Poker Stories

Benny Glaser didn't earn his first cash at the World Series of Poker until 2015, but the Southampton, England pro has been able to accomplish a lot in his limited time on the felt. The 31-year-old part-time musician has won three WSOP bracelets during his short career, which is enough to make him the UK's most decorated player at the annual summer series. Glaser's first title came in 2015 in the $...

Lon McEachern is a longtime sports commentator that is best known for being the "voice of poker," having worked as part of the broadcast team for ESPN's annual coverage of the World Series of Poker. Prior to that, he covered numerous other sports such as bowling, cycling, mixed-martial arts, skiing, fishing, billiards, and even Scrabble. McEachern won a Golden Mic Award during his time in radio, a...

Ronnie Bardah is fresh off of a career-best score of $566,135 after he chopped the $3,500 buy-in World Poker Tour Lucky Hearts Poker Open in late January. The 38-year-old poker pro from Brockton, Massachusetts now has nearly $2 million in career live tournament earnings.  The limit hold'em standout won his World Series of Poker bracelet in the 2012 $2,500 six-handed limit hold'em event, earning $1...

Norman Chad has been a familiar sight on World Series of Poker broadcasts since 2003, half of the iconic commentary duo along with Lon McEachern that helped to spark the poker boom with ESPN's main event coverage. "This is beyond fairy tale, it's inconceivable," Chad exclaimed as Chris Moneymaker secured the title. In the years since, Chad has become a fan favorite, adding in catch phrases such as...

Jonathan Van Fleet was one of original stars of the online poker boom, terrorizing opponents on the virtual tables under the name 'apestyles.' The Texas Tech graduate racked up millions in cashes and was one of the top-ranked MTT players, although his battles with addiction cost him his bankroll on more than a few occasions.   These days, however, the 39-year-old is once again on top of the online...

Michael Schwimer grew up a standout athlete in Fairfax, Virginia and in high school was a star on his baseball and basketball teams. The 6'8'', 240-pound guard led his team to a championship and was even named MVP over future NBA center Roy Hibbert, but ultimately decided to turn down scholarship offers from Coach Mike Krzyzewski at Duke and Coach Rick Pitino at Louisville in order to pitch for hi...

Nathan Gamble was a child when he started playing cards, turning an Uno obsession into a modest poker bankroll before he was even a teenager. He continued to play throughout his time at Johnson and Wales University, and would take leave for poker while he was enlisted in the United States Army as a field artillery officer stationed in Korea. The Texan briefly considered a career flying helicopters...

Gavin Griffin was one of the original young stars of the poker boom, becoming the then-youngest World Series of Poker bracelet winner in history at the age of 22 at the 2004 summer series. The Darien, Illinois native earned $270,420 for taking down the $3,000 pot-limit hold'em event. He busted Phil Hellmuth at the final table, which prompted the Poker Brat to utter the now infamous line of, "If th...

Dan Smith has one of the greatest tournament poker resumes of all time, with $37 million in cashes during his time on the felt. Although he is only 31 years old, Smith has been playing cards for half of his life, having discovered the game as a child chess prodigy. The New Jersey native was already winning big online as a teenager, and by his junior year of high school he had a bankroll that would...

Mark Newhouse grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and found poker during a couple of unsuccessful stints in college. After a few $50 deposits online, he was able to run up a six-figure bankroll, winning $100,000 in consecutive months. He turned pro immediately after turning 21, and was quickly playing limit hold'em cash games against some of the top players in the world for stakes as high as $...

Barry Shulman found poker while studying at UC Berkeley and the University of Washington. He received his degree in accounting, but opted to forgo the family liquor business in order to build an empire of his own in real estate. His expertise in the field meant that he was often quoted by publications such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and Forbes, among others.   After...

Seth Davies is a 31-year-old high-stakes pro who originally found poker when he was just in high school. The Bend, Oregon-native was a standout baseball player, and was recruited to play at the College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas. Nagging injuries and surgery kept him off the field, but it also allowed him to focus more on his development as a poker player.   Davies spent a handful of years gr...

Bill Perkins is a hedge fund manager and entrepreneur, focusing on venture capital and energy markets. In his spare time, he's also a film producer. But to those of us in the poker world, Perkins is a high-stakes poker regular who has also been the catalyst for some of the more outlandish prop bets in recent memory.   The 51-year-old University of Iowa graduate has more than $5.4 million in live t...

Daniel Dvoress sits in fifth place on Canada's all-time earnings list, despite the fact that he only started concentrating on live tournaments in the last five years. Dvoress was born in Russia, but emigrated with his family to Toronto where he was raised. He picked up poker while in high school, and stuck with it through college before turning pro, focusing mainly on grinding online cash games. A...

Mark Gregorich has been making his living in high-limit cash games since the mid-'90s, but before that he followed in his parents footsteps, working as a high school teacher. When budget cuts cost him his job, he decided to make the move to Las Vegas, where he has been grinding ever since.   Gregorich, considered by his peers to be one of the nicest guys in the game, was also once voted as the bes...

Jennifer Harman is one of the most prolific card players in history, having competed for higher stakes than nearly anyone else in poker. The Reno-native used to play cards around the family dinner table, before becoming hooked on poker while working her way through college. After moving to Los Angeles, she began to grind her way up the cash game ranks, determined to play the biggest game available...

Kahle Burns has been playing poker professionally for more than a decade, grinding his way from play chips online to some of the biggest cash games spread in both Las Vegas and Macau. The Geelong, Australia native started focusing more on live tournaments in 2016, however, and the result has been a quick rise to the top of the high roller ranks.   The 31-year-old has $10.8 million in live tourname...

You won't find the name Houston Curtis on any poker leaderboards, but for a brief period of time during the height of the boom, he was among the biggest winners in the game. Curtis made his way to Los Angeles by way of Illinois, hoping to make it in the music business. He transitioned to TV production after doing audience warm up for Showtime At The Apollo, later working on shows such as Jerry Spr...

Kenny Hallaert is one of Belgium's top poker pros, having won more than $4.2 million in live tournaments, along with another $6.5 million online playing under the name 'SpaceyFCB.' The 38-year-old recently won his third SCOOP online title, and has four World Series of Poker final table appearances on his resume, along with four deep runs in the main event. In 2016, he finished sixth for nearly $1....

Jesse Martin is a highly-respected poker pro and sports gambler from Massachusetts. Although he started out as a cash game player and has always competed in high-stakes mixed games, Martin has also done quite well on the tournament circuit, racking up more than $3.2 million. He has also won millions online playing under the name 'MazeOrBowie', and had a fourth-place finish in the SCOOP main event...

Danny Tang was first introduced to poker by his older brother back in Wales, and dreamed of one day sitting head-to-head with the likes of Phil Ivey or Tom Dwan. Less than a decade later, Tang is now hopping from high roller-to-high roller stop on private jets with the very same Ivey and Dwan. The 28-year-old poker pro didn't start competing on the circuit regularly until 2016, but he quickly rose...

In this special episode of Poker Stories, we revisit two of our most popular early guests to catch up on what's happened in their lives over the last three years.   Barry Greenstein appeared on the podcast back in November of 2017. The Poker Hall of Fame inductee and two-time World Poker Tour champion has stayed pretty busy despite his age of 65, and has had a high cash rate at the World Series of...

In this special episode of Poker Stories, we revisit three of our most popular early guests to catch up on what's happened in their lives over the last three years.   Jason Koon was first featured on the podcast in December of 2016. At the time, the West Virginia native was coming off of his best year ever on the live tournament circuit, and had amassed $6.5 million in career earnings. Now, Koon h...

Garry Gates has worn many hats in the poker industry. After moving to Las Vegas from his native Titusville, Pennsylvania, Gates attempted to play professionally, with limited success. A chance encounter at the World Series of Poker, however, gave Gates an opening into the media side of the poker world. He then spent ten years working for PokerStars as a senior manager, dealing with player relation...

Tyler Patterson found poker before the boom, and worked in the industry as a dealer for a few years before making the switch to professional player. The Washington-native has split his time between cash games and tournaments, but has still managed to rack up more than $2.6 million in earnings on the circuit.   Patterson has a World Poker Tour title, having taken down the 2015 bestbet Bounty Scramb...