Phil Ivey Reveals His Greatest Career Mistake

Phil Ivey has revealed the biggest mistake that he made in his long and illustrious poker career.

In a round-the-table chat with WPT CEO Adam Pliska, Brad Owen, and Joe Ingram, Ivey detailed the one decision he made in poker that probably held him back more than any other thing, even if it did make sense at the time.

Quite simply: Ivey was so far in front of his peers that he saw no reason to discuss poker strategy with anybody else.

A logical decision, for sure, but we all know better now, and it really is sound advice to get out there and get talking with other players you can learn from.

“For so long, I think what hurt me is that I never discussed poker strategy with anyone. Because at one point, I think people were so far behind in poker that it wasn’t beneficial to me to discuss poker strategy with them.

“You know what I mean? So I just got in a habit of not really speaking to anybody and just being separate from my peers.”

Did this hold the G.O.A.T. back from reaching an even higher level with his game? That’s a scary thought, if true.

Once this realisation became apparent, Ivey set out to make new relationships and open up in general by hanging out with other poker players.

Ivey did note that Daniel Negreanu has always been a friend since the early days but even so, he did feel separate from the poker community for a long time.

He then reminisced about chats in the past with characters like Doyle Brunson and Chip Reese adding that we could forget any answer they gave about how to play a particular spot because in those days it was every man for himself.

Figuring it Out All By Yourself!

It’s no surprise to hear that the old school players didn’t want to give anything away considering the lengths they had to go to to learn without any of the tools we have access to today on modern computers.

Doyle Brunson is reputed to have spent countless hours dealing out cards in order to calculate equities. Talk about doing whatever it takes!

Ivey notes that top players today are much more inclined to give out legitimate advice at the table or otherwise, but jokingly he adds that even to this day nobody bothers to ask him.

No chat with Phil Ivey would be complete without a mention of the high-profile baccarat scandal but we were disappointed not to hear any juicy gossip that isn’t already in the public domain.

Ivey made it clear that he doesn’t do social media gossip so that the often strange opinions of users doesn’t get into his head. We can certainly sympathise with that strategy.

As for one piece of advice for the fans, Ivey says just to play within your means. Simple advice, and never a truer word spoken.

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