It’s not Time Magazine, but given the history of celebrity appearances its cover, getting one’s face on the front of Cigar Aficionado is quite an accomplishment.  Chalk up another one for Phil Ivey.  The Full Tilt Poker pro, who ranks first on ESPN.com’s “The Nuts” list of the world’s best poker players, graces the cover of the April 2010 issue of the cigar enthusiast’s publication.

Wearing a dapper jacket and holding a lit cigar in his right hand, Ivey is not made to look like a poker player.  Of course, Cigar Aficionado is not going to leave his relevance a mystery to those who know nothing of the game.  Superimposed on Ivey’s right shoulder is the title “America’s Poker King – Phil Ivey has Parlayed his Poker Fame into Business Success.”  In the article, author Michael Kaplan hits on many of the poker aspects of Ivey’s life that poker fans already know about, but he also discusses Ivey’s future goals (including creating a high roller casino and becoming an options trader) and gives readers a peek at Ivey’s lifestyle.

Ivey is not the first poker player to appear on the cover of Cigar Aficionado.  2004 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion Greg “Fossilman” Raymer posed for the magazine the year he won his title, sitting at a poker table behind stacks of chips with his trademark fossil card protector and holographic glasses.  Actor and poker enthusiast, James Woods, who represents Hollywood Poker, was featured on the cover in 1997.  In 2003, casino mogul Steve Wynn was the cover man, sitting at, as one might guess, a poker table.

Legendary gambler and poker player Archie Karas, while not on the cover, was the subject of a fantastic article by Michael Konik in the Summer 1994 issue, which featured Fidel Castro on the cover.  More recently, online phenoms Andrew “good2cu” Robl, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Luke Kim, and Alan “The Usher” Sass were profiled in the July/August 2008 issue in an article titled, “No-Limit Assassins.”

Many Cigar Aficionado readers on the magazine’s internet forum were confused as to why Ivey was chosen for the cover.  Wrote the initiator of the discussion, “Who the hell is Phil Ivey and what good did he do for the world for being on the cover?” He continued, “Seems to me that some of the people featured on the covers are not the ‘role models’ I got used to anymore.”

Forum member “AZCigarNut” had this to say in response:

Cigar Aficionado isn’t JUST about cigars… which, incidentally, is why it DRASTICALLY outsells those that are!  It’s a magazine about the good-life!  There’s everything we gentlemen care about… cigars, golf, spirits, clothing, watches, movies and yes…poker…which has seated itself nicely into the realm of everything else listed above.  There are STILL great articles for cigar lovers (like the one on the Oliva family you mention), but it also speaks to casual smokers and gentlemen in general (like with the articles on Tico Torres and Phil Ivey).

Ivey joins an exclusive club of people who have been chosen for the cover of the magazine.  Since 1992, the likes of George Burns, Ernest Hemingway, Tiger Woods, Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy, Jack Nicholson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Groucho Marx have all had their likenesses displayed on the front of Cigar Aficionado.