Phil Gordon: A "No Limits" Life
Phil Gordon has led a "No Limits" life filled with adventure, challenges, entrepreneurship, and philanthropy. A National Merit Scholar who entered college at 15, Phil began his professional life as a computer scientist after earning his degree from Georgia Tech specializing in Artificial Intelligence.
His first business success saw his company, Netsys Technologies, acquired by Cisco Systems in 1997. After the acquisition, Phil took off on a four year, 50+ country solo backpacking journey around the world that included stops at the top of Kilimanjaro, the outback of Australia, an elephant safari in Thailand, and the "greatest road trip in sports history" in the United States, a 138 event, 40,000 mile year long trip in an RV dubbed the Ultimate Sports Adventure.
Phil's travel adventures concluded just in time for an explosion in the world of poker. An avid card player all his life, Phil finished fourth in the 2001 World Series Main event, a result that catapulted him into the poker media spotlight.
Phil was the lead commentator for Bravo's hit show, "Celebrity Poker Showdown", served as the ESPN.com Poker Analyst for five years, was a member of the World Series of Poker Player Advisory Committee, and has written four poker books with nearly 500k copies in print in multiple languages, including the classic Phil Gordon's Little Green Book. Phil's poker tournament winnings are in excess of $3 million, including a win on the World Poker Tour at the Bay 101 Shooting Star and World Poker Tour Aruba.
Phil's speeches and tournament hosting duties have entertained audiences from a diverse set of companies and brands including Google, Yahoo, ATT, iTron, Remington Hotel Group, Bain Capital, Economist, Maxim, Stuff, Playboy, Citrix, Cisco, Unilever, Shape Security, ESPN, Harrah's, JP Morgan, Greenlight Capital, and more.
Phil has donated his time and services on behalf of many outstanding charities. Poker fundraisers hosted have raised in excess of $50m since 2001. Phil regularly hosts events for President Clinton and the Clinton Foundation, Tiger Woods, Prevent Cancer Foundation, Michael J Fox Foundation, Michael Jordan, American Cancer Society and more.
His first business success saw his company, Netsys Technologies, acquired by Cisco Systems in 1997. After the acquisition, Phil took off on a four year, 50+ country solo backpacking journey around the world that included stops at the top of Kilimanjaro, the outback of Australia, an elephant safari in Thailand, and the "greatest road trip in sports history" in the United States, a 138 event, 40,000 mile year long trip in an RV dubbed the Ultimate Sports Adventure.
Phil's travel adventures concluded just in time for an explosion in the world of poker. An avid card player all his life, Phil finished fourth in the 2001 World Series Main event, a result that catapulted him into the poker media spotlight.
Phil was the lead commentator for Bravo's hit show, "Celebrity Poker Showdown", served as the ESPN.com Poker Analyst for five years, was a member of the World Series of Poker Player Advisory Committee, and has written four poker books with nearly 500k copies in print in multiple languages, including the classic Phil Gordon's Little Green Book. Phil's poker tournament winnings are in excess of $3 million, including a win on the World Poker Tour at the Bay 101 Shooting Star and World Poker Tour Aruba.
Phil's speeches and tournament hosting duties have entertained audiences from a diverse set of companies and brands including Google, Yahoo, ATT, iTron, Remington Hotel Group, Bain Capital, Economist, Maxim, Stuff, Playboy, Citrix, Cisco, Unilever, Shape Security, ESPN, Harrah's, JP Morgan, Greenlight Capital, and more.
Phil has donated his time and services on behalf of many outstanding charities. Poker fundraisers hosted have raised in excess of $50m since 2001. Phil regularly hosts events for President Clinton and the Clinton Foundation, Tiger Woods, Prevent Cancer Foundation, Michael J Fox Foundation, Michael Jordan, American Cancer Society and more.
Phil is the founder and CEO of Chatbox.com. Chatbox is a platform that gives businesses a way to build, operate, and automate personalized messaging experiences for their customers. Chatbox was founded in April 2014 and employs 20 in Seattle. Investors include Graham Holdings, Robert Goldstein (Gotham Capital), Mattias Westman (Prosperity Capital), John Rogers (Ariel Investments), Sue Decker (Berkshire Hathaway/Intel/Costco Board), and more.
Phil's hobbies include bridge (he is a two time national champion), golf, tennis, beach volleyball, woodworking, piano, backgammon, fishing, and photography.
Today, Phil faces his greatest challenge to date, raising two young sons, Xander (10) and Zachary (9). Phil, his wife Barb, and the boys live in Seattle, Washington. They spend long weekends and holidays at their ranch with their menagerie of 3 donkeys, 1 llama, 2 dogs, 6 cats, 3 goats, and a host of bears, moose, elk, deer, beaver, osprey and fish.
Phil's hobbies include bridge (he is a two time national champion), golf, tennis, beach volleyball, woodworking, piano, backgammon, fishing, and photography.
Today, Phil faces his greatest challenge to date, raising two young sons, Xander (10) and Zachary (9). Phil, his wife Barb, and the boys live in Seattle, Washington. They spend long weekends and holidays at their ranch with their menagerie of 3 donkeys, 1 llama, 2 dogs, 6 cats, 3 goats, and a host of bears, moose, elk, deer, beaver, osprey and fish.
