Ivey

Even in the world of poker pros, there are classes: the truly great, the merely great, the so-so, and those people who make me wonder truly how and why they are being labelled as a pro.

Well Phil Ivey is Phil Ivey, and I will let you categorize him, but this I can say, there are very few poker pros who hold the 3C's: meaning, under pressure in the heat of poker action, they remain COOL, COMPOSED, and COLLECTED.

When you watch him play, you would be either impressed or awed by how he carries himself. You would get the feeling that there is nothing he misses (of course there is/are, he is still human after all), but let me tell you about the "Earphones Please" Poker After Dark television program that he graced (did you see that particular one?)

Four out of the five opponents proved to be nasty (if you wish to use the word rude, you do it), and other pros would probably get up and leave, that or smash a chair onto the table to vent out his ire. Not Ivey, he sat there with his triple Cs, and he won that event...need I say more?