Phil Gordon Profile

Phil Gordon was born in 1970 in Texas and later moved to Las Vegas. Phil is an expert poker analyst and co-host of Celebrity Poker Showdown. He is also a world-class poker player, adventure traveler, sports fan and accomplished businessman.

Phil graduated from Georgia Tech University at the age of 20 with a degree in Computer Science, after being a National Merit Scholarship Finalist at the age of 15. He then went to work for Lockheed Missiles and Space working on Artificial Intelligence projects for the military. Shortly after that he became the first employee of Netsys Technologies, Inc. in Palo Alto California as its lead software engineer. Three years later, Cisco Systems acquired Netsys for more than $95 million in cash and stock.

Phil took off with not much more than a backpack and traveled around to more than 50 countries and 6 continents. In Africa, he dove with Great White Sharks, climbed Mt Kilimanjaro, tracked gorillas in Uganda, snowboarded down the highest sand dunes in the world, and rafted the Zambezi River. In South America he built a balsa raft to float the Amazon River Basin, trekked the Inca trail, sailed through the fiords of Patagonia and explored the pristine wilderness of the Galapagos Islands. In Australia, Phil covered 20,000 kilometers solo in a Land Cruiser, dodged kangaroos and wallabies, climbed Ayer’s Rock, dove on the Great Barrier Reef, and judged a wet t-shirt competition in the middle of the outback. Phil’s travels and travel narratives are available to the public on line at www.pgordon.com .

Player stats

2001: 4th place in WSOP Main Event
2002: 6th place in WSOP Pot Limit Hold’Em
2002: 3rd place in WSOP Omaha 8/Better
2002: Won WPT Pro Division inaugural tournament in Aruba
2004: Won WPT “Bay 101 Shooting Stars”

In July of 2004 Phil and some of his poker buddies developed the online poker website “Full Tilt Poker”, where he can be found playing frequently.

Phil is now a regular on the Travel Channel and hosted a documentary “Inside the World Series of Poker” in 2001. In 2003 Phil led expert analysis for the World Series of Poker championship event for Binion’s Horseshoe live internet broadcast as well as daily reports for a national radio audience on Sporting News Radio’s Murray in the Morning show. Phil’s poker experiences have been chronicled in Cigar Aficionado, National Public Radio’s “This American Life” with Ira Glass, Smithsonian Magazine, CNBC’s “Squawk Box”, Card Player Magazine, a classic episode of “Blind Date,” and many other publications throughout the world.

Phil is the author of three books on poker, including Poker: The Real Deal, and Phil Gordon’s Little Green Book: Lessons and Teachings in No Limit Hold’ em. He has released a DVD, Final Table Poker, in 2005.

Gordon, who learned how to play poker from his aunt, who died from liver cancer, has continued to support fundraising for the Cancer Research and Prevention Organization. He has raised funds by:
· Selling a tip booklet he wrote for Celebrity Poker Showdown contestants
· Forming the “Put a Bad Beat on Cancer” Foundation at the 2003 WSOP, asking players to donate 1% of their winnings to cancer research (supporters include Marcel Luske, Harry “Wise Owl” Demetriou and Phil Hellmuth Jr)
· Setting up a $200 Roshambo tournament at the 2005 WSOP, with the first prize being a buy-in to the main event, and all profits going to the charity
· Hosting a celebrity poker tournament the day before Super Bowl XXXVIII in Houston. Celebrity players included Marcus Allen, Clyde Drexler, Jeff Bagwell, Yanni, Kato Kaelin, and many more. At the tournaments final table, Eddied George of the Tennessee Titans defeated Jerome Bettis of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Visit Phil Gordon's Pro poker site