by qualifying on the Internet. Since that time, millions of Americans have joined the poker revolution, using the Internet as their portal for communication. The web has dramatically changed how players come to develop their expertise. Instead of spending hours traveling around the country to smoke-filled poker rooms, players can now become poker experts quickly by signing onto websites that host thousands of players at any given time, day or night. There's no longer any waiting to find a good tournament. You can simply login and find a tournament that's been created by someone across the world whom you've never met.
In the face of finding new ways to create revenues, Congress is reconsidering its ban of online gambling. There are many who argue that poker is a game of skill rather than luck, and that it should have its own exemption. Many argue that banning online gambling only sent the companies and potential revenue overseas, thus creating an unregulated black market that has scammed a large number of Americans. The Treasury Department would regulate the industry, while the IRS would have the ability to tax it. Congress expects that changing the law would generate $42 billion in tax revenues over the next 10 years.
Whether poker becomes legal or not, Phil Ivey is set to dominate the "sport" for years. I was concerned to read that part of the reason Ivey plays so well is because he has "a complete disregard for money." This leads to him producing both massive gains and incredible losses to the tune of several million dollars. But thus far, he has become one of the leading faces of poker, and one of the few black poker faces you're sure to see on TV.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.