Ivey Poker Soon to Introduce Ivey League Training Site

When it first launched, many openly wondered just what the focus of IveyPoker.com was meant to be.

Backed by mega famous poker pro Phil Ivey, who has said in the past that he hoped to help new poker players and those more seasoned players alike improve their games with training, it was announced this week that the training element will soon be launched and is called Ivey League.

Ivey League to focus on videos and other presentations

According to an email that went out this week to interested parties who signed up for updates and was quoted on poker news site pokerfuse.com, “Ivey League will help you learn to play poker with live play videos and in-depth poker theory presentations.”

“Ivey League has assembled some of poker’s greatest minds in an effort to teach players of all levels how to win. Our coaches cover every aspect of the game and their diverse training styles will offer something for players at all skill levels,” the email continued.

So far, the front page of the official Ivey League web site looks pretty bare, but it does offer this brief mission statement, “Ivey League will help you learn to play poker with live play videos and in-depth poker theory presentations. Ivey League has a well rounded mix of content for players of any level.”

Phil Ivey name has been linked to scandal in recent years

Phil Ivey, a California native who has earned himself the nickname the “Tiger Woods of poker” and is arguably the most famous face in the game today, has had his share of ups and downs in recent years. The commencement of Ivey Poker, and now Ivey League, may represent a turning point for Ivey.

Despite having achieved massive success in the world of online poker as well as in live tournament poker (not to mention his many triumphs as a high stakes gambler), Ivey saw his reputation sullied due to his affiliation with Full Tilt Poker and the fallout that occurred in the aftermath of Black Friday, the day when the United States government shut down Full Tilt – and its former rival and now-owner PokerStars – amid a crackdown on offshore gaming companies offering real money online poker sites open to U.S. players.

Ivey’s name was caught up in the backlash when news surfaced that some pros and executives tied to the room were treating it like a veritable piggy bank, while so-called victim players could not access their funds. It should be noted that U.S.-based Full Tilt accountholders have yet to recover their accounts; players in regulated online poker markets outside the United States received refunds when PokerStars relaunched the Full Tilt brand in those regions in the Fall of 2012.

Pro denied payout at tony UK casino

In addition to having gone through a contentious and publicly-fought divorce, earlier this year word broke that Ivey is battling the oldest casino in the UK, Crockfords, in an effort to recover a more than $12 million payout that was denied to him amidst allegations by the casino that Ivey and his companion cheated at the game of Punto Banco, a baccarat variation.

For his part, Ivey said that he did use an advantage called edge marking to differentiate between cards and thus improve his chances of winning, but said in September that the casino was well-aware that he was doing this, even accommodating him by switching card decks at his request. Since that admission, there has been no update to the story.

But, back to poker strategy and training. Those who are interested in being kept informed about the start of Ivey League are advised to sign up for email notifications at the Ivey League web site linked above.