Ivey is NOT Tiger Woods of Poker

[J-Train]

Phil Ivey is one of my favorite poker players make no mistake about that. However the only things Ivey and Woods have in common is that they were both successful at young ages and they have complexions that are darker than is typical for the games they play.

Tiger Woods won six consecutive national amateur titles. Three US junior amateurs, three US Amateurs, he then declared he was going pro and he won in his first 6 starts. He was able to get his tour card in those six events. He then went on to win the masters by 12 and the US Open by 15. He has also won four consecutive majors, 8 majors total. Not to mention his 30 PGA tour wins worldwide. Another accomplishment is that he won four consecutive Accenture World Championships. Mr. Woods accomplishments in golf are truly unbelievable, all of us a blessed to be alive for his time.

Ivey is a tremendous poker player, however it is obvious that the poker world calls him the Tiger Woods of poker because they share a similar color of skin. I am yet to see Ivey dominate a tournament, throw out a fist pump, or be named player of the year for for six consecutive years. Lets stop calling Ivey the Tiger Woods of Poker just because they are young black men being successful in games in which a typical participant is older and white. Please.

[Edge34]

Hey J,

There ARE a few similarities-

1) Phil is recognized as one of the best players in the world in his field. Tiger is always going to be the world #1 in golf until he retires, and even when he's playing his worst golf (still better than most people's best), he's known as the best golfer in the world.

2) Both are much younger than the "average" age of people who have been anywhere NEAR as successful as they have been in their respective professions.

3) Phil, at a (very) quick glance does bear some resemblance to Tiger, beyond simple skin color, although that trait is similar as well.

4) "Dominating" a poker tournament is virtually impossible unless you have one of the hottest runs of your life, and rarely even then. The luck factor tends to do a good job of not allowing one player to run away with a tourney from day one. Phil's final table record, however, can't be discounted as he is consistently at or near the top of a great number of the tournies he enters - save for one close loss to Chris Moneymaker, we could be calling Ivey "2003 World Champion". Note also that Tiger hasn't run away with any major tournaments for a long time, and the last 5 major winners have been first-timers, such as Mike Weir, who won a year ago at Augusta (watch for Mickelson this weekend - its his time [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]) Tiger hasn't performed up to his standard in MONTHS, and lest we forget, was almost eliminated in the FIRST ROUND of this year's Accenture Match Play tournament. Big difference in golf and poker is that Tiger's skill can take over on a weekly basis against inferior opposition, whereas Ivey's skill will not ALWAYS beat an inferior opponent with an inferior hand.

5) There isn't really a definite "Player of the Year" award for poker, but if there were, Phil would likely be close to the top on a consistent basis. The "fist pump" example, we may yet see, what with this year's WSOP coming up quickly...

While it may not be a definite correlation, with poker becoming more mainstream, this seems to me to be a very good marketing ploy. Someone flips through, watches WPT or the WSOP on ESPN and hears "the Tiger Woods of poker", they become intrigued. "Hey, Tiger's the best, this guy must be good". They sit, they watch, they stick. And while Phil himself is humble enough to defer from readily accepting that title, its not that far off...although I will give you one thing, it COULD be used less.

-Edge

[Stew]

YAWN

[jayadd]

very well put edge, and J take a look at his results from WSOP play (no just the 10k buyin but other events) in the last 2 years many people wish they had those stats. He also won his first bracelet playing heads up against amarillo slim. That texan must have been kicking himself

[The WET BEAVER]

YAWN

[jedi]

Phil Ivey is the 2003 Tiger Woods of Poker. He's also the lifetime Phil Mickelson of Poker. Great at the game, but doesn't seem to win. (Though poker has much more luck than golf does.) Let's not forget that Tiger didn't win a major last year.

[Dynasty]

The real problem here is you guys are looking at tournament results which are a poor measure of how well a person plays poker. Tournament poker is a bastardized version of the game.

Ivey (or anyone else) is one of the game's greatest players because of his performance in cash games where I believe Ivey regularly plays games with big bets in the thousands. Ivey also is known for playing for than just hold 'em. I believe he is also a world class stud player as well.

However, neither the poker media nor the regular media has any idea how to adequately cover cash games the way they skillfully cover tournament poker.

[scotnt73]

and dont forget he taught Paul Darden how to play holdem. That says alot as well.

[daryn]

and another thing, i don't really see it as a big deal if the reason he is called this is because they are both black. yes i know tiger is whatever mixed with whatever.

[Schmed]

I believe Tiger is...cablanasian...at least according to him [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]