Phil Gordon
Encyclopedia
Philip Stewart Gordon is an American
professional poker
player, commentator and author.
. He spent his formative years in Stone Mountain, Georgia
. Gordon began attending Georgia Tech at the age of 15 while still attending high school. At the end of the 11th grade and after being awarded the National Merit Scholarship, Gordon dropped out of high school and attended Georgia Tech full time. Gordon graduated from Georgia Tech with a B.S. degree in computer science
in 1991. After stints working at Santa Cruz Operation and Lockheed
, Gordon joined start-up Netsys Technologies
as their first hired employee. In 1996, Netsys was acquired by Cisco Systems
, making him a millionaire, and in 1997 he retired from the high-tech industry to travel the world and to play poker.
Gordon currently lives in Newport, Washington
with his wife, Barb, and their two boys, Xander and Zachary.
(WSOP) Main Event in 2001
and finished 4th, winning $400,000. In 2002
, he made two more WSOP final tables, finishing 6th in the $2,000 Pot Limit hold 'em event and 3rd in the $2,500 Omaha Hi/Lo Split
event. At the 2005 WSOP
, he finished 3rd in the $1,500 No Limit Texas hold 'em
Shootout event. Although he made several WSOP final tables, he has yet to win a bracelet. However, he did win the 2010 WSOP Ante Up For Africa event, defeating actress Shannon Elizabeth heads up. He donated the entire $130,641 first place prize to the charity.
, to win the WPT's Bay 101 Shooting Stars
tournament. In 2002, Gordon won the professional division of the first UltimateBet Aruba
tournament, before losing the championship to the amateur division's winner, Juha Helppi
.
Day 2006, Gordon won the Full Tilt Poker
Poker Championship at Red Rock
, outlasting 5 other notable poker headliners and ultimately defeating Roland De Wolfe
heads-up to win a purse of $600,000. Gordon earned $25,000 at the 2007 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship tournament, finishing in the final 16. Gordon defeated Scotty Nguyen
and 2006 WSOP Main Event champion Jamie Gold
to advance.
As of 2010, Gordon's total live tournament winnings exceed $2,300,000. His 18 WSOP cashes account for $707,537 of his live tournament winnings.
on Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown
for seven seasons, before stepping down in 2006. In 2003, he provided commentary for the WSOP Championship Event for Binion's
live Internet broadcast, as well as daily reports for a national radio audience, and he provided commentary for ESPN's live pay per view broadcast of the final table of the World Series of Poker main event championship in both 2006
and 2007
. He was also the lead broadcaster for the ESPN series, The Pro-Am Poker Equalizer
that began airing January 6, 2007.
s, and writes a regular column and hosts a podcast, The Poker Edge, for ESPN.com. The podcast has been airing since April 10, 2006. Gordon has also released an award winning instructional DVD, Expert Insight: Final Table Poker.
In 2003, Gordon and fellow poker pro Rafe Furst
embarked on their Ultimate Sports Adventure Tour. During the trip, the pair attended more than 140 sporting events. At each stop, they collected donations, held auctions, and raffled off prizes to benefit the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation. They raised $100,000 for the foundation. During the trip, Gordon and Furst came up with the idea for their Bad Beat on Cancer, an initiative that asks World Series of Poker participants to pledge 1% of any winnings to cancer research. Bad Beat on Cancer has been involved in a number of other endeavors, including an annual charity poker event hosted by the Twitter Poker Tour and held online at Gordon’s Full Tilt Poker, as well as a breast cancer charity event, the Bad Beat on Cancer Challenge, which was held in November 2009 on PokerStars. Bad Beat on Cancer has raised over $2 million for cancer prevention research.
(USARPS) Head Referee Gordon has hosted an annual $500 World Series of Rock Paper Scissors event in conjunction with the World Series of Poker
since 2005. The winner of the WSORPS receives an entry into the WSOP Main Event. The event is an annual fundraiser for the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation via Gordon's charity Bad Beat on Cancer. Poker player Annie Duke
won the Second Annual World Series of Rock Paper Scissors. The tournament is taped by ESPN and highlights are covered during "The Nuts" section of ESPN's annual WSOP broadcast. 2009 was the fifth year of the tournament.
(NABC) events. In 1990, he won the Red Ribbon Pairs
, an event restricted to players with 2000 masterpoints or less. At the 2008 Summer NABC in Las Vegas, Gordon was on the team that won the NABC Open Swiss Teams, beating numerous world and national champion players in this event with no masterpoint limit.
(LNCC). He said, "Americans deserve a Congress
that realizes that government isn't a solution, but is in fact the problem. The Libertarian Party is a viable alternative to the 2-party travesty that created this mess."
. Directed by Zak Penn
, the film was a mockumentary (à la Best In Show
) about a long running, annual, winner-take-all Texas Hold 'Em Poker Tournament in Las Vegas. Gordon played himself and had a relatively major role as the color commentator of the televised tournament.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
professional poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
player, commentator and author.
Personal life
Gordon was born in El Paso, TexasEl Paso, Texas
El Paso, is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in far West Texas. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 649,121. It is the sixth largest city in Texas and the 19th largest city in the United States...
. He spent his formative years in Stone Mountain, Georgia
Stone Mountain, Georgia
Stone Mountain is a city in eastern DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The population was 5,802 at the 2010 census. It is an outer suburb of the Atlanta Metropolitan Area.-Geography:...
. Gordon began attending Georgia Tech at the age of 15 while still attending high school. At the end of the 11th grade and after being awarded the National Merit Scholarship, Gordon dropped out of high school and attended Georgia Tech full time. Gordon graduated from Georgia Tech with a B.S. degree in computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
in 1991. After stints working at Santa Cruz Operation and Lockheed
Lockheed Corporation
The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace company. Lockheed was founded in 1912 and later merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin in 1995.-Origins:...
, Gordon joined start-up Netsys Technologies
Netsys Technologies
Netsys Technologies was a Palo Alto, California technology company that developed computer network simulation, modeling, and management software. The company was founded in 1991 by CEO Herb Madan, Jim McGuire, and Richard Pelavin, and grew to approximately 50 employees by the time it was acquired...
as their first hired employee. In 1996, Netsys was acquired by Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...
, making him a millionaire, and in 1997 he retired from the high-tech industry to travel the world and to play poker.
Gordon currently lives in Newport, Washington
Newport, Washington
Newport is a city in, and the county seat of, Pend Oreille County, Washington. The population was 2,126 at the 2010 census.-History:Newport was given its name in 1890 because it was selected as a landing site for the first steamboat on the Pend Oreille River. Newport was officially incorporated on...
with his wife, Barb, and their two boys, Xander and Zachary.
World Series of Poker
Phil Gordon first entered The World Series of PokerWorld Series of Poker
The World Series of Poker is a world-renowned series of poker tournaments held annually in Las Vegas and, since 2005, sponsored by Harrah's Entertainment...
(WSOP) Main Event in 2001
2001 World Series of Poker
-Preliminary events:-Main Event:There were 613 entrants to the main event. Each paid $10,000 to enter what was the largest poker tournament ever played in a non-online casino at the time.-Final table:-Other High Finishes:...
and finished 4th, winning $400,000. In 2002
2002 World Series of Poker
The 2002 World Series of Poker was held at Binion's Horseshoe.This edition was historically notable for two reasons. It was the first WSOP in which pocket cams were installed to allow broadcasters to show the players' hole cards, although only for the Main Event...
, he made two more WSOP final tables, finishing 6th in the $2,000 Pot Limit hold 'em event and 3rd in the $2,500 Omaha Hi/Lo Split
Omaha hold 'em
Omaha hold 'em is a community card poker game similar to Texas hold 'em, where each player is dealt four cards and must make his best hand using exactly two of them, plus exactly three of the five community cards...
event. At the 2005 WSOP
2005 World Series of Poker
The 2005 World Series of Poker opened play on June 2, continuing through the Main Event No Limit World Championship starting on July 7. The conclusion of the Main Event on July 15 marked the close of play, and the largest prize in sports and/or television history at the time was awarded to the...
, he finished 3rd in the $1,500 No Limit Texas hold 'em
Texas hold 'em
Texas Hold 'em is a variation of the standard card game of poker. The game consists of two cards being dealt face down to each player and then five community cards being placed face-up by the dealer—a series of three then two additional single cards , with...
Shootout event. Although he made several WSOP final tables, he has yet to win a bracelet. However, he did win the 2010 WSOP Ante Up For Africa event, defeating actress Shannon Elizabeth heads up. He donated the entire $130,641 first place prize to the charity.
World Poker Tour
In March 2004 Gordon knocked out two players at once, one of them former World Series of Poker main event champion Chris MoneymakerChris Moneymaker
Christopher Bryan Moneymaker is an American poker player who won the main event at the 2003 World Series of Poker . His 2003 win is said to have revolutionized poker because he was the first person to become a world champion by qualifying at an online poker site...
, to win the WPT's Bay 101 Shooting Stars
Bay 101
Bay 101 is a cardroom in San Jose, California. Like other California cardrooms, Bay 101 offers poker cash games and tournaments as well as special "California" style table games....
tournament. In 2002, Gordon won the professional division of the first UltimateBet Aruba
Aruba
Aruba is a 33 km-long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, located 27 km north of the coast of Venezuela and 130 km east of Guajira Peninsula...
tournament, before losing the championship to the amateur division's winner, Juha Helppi
Juha Helppi
Juha Helppi is a Finnish professional poker player from Helsinki.-Career:Juha was originally a poker dealer, but made a name for himself in the first World Poker Tour event in Aruba, where he eliminated Kathy Liebert on the way to defeating professional player Phil Gordon in a heads-up challenge...
.
| Year | Tournament | Prize (US$) |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 World Poker Tour season 2 results - Grand Prix de Paris:* Casino: Aviation Club de France, Paris * Buy-in: €10,000* 4-Day Event: July 10, 2003 to July 13, 2003* Number of Entries: 96* Total Prize Pool: €894,400 * Number of Payouts: 9... |
$5,000 Bay 101 Shooting Star | $360,000 |
Other events
On ThanksgivingThanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...
Day 2006, Gordon won the Full Tilt Poker
Full Tilt Poker
Full Tilt Poker is an online poker card room that opened in June 2004 with the involvement of poker professionals Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, Andy Bloch, Mike Matusow, Jennifer Harman and Chris Ferguson...
Poker Championship at Red Rock
Poker Championship at Red Rock
Full Tilt Poker Championship at Red Rock was a seven-week televised shootout poker tournament played at the Red Rock Resort Spa and Casino in Summerlin near Las Vegas, Nevada. The tournament was sponsored by online poker website Full Tilt Poker and aired by Fox Sports Net...
, outlasting 5 other notable poker headliners and ultimately defeating Roland De Wolfe
Roland De Wolfe
Roland De Wolfe is an English professional poker player and a former writer for the poker magazine Inside Edge.After winning first prize in an event at the 2004 Gutshot Poker Festival, he went on to make a money finish in the $1,000 No Limit event of the 2005 World Series of Poker.In July 2005, he...
heads-up to win a purse of $600,000. Gordon earned $25,000 at the 2007 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship tournament, finishing in the final 16. Gordon defeated Scotty Nguyen
Scotty Nguyen
Thuận B. "Scotty" Nguyễn is a Vietnamese American professional poker player who is a five time World Series of Poker bracelet winner, most notably as the winner of the 1998 World Series of Poker Main Event and the 2008 WSOP $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. World Championship...
and 2006 WSOP Main Event champion Jamie Gold
Jamie Gold
Jamie M. Gold is an American television producer, a talent agent, and poker player, based in Malibu, California. He is known for winning the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event and currently divides his time between his activities as president of production for the entertainment company,...
to advance.
As of 2010, Gordon's total live tournament winnings exceed $2,300,000. His 18 WSOP cashes account for $707,537 of his live tournament winnings.
Online poker
Gordon is part of the group known as the "Tiltboys", who helped design the software that was eventually used by Full Tilt Poker. Gordon is a member of Team Full Tilt.Commentary
Gordon is well known for his commentary on poker broadcasts. Most notably, he was a commentatorSports commentator
In sports broadcasting, a commentator gives a running commentary of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast. The comments are normally a voiceover, with the sounds of the action and spectators also heard in the background. In the case of television commentary, the commentator...
on Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown
Celebrity Poker Showdown
Celebrity Poker Showdown was a celebrity game show on the cable network Bravo. It was a limited-run series in which celebrities played poker, and ran eight tournaments during its five-season run....
for seven seasons, before stepping down in 2006. In 2003, he provided commentary for the WSOP Championship Event for Binion's
Binion's Horseshoe
Binion's Horseshoe, also known as the Horseshoe Casino or simply The Horseshoe, was a hotel and casino located in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada on what is now the Fremont Street Experience. The casino was named for its founder, Benny Binion and had 366 rooms, three restaurants and a rooftop pool.The...
live Internet broadcast, as well as daily reports for a national radio audience, and he provided commentary for ESPN's live pay per view broadcast of the final table of the World Series of Poker main event championship in both 2006
2006 World Series of Poker
The 2006 World Series of Poker began on June 25, 2006 with "satellite" events, with regular play commencing on June 26 with the annual Casino Employee event, and the Tournament of Champions held on June 28 and 29...
and 2007
2007 World Series of Poker
The 2007 World Series of Poker began on June 1, 2007. The $10,000 no-limit Texas hold 'em Main Event began on July 6 and was completed on the morning of July 18...
. He was also the lead broadcaster for the ESPN series, The Pro-Am Poker Equalizer
Pro-Am Poker Equalizer
The Pro-Am Poker Equalizer is a televised poker tournament in which professional poker players play Texas hold 'em against celebrities which began airing on ESPN in January 2007. In order to "equalize" the playing field, the celebrities start the tournament with 50% more chips than the...
that began airing January 6, 2007.
Author
Gordon has written five books on poker, including the bestsellers Poker: The Real Deal and Phil Gordon's Little Green Book: Lessons and Teachings in No Limit Hold 'em. Gordon has written for poker magazineMagazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
s, and writes a regular column and hosts a podcast, The Poker Edge, for ESPN.com. The podcast has been airing since April 10, 2006. Gordon has also released an award winning instructional DVD, Expert Insight: Final Table Poker.
Philanthropy
Gordon is well known for his philanthropic causes, especially cancer research. Gordon is an active fundraiser and sits on the Board of Directors for the Prevent Cancer Foundation.In 2003, Gordon and fellow poker pro Rafe Furst
Rafe Furst
Rafe Furst is an entrepreneur, angel investor, cancer awareness advocate and part time professional poker player. Furst currently works on and advises many projects that involve technology and social entrepreneurship. He regularly blogs about complex systems on EmergentFool...
embarked on their Ultimate Sports Adventure Tour. During the trip, the pair attended more than 140 sporting events. At each stop, they collected donations, held auctions, and raffled off prizes to benefit the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation. They raised $100,000 for the foundation. During the trip, Gordon and Furst came up with the idea for their Bad Beat on Cancer, an initiative that asks World Series of Poker participants to pledge 1% of any winnings to cancer research. Bad Beat on Cancer has been involved in a number of other endeavors, including an annual charity poker event hosted by the Twitter Poker Tour and held online at Gordon’s Full Tilt Poker, as well as a breast cancer charity event, the Bad Beat on Cancer Challenge, which was held in November 2009 on PokerStars. Bad Beat on Cancer has raised over $2 million for cancer prevention research.
World Series of Rock Paper Scissors
As a USA Rock Paper ScissorRock-paper-scissors
Rock-paper-scissors is a hand game played by two people. The game is also known as roshambo, or another ordering of the three items ....
(USARPS) Head Referee Gordon has hosted an annual $500 World Series of Rock Paper Scissors event in conjunction with the World Series of Poker
World Series of Poker
The World Series of Poker is a world-renowned series of poker tournaments held annually in Las Vegas and, since 2005, sponsored by Harrah's Entertainment...
since 2005. The winner of the WSORPS receives an entry into the WSOP Main Event. The event is an annual fundraiser for the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation via Gordon's charity Bad Beat on Cancer. Poker player Annie Duke
Annie Duke
Annie Duke is a professional poker player and author who won a bracelet in the 2004 World Series of Poker $2,000 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better Event and was the winner of the 2004 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions, where she earned the Winner-Take-All prize of $2,000,000...
won the Second Annual World Series of Rock Paper Scissors. The tournament is taped by ESPN and highlights are covered during "The Nuts" section of ESPN's annual WSOP broadcast. 2009 was the fifth year of the tournament.
Tournament bridge
When Gordon is not playing poker, he often plays tournament contract bridge with some success. He has won two North American Bridge ChampionshipsNorth American Bridge Championships
North American Bridge Championships are three annual bridge conventions sponsored by the American Contract Bridge League . The "Spring", "Summer", and "Fall" NABCs are usually scheduled in March, July, and November for about eleven days. They comprise both championship and side contests of...
(NABC) events. In 1990, he won the Red Ribbon Pairs
Red Ribbon Pairs
The Red Ribbon Pairs national bridge championship is held at the spring American Contract Bridge League North American Bridge Championship ....
, an event restricted to players with 2000 masterpoints or less. At the 2008 Summer NABC in Las Vegas, Gordon was on the team that won the NABC Open Swiss Teams, beating numerous world and national champion players in this event with no masterpoint limit.
Political activity
In August 2010, Phil Gordon joined the board of the Libertarian National Congressional CommitteeLibertarian Party (United States)
The Libertarian Party is the third largest and fastest growing political party in the United States. The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects its brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration...
(LNCC). He said, "Americans deserve a Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
that realizes that government isn't a solution, but is in fact the problem. The Libertarian Party is a viable alternative to the 2-party travesty that created this mess."
Other ventures
Gordon appeared in the 2008 film The GrandThe Grand (film)
The Grand is an improv comedy film directed by Zak Penn. The film has an ensemble cast including Ray Romano, Woody Harrelson, Chris Parnell, Werner Herzog, Jason Alexander, Dennis Farina, David Cross, Gabe Kaplan, Michael Karnow and Cheryl Hines along with several real Las Vegas poker...
. Directed by Zak Penn
Zak Penn
Zak Penn is an American screenwriter and director. Penn wrote and directed Incident at Loch Ness, The Grand, and co-wrote the script for X-Men: The Last Stand. With Michael Karnow, Penn is the co-creator of Alphas.-Early life:...
, the film was a mockumentary (à la Best In Show
Best in Show
Best in Show may refer to:* Best in Show , a 2000 film* Best in Show , a 2005 album by Grinspoon* The Best in Show award or the Best in Show competition in conformation dog shows** Best in Show winners of Crufts...
) about a long running, annual, winner-take-all Texas Hold 'Em Poker Tournament in Las Vegas. Gordon played himself and had a relatively major role as the color commentator of the televised tournament.