Paul Phillips

Background

Growing up in San Francisco, California, he was a computer science major at the University of California at San Diego. It was during college that he discovered poker. Throughout his somewhat short-lived career in the business world, he began honing his game through live and Internet play, as well as through message boards where discussions revolved around poker.

Nicknamed "dot-com" (along with Phil Gordon), Phillips became Chief Technical Officer for Go2Net in 1996. He made his money when the company got sold during the dotcom bubble. This allowed him to have a good-sized bankroll and play poker full-time.

Poker

Phillips first cashed at the World Series of Poker in 19999. His first major win came in 2000 in the $1,000 no-limit hold'em tournament at the L.A. Poker Classic.

Most people know Phillips from his appearances on the WPT. During season 2 he finished 2nd in the 2003 Legends of Poker, earning $293,550. A few months later came in st place and won a WPT title in the Five Diamond World Poker Classic for over $1.1 million.

In the 2003 Phillips finished 2nd in the tournament poker money list despite choosing not to play in the WSOP.

In 2004 he made three WSOP final tables and cashed in 4 events.

Phillips played in the first two National Heads-Up Poker Championships, losing in second round play both years.

Phillips has 8 WSOP cashes (all coming in 2004 or before) and his total live tournament winnings, as of 2008, exceed $2,300,000. Now that he has a family, he does not play as many tournaments as he used to, in order to spend more time with his family.

Controversy

Phillips has also been very outspoken and is known as a controversial figure in the poker world. He spoke out against the inclusion of Phil Hellmuth Jr, Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan in the 2005 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions, and subsequently became the subject of message board flame wars.

Phillips was banned from competing in the WSOP in the early 2000s due to comments he made about how the Horseshoe was splitting the entry money between players and casino employees. He was reinstated as a competitor in late 2001.

In an April 27, 2009 article in The New Yorker, Phillips said that he used prescription drugs such as Adderall and Provigil to improve his focus and concentration while playing tournaments.

COMMENTS:

This guy's a complete ass! Cocky as hell and can't back it up at all. He'll NEVER win anything again. What a Jackass! (HEEEEEEHAWWWWWW!)

bad_dog76 on December 20, 2006

this tard and his arrogant bs at the tables, what a tool. he wont win anything after getting lucky once, he sucks, complete donk.
????????= a flaming talentless 2-4 player who knows but one set off odds at poker so now he has an opinion. a very very very very weak one at that. go back down to 1-2 donk, 2-4 is too hard for ya

DonkeySlayer on November 24, 2006

bi ???

????? on November 13, 2005

Tomko had him shaking in his boots...allin.....allin.....allin

Unregistered on August 26, 2005

LOL scottishcat!

Ben on August 20, 2005

Yeah Raul Phillips is a j*rkwad. Dude loves phil ivey so much that he named his baby girl Ivy Phillips. Phil Ivey backwards. What a 'mo.

blah on August 15, 2005

is it me or does this guy look like the most arrogant asshole you've ever seen

toronto shark on August 14, 2005

I signed up for his site, pokerbears.com.

Jim Croce on August 12, 2005

his webiste is so lame. he kicks people off who disagree with him (and prove him wrong) yet keeps all the a$$-kissing cronies around to stroke his damaged EGO.
Smart? Yes
Good at cards? A little.
Big nerd who still can't get a good lay with millions? Oh yeah.
Thinks he's God? Nope.
hinks he's BETTER than God??? Yeah
Is good friends of Englishcat? Sadly, yes.

Cougar Naismith on August 1, 2005

this guy is pretty nasty at cards

the kid on July 26, 2005

Anyone who talks sh*t about this guy is a p*ssy if you ask me. He was smart enough to make a lot of money when internet/software companies went kaboom. I respect him a lot. You should too because he could buy you ten times over. Most of the other players are wimps compared to him. He already beat the crap out of people in his field, now he's coming to kick more ass in poker.

PokerRookie on July 25, 2005

maybe the best player in the world.talks about being able to take a risk because he can but it seems to be his downfall to me.anyway best of luck to paul. PS. stop acting so femme

TheDotComMan on July 20, 2005

He's just an average player

Yo. on July 9, 2005

In it for the ego - you're playing the wrong game pal. Go back to the computer nerd.

James on July 3, 2005

He doesn't care about losing $10K? It looks like he's playing for pride/the love of the game. So many of you think you're better than him? enter a professional tournament and finish in at least 50th place. Otherwise just keep your pessimism to your self, and watch more WPT.

Erik on June 30, 2005

after whatchin him on NBC's heads up tourney, ... man,how satisfying it was seein him lose against phil hellmuth (hellmuth ends up winnin the whole tournament)...not a big fan of cocky computer nerds.(i know, hellmuth's kinda of a nerd too...but he is an awesome poker player, and he is just as interesting as gus hansen, daniel negreneau, men the master,etc. to whatch on T.V.)

jambees on May 10, 2005

I think that guy is a fan of Gus though Gus is younger... hahaha... he followed Gus Hansen everywhere and dressed almost like him, shaved his hair like him, etc... He even said "Gus would have played that one"... the proof that he follows Gus too much... hahaha

Gus wannabe on May 4, 2005

this guy is horrible.... mel judah pummeled him on the wpt and he sucked on tj cloutier for all his money.... not good at all and has no right to rip hellmuth... thats like dennis rodman telling jordan he needs to impove his jumper

phillips sux on April 9, 2005

do you mean the chicago bulls jordan or the washington wizards jordan.

dennis rodman on April 9, 2005

Come on people You have to come with something better than uh uh if i was that rich i could do good to..uh uh 25k is nothing to him so he does stupid things and gets lucky. Give the guy some credit....oh wait cant do that bc hes rich and you losers are broke QUIT HATIN!

Luckymanhater on March 28, 2005

This guy is no better at poker than any amateur who played a ton in his spare time and read a few books on poker theory. The only thing that sets him apart is that he isn't scared to get knocked off because "it's only $10k" or "it's only $25k", and he doesn't care about his reputation at all so he'll sometimes get all his chips in on idiotic plays and when he gets lucky and wins, he doubles through.

LuckyMan on March 20, 2005

Such perfect people writing in... How many of you can say you have accomplished what he has. I met him at the Shooting Stars tournament - my husband played at his table. Can't anyone take some healthy sarcasm anymore? Be careful not to judge people before you get to know them. Best of luck with your arrival next month. P

paigeschorr on March 14, 2005

his girlfriend is not hot. she resembles my brother.

HOT? on March 5, 2005

He Shaved His Head Because He Is A Gus Hansen Wannabe

Dirk Diggler on March 1, 2005

He's not gay. Got a real hot wife (or it may be his girlfriend).

Sarge on February 6, 2005

this guys is a goodplayer...but hes not even in the same category as hellmuth...i read this guys blog from time to time,,total jerk,,,he thinks he's alot better than he is...after he gets 9 wsop braclets than mabe he will have room to talk, until then he needs to respect the ppl that have earned their stripes...

iveyfan05 on January 30, 2005

I'll admit he's pretty femme. I don't think he's gay though. I've known guys from Idaho who act like him. Is he from Idaho? If so I'd say he's straight. If he's from California and acts like that, then yeah, he's gay. I can't stand Hellmuth either.

Unregistered on January 29, 2005

He also hates Phil Hellmuth and bashes him constantly.He uses a Phil Hellmuth chip as his card holder as a sort of insult towards phil.Figured that would make the Hellmuth fans happy

4-7suited on January 9, 2005

Although a good player I wouldnt go as far as to say dominant. Played extremely poorly on Legends of Poker and basically threw away a title which I feel anyone with any skill couldve one in that position. At Belagio, played better poker, but still when your playing for a million dollars its strange to let your whole tournament ride on a race. Final Word: Ok but not great

td8118 on December 28, 2004

I don't care what anyone says, I think he's hot & I wish he wasn't married!

Ria:) on December 21, 2004

Yeah, he's good. He totally took advantage of Gus Hansen in the WPT. He just raised him with worse crap than Hanson had every time.

Chad on December 2, 2004

I agree with slvsc2, I really think Paul is an excellent poker player, and I love watching him work the table. I have nothing but respect for him! I only hope to follow in his footsteps someday.. *sigh* maybe i'll be the next female Pro!! ;-)

Rubie0604 on November 29, 2004

I give the guy credit because he seems to be doing exactly what he wants to do. True, money helps but he earned it. Pokerwise, he's a solid player and he's interesting to watch at a table.

slvsc2 on November 26, 2004

This guy's a cocky little nerd. He is still a descent player though. His aggressive play seems to get it done.

Chad on November 2, 2004

how old is Paul Phillips

tzizzi on October 24, 2004

To every body out there Ive seen this guy play , He's good......really good. Lots of respect to all other poker players. But it was him who took out TJ Coutier.I think IM not sure BUt my point being is that u dont get to the final tables by how much money u have, or if your a billionaire. Its all my knowlegde of the game and skill. Besides I bet he can bluff and pull out good hands to beat any of us here, even if we all had the same amount of money as he does . Cause money doesnt matter. Its all in the "mind"."Remember that"

ace - o- matic on October 13, 2004

His "company" was go2net.com, like many dotcom sites, it died in the dot com crash. I know, I cashed out selling my popular websites but did not do anywhere near as well as he did, I got caught in the tail end of the crash and now am back at it working with a similar site, [url]http://www.majorgeeks.com[/url] please stop by so I can try this again and be as rich as paul and hated by all ;)

tim-majorgeeks on October 9, 2004

It's amazing everyone feels so strongly about someone they don't know. I happen to know the guy and some others on the tour. Believe it or not, he's a decent guy. As far as his play goes...if you know poker at all then you know he has a lot of skill and results speak for themselves. Not so great at golf though...

KID on October 5, 2004

hey guys... thanks for the feedback

Paul Phillips on September 30, 2004

next time you loose a big pot in a cash game be a man and just walk away instead of acting retarded and making a seen.this guy put his hands all over the money then got up and started dancing. low class. go back to internet whatever!

commerce casino aug 29 around 330 AM on August 28, 2004

paul is a good player but he also admitted that he doesnt feel the pressure because he has all that money

smash on August 12, 2004

hes a great poker player, so wat ifhe goes all in wiht 22 its a coin flip, hes a risk taker

smash on August 8, 2004

Hey Look At My Im An Idiot Who Over Values Small Pocket Pairs...."2c2d im all in"

Unregistered on August 1, 2004

Paul's dot com business was either go.com or goto.com. One was sus by the other and there was a big settlement over confusing people with a website that looked just like theirs.. I think it was goto.com said go.com stole a bunch of ideas and ended up getting bought out... I think they were both using green light (street light) logos or something. Paul was in my brother's class in high school...

Unregistered on July 23, 2004

Paul Phillips is a outstanding player and is one of the worlds best only 2nd place to people like Dave The devilfish Ulliott

Flamin_Jesus on July 18, 2004

god, some of u guys are hatin on paul hardcore. relax a bit, if u have seen him play(and ur a tru poker fan) then u would respect his play

jcbcplaya21 on July 18, 2004

when i first saw his guy, thought he was dead money. He is actually pretty darn good, not just some rich idiot, respect to the man, hes also very entertaining on the table.

flush80 on July 17, 2004

Paul is the next big thing in poker. Show him some respect.

Unregistered on July 17, 2004

cardplayer.com says Paul worked for go2net. I've got nothing but respect for Paul and his accomplishments.

bkkgrasshopper on July 15, 2004

cant we all just get along?

BallzOf Fire901 on July 13, 2004

Paul has a seriously smug edge to him during his poker play that makes me think that maybe all the mystery arises from a need to hide something in the past. His is not the normal "poker face" if you know what I mean. There's a real angst in the guy. Punk rocker died red hair now like out of some sci-fi movie. Just a guess, but the company he sold never seems to have a NAME in any of the articles you read about him now because maybe, just maybe - and this is only my own personal guess - is that the company has some sort of sexy naughtiness that his mum might not be proud of, but that is only my personal guess.

sammifrances/sam/apple on July 13, 2004

Does anyone know what KIND of business his dot com business was and who got the short end of the stick when the damned dot com burble burst once Bush was elected, or was his business actually a successful business model that a company is actually making money on still? My guess is that if he's playing poker now, the business model isn't exactly working out that well for the buyer today.

sammifrances on July 13, 2004

Paul Phillips is my idol, he is a great poker player, and he shouldnt donate his money to charity. Paul Phillips is the best.

Panzaman on July 13, 2004

All you idiots which hate the guys are the real losers here.This guy has great poker knowledge and did make the final not because of his money.

dramboni on July 13, 2004

I would also like to know the company he made his money from

pot on July 10, 2004

open question, is paul really any good? Or does having alot of money make you careless and hard to beat?

stand pat on July 10, 2004

Any idea what his company was that he sold to get rich?

brick on July 3, 2004

Paul Phillips has a livejournal, much respect for that![url]www.livejournal.com/users/extempore[/url]

Burdman on June 30, 2004

He has made 2 WPT final tables and won one event. Doesnt really matter what you guys that have never done it post. His record says it all. He's a WINNER. Like it or not.

On the contrary on June 28, 2004

How far do you have you nose up his ass??? Next your gonna tell me is that Van Patten is the greatest poker player ever. I'm pretty sure you need to be sniffing more kitty than this guys balls!

I'm Adam the jerkoff on June 27, 2004

I think you are all a bit JEALOUS of his money AND his poker skills. Ive never seen him play, but his success is impressive thus far. Oh, and i think he made it past the wannabe stage in all aspects of his life.

ADAM/A/heavydman99 on June 26, 2004

I hate this guy more than anything! Everytime i see this dude I want to sock him in the face!

Unregistered on June 20, 2004

Oh I'm a billionaire how is a sooo cool...money doens't mean anything to me? If that is the case PAUL... why don't you donate it to charity like Rosen (what ever his last name is) give your winnings to the needy AH

Unregistered on June 20, 2004

Barry GreenStein thats his name...a great poker player...

Unregistered on June 20, 2004

1st comment and nothing to say

Tryla on June 12, 2004

Worm

Paul Phillips

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