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|image=PhilGordon.jpg
|image=PhilGordon.jpg
|caption=Phil Gordon at the Caesars Palace Poker Blog Tournament
|caption=Phil Gordon at the Caesars Palace Poker Blog Tournament
|birth_date={{birth date and age|1970|7|6}}
|hometown=Las Vegas, Nevada
|hometown=[[Las Vegas, Nevada|Las Vegas]], [[Nevada]], [[United States|U.S.]]
|wsop bracelet count=''None''
|wsop bracelet count=''None''
|wsop money finishes=16
|wsop money finishes=16

Revision as of 09:17, 16 June 2010

For the mayor of Phoenix, Arizona, see Phil Gordon (politician).
Phil Gordon
Phil Gordon at the Caesars Palace Poker Blog Tournament
Nickname(s)Tiltboy
ResidenceLas Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
Born (1970-07-06) July 6, 1970 (age 54)
World Series of Poker
Bracelet(s)None
Money finish(es)16
Highest ITM
Main Event finish		4th, 2001
World Poker Tour
Title(s)1
Final table(s)2
Money finish(es)2

Philip Stewart Gordon[1] (born July 6, 1970) is an American professional poker player, author, and commentator, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. As of 2010, Gordon's total live tournament winnings exceed $2,200,000.[2]

Gordon graduated from Georgia Tech with a 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.[3]

World Series of Poker

Phil Gordon first entered The World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event in 2001 and finished 4th, winning $400,000.[2] 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.[2] 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. To date, Gordon has won $660,555 at the World Series of Poker.[4]

World Poker Tour

In March 2004 Gordon knocked out two players at once to win the WPT's Bay 101 Shooting Stars tournament.[2] 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.

Other events

On Thanksgiving 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.

Poker commentary

Gordon is well known for his commentary on poker broadcasts. Most notably, he was a commentator 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.

File:Phil Gordon's Little Green Book.jpg
Phil Gordon's Little Green Book

Gordon has 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. He has released an award winning instructional DVD, Expert Insight: Final Table Poker. Gordon has also written for poker magazines, 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 appeared in the 2008 film The Grand. 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.

Cancer research

Gordon was first taught poker by his aunt, who died of liver cancer. [5] He is on the Board of Directors for the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation, for which he is an active fundraiser.[6]

In 2003, he and fellow poker pro Rafe Furst embarked on their Ultimate Sports Adventure Tour, stopping at major sporting events between the 2003 and 2004 Super Bowls. At each stop, they collected donations, held auctions, and raffled off prizes to benefit the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation.[7] While on the Ultimate Sports Adventure, 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.[8] 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, [9] as well as a breast cancer charity event, the Bad Beat on Cancer Challenge, which was held in November 2009 on PokerStars.[10] Bad Beat on Cancer has raised over $2 million for cancer prevention research.[11]

World Series of Rock Paper Scissors

As a USA Rock Paper Scissor (USARPS) Head Referee[12] Gordon has hosted an annual $500 World Series of Rock Paper Scissors event in conjunction with the World Series of Poker since 2005.[13] 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.[14][15] The tournament is taped by ESPN and highlights are covered during "The Nuts" section of ESPN's annual WSOP broadcast.[16][17][18] 2009 was the fifth year of the tournament.

Personal life

Gordon is 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) tall. He has won two national bridge competitions at American Contract Bridge League North American Bridge Championships (NABC). In Boston in the Summer NABC in 1990 he won the Red Ribbon Pairs. In Las Vegas in the Summer NABC in 2008 he won the Open Swiss Teams. Gordon was profiled in The New York Times bridge column on August 16, 2008. His first child, Alexander "Xander" Smith Gordon, was born May 28, 2008. His second son, Zachary Michael Gordon, was born Dec 14, 2009.

References

  1. ^ "F.E.C. Image". Federal Election Commission. 2007-12-12. Retrieved 2008-12-12.
  2. ^ a b c d Hendon Mob Poker Profile Cite error: The named reference "mob" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  3. ^ Georgia Tech Alumni Association - Phil Gordon Plays a Winning Hand
  4. ^ World Series of Poker Earnings, worldseriesofpoker.com
  5. ^ http://www.onlinepokernews.org/poker-players/phil-gordon
  6. ^ http://www.preventcancer.org/donate2c.aspx?id=2782
  7. ^ http://www.preventcancer.org/donate2c.aspx?id=2782
  8. ^ http://twitterpokertour.com/coolwhip-corner/bboc-co-creators-phil-gordon-and-rafe-furst-spend-some-time-in-coolwhip-corner/
  9. ^ http://worthycausepoker.com/charity-events/online-poker/bad-beat-on-cancer-hosted-by-the-twitter-poker-tour.htm
  10. ^ http://www.pokernews.com/news/2009/10/the-bad-beat-on-poker-challenge-set-for-nov-12th-7467.htm
  11. ^ http://www.preventcancer.org/donate3c.aspx?id=2136
  12. ^ "Master Rosh's Analysis of the Final Match". USARPS Leagues. USARPS. 2005-06-28. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
  13. ^ Friess, Steven (2007-05-14). "Las Vegas's latest game: Rock, paper, scissors". NY Times. Retrieved 2009-07-23.
  14. ^ Levitt, Steven (2006-07-26). "Annie Duke Wins 2nd Annual World Series of Poker's Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament (my research assistant gets knocked out in the first round)". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-07-24.
  15. ^ "Where's Annie?". ESPN.com. 2006-08-05. Retrieved 2009-07-24.
  16. ^ Caldwell, John (2005-06-15). "The REAL championship at the World Series of Poker". Poker News. Retrieved 2009-07-24.
  17. ^ "WSOP Schedule Whiplash". Poker Pages. 2005-06-14. Retrieved 2009-07-24.
  18. ^ Craig, Michael. "EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE: Roshambo - The Rematch". Pokerworks. Retrieved 2009-07-21.
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