Phil Gordon

Poker player biography of Phil Gordon

Phil Gordon has built up quite a career in the poker world. Having been born in Las Vegas, Nevada, it seems as though Gordon was destined for his future stardom as a professional poker player. He has entered into some of the biggest poker events, including the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour. With the success that Gordon gained as a poker player, he was able to enter into numerous different ventures. Phil Gordon is an author, professional poker player, commentator, and a Board Member of the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation.

Phil Gordon: poker roots in the family tree

When Phil Gordon and his sister were young, they would have summer trips to their aunt's house, which was in Columbia, South Carolina. They would live there for months during the summer. Their Aunt Lib would host poker nights for the three of them almost every night. The nightly events were played in penny-ante Five-Card Draw style. It was at these small, family poker events that Gordon would first learn about poker.

“Genius juvenile delinquent" – Phil Gordon's mother

Gordon entered college at the age of fifteen, graduating at the young age of 20. He entered into Georgia Institute of Technology with a National Merit Scholarship. After gaining his degree in Computer Science, Gordon was employed at the advanced technology company Lockheed Martin. Lockheed is one of the world leaders in multinational aerospace manufacturing. Netsys Technologies, Inc. then took Gordon in as their first employee. He was given the position of lead software engineer. The company was bought out by Cisco Systems, Inc., one of the biggest companies in the networking and communications technology industries. Phil traveled to different countries, like South America, Australia, and Uganda with the money that he got from the buy-out.

Phil Gordon: the poker player

One of Phil Gordon's first big-wins game was in 2001. That year, he finished 14th place in the World Series of Poker (WSOP), taking home $400,000 in prize money. One year later, he got to the final table of the Omaha Eight-or-Better and the Pot-Limit Hold'em events at the WSOP. Gordon was invited by UltimateBet to join the WPT. He took home the first place prize of $250,000. It was in 2003 that Gordon would first get into commentating as he reported on an Internet broadcast. Another $360,000 was awarded to Gordon after he won the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Stars event in 2004.

Aside from the WPT and WSOP events, Gordon has also joined in some other popular events, like  Full Tilt Poker's Poker Championship in 2006 and the 2007 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. To date, he has won over $1,700,000 in live tournament prize money. One of the great things about Gordon is that he operates fund raising for the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation. With his full-tilt lifestyle and undeniable poker skills, it seems as though Phil “Tiltboy” Gordon will continue to be in the poker limelight.