José Mourinho and Phil Ivey – Two Examples of Incredible Professionalism and Respect for the Game

Great professionalism a la José Mourinho and Phil Ivey is not seen every day and it provokes deep respect.

Football and poker seems to be two very different games on the surface, but if someone looks deeper, a lot of similarities can be found. Both games require focus, dedication, practice, confidence, etc. Both also enjoy world-wide popularity and millions of fans who support certain teams or individuals.

There are two extremely successful people, who worked very hard for their achievements and managed to become famous and well-respected in their fields – the first one is José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix, known as José Mourinho, Chelsea F.C. manager, and the second one is Phillip Dennis “Phil” Ivey Jr., an American professional poker player, who often makes it into the gambling news.

A comparison between these two great professionals is not only interesting, but also expected, as they are inspirational and serve as an example for everyone, who is interested in sports and success.

Confidence as means of success

José Mourinho (Chelsea’s manager) and Phil Ivey (poker player) are both extremely successful and respected in their fields

• The both enjoy immense popularity

• Ivey has 10 poker titles

• Mourinho has seven league titles

Confidence is a must for players who are aiming high and an example of this important quality can be seen in relatively recent poker star Ryan Riess. For sure his confidence was one of the components that helped him win his first World Series of Poker 2013 Main Event taking home the fantastic $8,361,570.

The self-belief of the 23 years old player, who claimed to be the best in the world, caused various reactions, but the reality remained unchanged, he won the WSOP Main Event at his first participation.

When it comes to José Mourinho, he demonstrates impressive honesty when he speaks about himself, his team, other managers and teams, or the owner of his team for example. This is one of the qualities that make him so successful and respected.

Comparison between giants

Riess hadn’t been enough on the poker scene to be so self-involved, but Phil Ivey has all the reasons to be extra proud of his career and position in the society, winning numerous tournaments held at home under US gambling laws, as well as abroad.

Ivey is one of the poker pioneers, as Mourinho is one of the football legends and they both have a lot of experience in their fields. Hopefully, there are a lot of years ahead of them to continue making their millions of fans happy and proud.

When it comes to fame, Mourinho is more popular of the two, naturally because of the worldwide fame of the football game.

But Ivey is an unprecedented star in the poker field with nine World Series of Poker bracelets and one World Poker Tour title, which he won after countless practicing in US poker rooms.

Mourinho, on the other hand, has won seven league titles – two in Portugal, two in England, two in Italy and one in Spain. Technically Ivey has more titles, but he also has more opportunities each year to win titles.

Even if the details are not taken into full consideration, one thing is for sure, these two stars won impressive number of titles and millions in earnings, being still at the top of their game.

Even more success

In addition to his league titles, Mourinho also won two UEFA Champions League medals, as well as great number of cup honors like UEFA Cup, FA Cup, League Cup, Copa del Rey, Supercopa de España, Coppa Italia, Supercoppa Italiana, etc.

Mourinho and Ivey are undoubted stars and it is interesting what would have happened, if they were to switch their places and trade the football field for the poker table.

Regardless, if Mourinho has any poker desires, he can practice hard and even meet Ivey in a poker game one day in the future.