‘Mystery’ Solved: ‘RaiseOnce’ on PokerStars Confirmed as Phil Ivey

In what has got to be one of the worst kept secrets in the world of online poker, the “mysterious” “RaiseOnce” for whom everyone and their mother believed to be Phil Ivey has been confirmed to be him. 

From Part Time Poker: 

For some time now, it has been rumored that Ivey had been playing on PokerStars under the handle, but neither Ivey or any other source could confirm that to be true. But now Wicked Chops Poker Insider is reporting that RaiseOnce and Ivey are one in the same; you can read the story.

Ivey sort of went into hiding following the demise of Full Tilt Poker last summer, an online poker company he represented for several years.  We say “sort of” because during his absence Ivey had filed – and later dropped – a lawsuit against FTP.  He was also embroiled in a nasty divorce involving allegations of improprieties that included Ivey’s reported donations to the election campaign of the original judge who oversaw the divorce case. 

Full Tilt Poker still owes customers millions of dollars since the company was forced to exit the US market one year ago this week (April 15, 2011).  Ivey, too, was forced to leave the US in order to open an account with PokerStars, one of the few remaining high stakes rooms online. 

- Nagesh Rath, Gambling911.com