Paul Phillips

Paul Phillips 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.