Born in 1964 in Madison, Wisconsin, Phil was the oldest of five children. His father was a university assistant dean with a number of academic achievements under his belt. The expectations to follow in those footsteps were imposed upon Phil at an early age. He excelled in school and went on to attend the University of Wisconsin. Early in his college days, Phil was invited to play in a cash poker game at the student union. As the weeks and months passed, he continued to win the low-dollar games and sought higher stakes. He found them in a $100 buy-in game that included several professors and other upstanding members of the campus community.

With consistent wins in those games, he was able to pay off all of the student loans that he had amassed to that point and build a bankroll of $20,000. Phil took his bankroll and growing confidence to Las Vegas to play poker at the casinos. While there, he discovered that he enjoyed a variety of games, including blackjack, craps, and baccarat. However, over the course of about ten weekend trips to Vegas, he managed to lose his entire bankroll. With a dent in his ego and no money, Phil returned to the college games in Wisconsin, where he successfully acquired enough money to return to Vegas and try again. That trip proved favorable as he won more than $10,000. He went back home to officially withdraw from school in his junior year, and his journey around the country in search of high-dollar poker tournaments began. By the age of 24, Phil was playing in the World Series of Poker. He placed 33rd place in the WSOP's No Limit Hold 'Em World Championship which set him on a course to hone his skills and do better the following year. He did so, and in 1989, he won his first WSOP bracelet in that same championship tournament and set himself up financially to pursue his poker career with a vengeance.

Over the course of the next fifteen years, Phil accumulated more tournament wins than any other professional poker player, including 11 WSOP bracelets. He displayed an astounding grasp of all categories of tournament poker and claimed wins in a number of different games. In addition, he made his mark on the World Poker Tour, securing his place at the final tables of four tournaments in the show's first two seasons. Phil's overall successes and longevity in tournament poker have yielded many benefits. He has written several books and made several instructional videos to pass on some of the knowledge that he has acquired over the years, and he has secured an endorsement deal for a popular online gaming site. What over forty years of life has given to Phil is a deep appreciation of all that he has accomplished and the importance of the people in his life. He resides in California with his wife, a doctor at Stanford University, and his two sons. He places the highest value on family, along with health and his personal successes. And that makes Phil a world-class person and professional poker player.