Top-10 Twitter accounts Phil Ivey followed before mine

Last week, I wrote a top-10 column denouncing the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa's lawsuit claiming Phil Ivey cheated to win $9.6 million at the baccarat tables. I tweeted out a link to the column, tagging Ivey, and I have to admit I was a bit surprised when he retweeted it. Or I guess I should say his social media staff retweeted it. Regardless, the column earned me @philivey as a follower, along with a slew of others who discovered me thanks to Ivey's retweet. (My fairly insignificant following grew 20 percent to 270 in the last week.) I'd be honored to have one of the highest-profile poker players following my musings on Twitter, if only there weren't more than 55,000 people who came before me. I mean, any poker player who follows more than 50,000 people before getting to @Kevmath is doing it wrong, social media staff or not. So I decided to take a tour through the accounts that Ivey followed before me. Here are the top-10 results I found. (NOTE: I didn't make it through the entire list; there was enough fodder for this column after the first few thousand. And for those who may have missed the tone, this column was written with tongue planted firmly in cheek and is in no way an attempt to disparage the accounts listed below.) 10. @PokerInThePink This account was started just over a week ago and has a grand total of two tweets in that time, though its first tweet was a real opening salvo.

Book Clubs. Bunco. Stitch & Bitch... How about adding a little classic strategic gaming to that estrogen fête? Poker in the Pink for ladies.

— Poker in the Pink (@PokerInThePink) April 12, 2014

Either Phil is very supportive of women in poker or he's worried that this Twitter account will become a huge strategy center for women and wants to keep himself up to date on how best to play against the fairer sex. 9. @pokerfcp (Full Contact Poker) This would be a solid follow in 2006. But Full Contact Poker, which once operated as an online poker room, is now merely a small online poker forum where Daniel Negreanu runs a fantasy poker contest during the World Series of Poker and occasionally writes a blog post. There have been 11 total tweets from the account in the last year, with just one coming in the last seven months. 8. @HelloCanada If you need to get a fix of Canadian celebrity and British royal news – and Phil Ivey apparently fits this description – Hello! Canada's Twitter account is one you should follow. I'm just hoping that Ivey reads this advice closely and shows up at this year's WSOP with "big bouncy curls like the Duchess of Cambridge." This account is one of many celebrity news accounts Ivey follows. He seems to follow different genres in binges, with dozens, perhaps hundreds of celebrity news accounts being followed one after another, including the ever-so-enlightening @celebsdivorcing. (So sad about Will Arnett and Amy Poehler … I thought those two kids had a chance!) 7. @PantherDigest Panther Digest provides updates on recruiting and other news on Pitt football and basketball. Who knew Ivey was such a Pitt fan? He also follows dozens of other Pitt-related accounts, along with hundreds of other college football and basketball-related accounts. I just want to know why he's not following my old college team's account, @SaintsXCTF. 6. @FashionWrap So Phil Ivey and Tim Gunn were cut from the same cloth when it comes to a love of fashion? Maybe we'll see Ivey as a celebrity judge in the next season of “Project Runway”. 5. @Food_eg (Food Review Egypt) Ivey does travel a good deal to play poker, but are there big games in Egypt that I haven't heard about? Food Review Egypt retweets reviews other people write about places where they've had a meal in Egypt. So mostly it's just people complaining about an experience they had at a restaurant, which is pretty much a summary of Twitter in general. 4. @MajorLeagueRoof (Major League Roofing) If you live in Frisco, Texas, and need your roof replaced, Major League Roofing is probably a great company to know about. If you're considered by many to be the world's best poker player and live nowhere near Frisco, you make sure to follow their musings on Twitter. Major League Roofing is one of several dozen "Major League" accounts that Ivey follows. So if you want to pick up Ivey as a follower, @MajorLeagueCelebNews appears to be available. 3. @wsopwsop7659 On the face of it, this would appear to be all about poker. But instead it's all about social gaming spam. With no tweets in almost three years, naturally this has been a key news source for Ivey for quite some time. 2. @CalrissianLando A good parody account is always worth a follow, especially one for Star Wars' most-famous gambler. I'll admit it, the Lando account was pretty good … in 2009. We haven't heard from Lando for quite awhile; maybe he's just trying to find some clothes of his own. 1. @realtonytiger (Tony the Tiger) To be fair, this Twitter account is GRRREAT.