Phil Gordon Biography
Full Tilt Poker pro Phil Gordon is an American professional poker player. Aside from the game, he is also an author of several poker-related books and a sports’ commentator. As many other poker stars, Phil owns a prestigious college degree, having graduated from Georgia Tech in 1991, with a degree in computer science. While having a high education and above average intellect is one trait he shares with his fellow players, he distinguishes himself from them through one major aspect: he became a millionaire even before he started playing poker for a living. While still working in computer science, he was hired by a company called Netsys Technologies (he was, in fact, their very first employee), which was, in turn, acquired by Cisco Systems. Through this merger he became a millionaire, and it allowed him to pursue his dream of travelling around the world and playing poker.
Phil is a one-time winner of a World Poker Tour event, and – unfortunately for him – he holds no World Series of Poker bracelets, despite the fact that he made it to the final tables a couple of times. Regardless, he has made close to $700,000 at the WSoP.
Perhaps Phil Gordon is most known to the wider audience for his work as a commentator for shows such as Celebrity Poker Showdown, position which he held for seven seasons, and the WSOP Chapionship Event in 2003. Aside from this, he did commentator work for ESPN, for United States nationwide radio and an ESPN series – The Pro-Am Poker Equalizer. He also writes a regular column and hosts a podgast on ESPN.com.
Phil is also a well-known author and publisher, having written three books on poker, including: Poker: The Real Deal, Phil Gordon’s Little Green Book: Lessons and Teachings in No Limit Hold ‘em, and Phil Gordon’s Little Blue Book: More Lessons and Hand Analysis in No Limit Hold ‘em.
Apart from live poker tournaments, he is present in the online poker world, playing exclusively on Full Tilt Poker. Actually, his nickname is Tiltboy. He is part of “Full Tilt Team”, a team of poker pros where the female poker player Annette Obrestad has also just joined.
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Outside the poker world, Phil Gordon is one busy man. He is on the Board of Directors for the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation, and is even an active fundraiser for the cause. In 2009, he organized a tournament dubbed Bad Beat on Cancer, which raised $2 million.
As a fun fact, Phil is a USA Rock Paper Scissors Head Referee, for which he organizes events in parallel with the WPT.
Instead of a conclusion, here is my favorite quote by Phil Gordon, who explains here the first things a complete amateur should do to start his poker career: “Number one is read the ‘Little Green Book.’ Number two: Understand that aggression is the key to the game, and the people that bet and raise are the people that win. Playing in a passive manner is not winning poker, so if you can get yourself in an aggressive mindset, you have a really good shot at winning. Number three: Understand that the mathematics of the game dictate that you will lose, and lose badly. You’re going to go on long losing streaks and that’s just a part of the game. You have to have the psychological courage to face those losses – and the bankroll, by the way – and bounce back.” Learn to play poker by the man himself at fulltiltpoker.com where you can also get up to $600 free when you use the full tilt poker referral code: playthepros600
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