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Is poker pro Phil Ivey broke? That’s the rumor that surfaced in recent days. One of the most read articles to ever appear on the Gambling911.com website was one attempting to delve into the net worth of one Phil Ivey. Colorful ring announcer Bruce Buffer claimed publicly that Ivey's net worth was close to 100 million. He is, after all, one of the most winningest poker players in the world.
Some have speculated that a good chunk of Ivey’s wealth was coming from his involvement with Full Tilt Poker, the one time second largest online poker room that is now defunct.
FTP was caught up in a US Justice Department probe whereby executives of the company that employed Ivey are alleged to have committed bank fraud and money laundering. They still owe millions of dollars to customers.
As soon as an indictment was handed down against two of its executives on April 15 as part of the aptly named “Black Friday” crackdown on Internet poker, Ivey suddenly stopped paying alimony to his ex-wife, Luciaetta.
OnlinePoker.net notes that Phil Ivey’s attorney claims the reason for the lack of payments to Luciaetta is that the marital settlement agreement.
Scott Matusow this week not only ranted against his brother but also tore into Phil Ivey on his blog.
“It appears the rumor mill might be correct, that Ivey “may be” broke. Do I feel bad? Hell no!! I do feel bad for his ex-wife, but she should have known she was possibly marrying a gambling degenerate. Rumor has it that Ivey owes at least one casino, 10 million dollars.. Perhaps Ivey should have thought twice before raising that lawsuit against FTP, in which sources tell me that action chased away an investor who allegedly had an oral deal in place with FTP.”
Additionally, Ivey is rumored to have borrowed $6 million from Full Tilt Poker before they crashed and burned.
To those of us at Gambling911.com, it is hard to imagine Ivey really being worth $100 million but also as difficult to swallow the concept that he is truly broke, though stranger things have happened we suppose.
