poker-players

Layne Flack

@Hall of Fame @Layne Flack

Biography Born May 18, 1969, Layne Flack hailed from Rapid City, South Dakota before working as a poker dealer in small card clubs in Montana. Eventually, he found his way to Nevada and learned under poker greats like Johnny Chan and Ted Forrest. “At 24, he and his girlfriend moved to Reno, Nevada and by 1995, when his daughter Hailey was born, Layne was a full-time professional poker player,” Al Moe previously wrote in this PokerNews profile.

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poker-players

Lyle Berman

@Hall of Fame @Layne Flack

Biography Lyle Berman boasts a 30 plus year poker playing career with a first recorded live tournament cash in 1983 and his last coming in 2017. In that time, Berman has won three World Series of Poker (WSOP) gold bracelets as well as $2,694,140 in total live tournament earnings. A member of the Poker Hall of Fame, inducted in 2002 alonside Johnny Chan, and a co-founder of the World Poker Tour (WPT), where he holds the position of chairman. Berman’s influence in poker is felt on and off the poker table and holds legendary status in the spheres of the industry. During his peak on the felt people in Las Vegas thought of Berman as the best non-pro, no-limit poker player they’d ever met.

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poker-players

Johnny Chan

@Hall of Fame @Layne Flack

Biography Johnny Chan is a Chinese-American poker player. He has won 10 World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets, including the WSOP Main Event in 1987 and 1988. He is the last player to win the Championship event in back-to-back years. In 2002, he was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. WSOP Legend: Two-Time Main Event Champ Johnny Chan Biography Born in China, Chan came to the United States in 1968 with his family to Arizona. After a few years spent there, Chan and his family relocated to Texas where his family owned a restaurant in Houston. Planning to keep with tradition and take over the family business, Chan took classes at the University of Houston. However, aged just 21, he moved to Las Vegas having decided to become a professional poker player. Chan took a number of temporary jobs to build his bankroll, before winning Bob Stupak’s 1981 American Cup, eliminating 13 of his 16 opponents in just over half an hour. This win earned him the nickname ‘The Orient Express’

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poker-players

Bobby Baldwin

@Hall of Fame @Layne Flack

Biography Bobby Baldwin is an American poker player. A member of the Poker Hall of Fame, inducted in 2003, Baldwin won the 1978 World Series of Poker Main Event and three other WSOP bracelets. Nicknamed the Owl, Baldwin has his first two bracelets in 1977. The following year he defeated Crandell Addington heads-up to win the WSOP Main Event. He was 28 years old and was the youngest winner in the history of the WSOP Main Event. That record was eventually broken by Stu Ungar just two years later. His fourth WSOP bracelet came in 1979 after winning the $10,000 2-7 Draw event, the same event he had won for his first bracelet two years earlier. Baldwin’s last major cash came in 2012, finishing seventh in the $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop for $1,408,000. The famed high-stakes poker room at the Bellagio is named ‘Bobby’s Room’ after Baldwin. Railbird Report: A Look Inside Bobby’s Room

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poker-players

Jack Keller

@Hall of Fame @Layne Flack

Biography Jack Keller was an American poker player who won the 1984 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. He won two other WSOP bracelet as well as Amarillo Slim’s Super Bowl of Poker twice. Outside of poker, Keller served in the US Air Force prior to becoming a poker player. Keller was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1993. He died on December 5, 2003, aged 60.

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poker-players

Billy Baxter

@Hall of Fame @Layne Flack

Biography Billy Baxter is an American poker player and seven-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner. Five of Baxter’s seven bracelets have come in 2-7 Draw. He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2006 and has amassed over $2.7 million in career earnings. Baxter famously won a 1986 court case that argued that poker was a game of skill. In 2010, Baxter narrowly missed out on a World Poker Tour title, finishing fifth for $246,921. This remains the largest cash of Baxter’s career. More than a decade later, Baxter came within inches of winning his first Hold’em bracelet in the $1,000 Seniors Championship at the 2023 WSOP, finishing runner-up to Lonnie Hallett for $473,212. Billy Baxter WSOP Bracelets

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poker-players

David Oppenheim

@Hall of Fame @Layne Flack

Biography David Oppenheim is an American poker player who was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2019. Having started out playing poker during his second year in college, Oppenheim has been consistently crushing the the high stakes cash games for many years. He is a regular winner in the high stakes games in Bobby’s Room. “Being recognized as one of the all-time greats by my peers is truly humbling, and I am honored to have been selected to the Poker Hall of Fame,” said Oppenheim about his induction. “I have been so fortunate to be able to do what I love for a living. I never planned to be a professional poker player; rather, it was a passion that became my job.

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poker-players

Barry Greenstein

@Hall of Fame @Layne Flack

Biography Barry Greenstein is an American professional poker player from Chicago, Illinois. He is widely recognized as The Robin Hood of Poker for donating big parts of his poker winnings to charity. Greenstein has three World Series of Poker bracelets in his trophy collection as well as two World Poker Tour titles. Intro Barry is a very professional player and never seems to lose his cool at the table, even if he does lose the occasional $1 million pot on an episode of High Stakes Poker. Maybe not the most intimidating player at the table, Greenstein employs a calculated and very analytical approach to that game that makes him a feared force by the other members of any table he sits down at.

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poker-players

Linda Johnson

@Hall of Fame @Layne Flack

Biography Linda Johnson is an American poker player and former WSOP bracelet winner. She was an inaugural inductee to the Women in Poker Hall of Fame and was the second woman (after Barbara Enright) to be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. “I am extremely proud and humbled to be voted into the Poker Hall of Fame, Johnson said at the time. I feel lucky to have been involved in many facets of poker over the past 35 years. Being recognized by the industry is a tremendous honor. Johnson began playing poker in the 1970s, and eventually quit her job to become a full-time poker player. She played poker until 1993 when she purchased CardPlayer Magazine and became the magazines publisher, turning the magazine into a 132-page full-color magazine. In 1997, she won a WSOP bracelet in the $1,500 Razz event, becoming only the second woman ever to win an open WSOP bracelet event. Women of the WSOP: Linda Johnson is the ‘First Lady of Poker’ In 2017, she was the inaugural receipient of the WPT Honors Award for her extraordinary contributions to helping poker. Throughout her career, she severd as WPT Studio Commentator for the first six seasons of the WPT.

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poker-players

Johnny Moss

@Hall of Fame @Layne Flack

Biography Johnny Moss was an American gambler and poker player. His nickname was ‘The Grand Old Man of Poker’. During his career, he won nine World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets including three WSOP Main Events (1970, 1971, 1974), a feat matched only by Stu Ungar (1980, 1981, 1997). In 1979, Moss was an inaugural inductee to the Poker Hall of Fame in 1979. Moss died in December 1995, aged 88.

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poker-players

Dan Harrington

@Hall of Fame @Layne Flack

Biography Dan Harrington is an American poker player and author who won the 1995 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. Over the course of his career, “Action Dan” won two WSOP bracelets, made four WSOP Main Event final tables, won a WPT title and over six million dollars in tournament winnings. In 2010 he was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. Biography Harrington was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on December 6, 1945. Both of his parents were born in Ireland. A former chess State champion, Harrington also excelled at backgammon. He first learned to play poker while attending Suffolk University. He often travelled to Harvard, where he played poker against Microsoft co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Harrington was part of a group of players who were regulars at the Mayfair Club in New York. They included Jay Heimowitz, Al Krux, Erik Seidel, and Steve Zolotow. However, Harrington remained at university and eventually graduated with a degree in government and history. Over the next ten years, Harrington worked as a bankruptcy lawyer before switching to poker. He first cashed in the WSOP in 1986 and made it to the final table of the Main Event in 1987, finishing sixth. He added another cash in 1988, but would have to wait until 1995 to win his first bracelet, winning a $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em event for $249,000.

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poker-players

Dan Harrington

@Hall of Fame @Layne Flack

Biography Dan Harrington is an American poker player and author who won the 1995 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. Over the course of his career, “Action Dan” won two WSOP bracelets, made four WSOP Main Event final tables, won a WPT title and over six million dollars in tournament winnings. In 2010 he was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. Biography Harrington was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on December 6, 1945. Both of his parents were born in Ireland. A former chess State champion, Harrington also excelled at backgammon. He first learned to play poker while attending Suffolk University. He often travelled to Harvard, where he played poker against Microsoft co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Harrington was part of a group of players who were regulars at the Mayfair Club in New York. They included Jay Heimowitz, Al Krux, Erik Seidel, and Steve Zolotow. However, Harrington remained at university and eventually graduated with a degree in government and history. Over the next ten years, Harrington worked as a bankruptcy lawyer before switching to poker. He first cashed in the WSOP in 1986 and made it to the final table of the Main Event in 1987, finishing sixth. He added another cash in 1988, but would have to wait until 1995 to win his first bracelet, winning a $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em event for $249,000.

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poker-players

Jack McClelland

@Hall of Fame @Layne Flack

Biography Jack McClelland is a former poker tournament director and cardroom manager. He was inducted into the Poker Hall of fame in 2014. Being inducted into the Class of 2014 Poker Hall of Fame is a very exciting prospect and I am sure it will be a very humbling experience, said McClelland. I thank everyone involved in this process and to the WSOP, WPT and all of the great people I have met and the wonderful people I have worked with throughout the years. Thank you for bestowing this honor upon me. I am very grateful.

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poker-players

Todd Brunson

@Hall of Fame @Layne Flack

Biography Todd Brunson may be the son of poker legend Doyle Brunson, but since turning pro himself after dropping out of Texas Tech University, Todd had put his own stamp on the poker world. Among his accolades, Todd has amassed over $3.2 million in career tournament earnings and owns his own WSOP gold bracelet. Much like his father, most of Todds poker career has been spent playing cash games. Hes a regular in the highest limits around Las Vegas and has proven himself to be one of the best players in the world. Outside of the cash games where he has won millions, Todd has had significant success in tournaments. His tournament results date back to 1990. In 1992, Todd cashed at the WSOP for this first time in two events. The following year in 1993, he won $198,000 after taking down the Jim Brady Month Championship Event. In 1994, he won another six figures in a tournament after taking down the $1,500 No-Limit Holdem Hall of Fame Poker Classic. A few years went by without much stirring up the record books until 2000. This year, Brunson finished second to Ronnie Williams in the Jack Binion World Poker Open in Tunica for nearly $120,000. Two years later, five cashes at the WSOP rolled in. Immediately following the WSOP at the Festa al Lago II, Brunson won nearly $160,000 after taking down the $2,000 No-Limit Holdem event. At the 2005 WSOP, Todd would get his hands on World Series gold for the first time, a feeling that his father has come to know all too well over the years. Toss took down the $2,500 Omaha Hi-Lo event for over $255,000. The final table held Allen Kessler, Manny Minaya, and Allyn Jaffrey Shulman as some of Brunsons obstacles. His father Doyle also won a bracelet this year, making them the first father-son combo to both win bracelets in the same year. He also made two more WSOP final tables that year with an eighth- and a sixth-place finish for over $140,000 combined. The year had continued success for Todd after he finished runner up in the Poker Superstars Inivitational Grand Final for $140,000. He was able to earn $95,000 total from winning some of the events preliminary matches as well. To kick off 2006, Brunson won $500,000 at the Quarter Finalists Freeroll of the Poker Superstars Invitational. He also won the tournaments Grand Final for the second year in a row and earned himself another $400,000. In 2007, Brunson placed in the money in six WSOP events. His best finish that year was a seventh place for over $50,000. Off the felt, Todd has helped work with his father in the book Super/System 2. Todd wrote the seven-card stud hi-lo section of the book. Hes also contributed to Daniel Negreanus book and had some stories about him told in The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King.

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poker-players

Scotty Nguyen

@Hall of Fame @Layne Flack

Biography Scotty Nguyen is a Vietnamese-American poker player. Over the course of his career, he has won five World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets including the 1998 WSOP Main Event. He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2013. Thank you so much, this is wonderful news, Nguyen said at the time. You work so hard, you put so much time in that you want and hope it will be recognized. This is something my grandkids will talk about. Its awesome, baby, thank you.

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poker-players

Scotty Nguyen

@Hall of Fame @Layne Flack

Biography Scotty Nguyen is a Vietnamese-American poker player. Over the course of his career, he has won five World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets including the 1998 WSOP Main Event. He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2013. Thank you so much, this is wonderful news, Nguyen said at the time. You work so hard, you put so much time in that you want and hope it will be recognized. This is something my grandkids will talk about. Its awesome, baby, thank you.

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poker-players

Stu Ungar

@Hall of Fame @Layne Flack

Biography Stu Ungar was an American poker player widely considered to have been the greatest player in history. He won the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event on three occasions (1980, 1981, 1997). He won two more WSOP bracelets in 2-7 Draw (1981) and Seven Card Stud (1983). His youthful looks often made him appear younger than he was, earning him the nickname “The Kid.” Ungar’s talent and powers of recall saw him excel not only at poker but blackjack and gin rummy as well. His dominance of gin rummy cannot be understated, with nearly all gin action drying up as a result of his skilled reputation and almost clairvoyant abilities. In November 1998, Ungar died of a heart condition brought on by years of drug abuse. He was just 45. Ungar is buried at Palm Valley View Memorial Park in East Las Vegas. He was posthumously inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2001.

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poker-players

Stu Ungar

@Hall of Fame @Layne Flack

Biography Stu Ungar was an American poker player widely considered to have been the greatest player in history. He won the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event on three occasions (1980, 1981, 1997). He won two more WSOP bracelets in 2-7 Draw (1981) and Seven Card Stud (1983). His youthful looks often made him appear younger than he was, earning him the nickname “The Kid.” Ungar’s talent and powers of recall saw him excel not only at poker but blackjack and gin rummy as well. His dominance of gin rummy cannot be understated, with nearly all gin action drying up as a result of his skilled reputation and almost clairvoyant abilities. In November 1998, Ungar died of a heart condition brought on by years of drug abuse. He was just 45. Ungar is buried at Palm Valley View Memorial Park in East Las Vegas. He was posthumously inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2001.

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poker-players

T.J. Cloutier

@Hall of Fame @Layne Flack

Biography T.J. Cloutier had been a great, well-rounded athlete upon entering college at the University at California at Berkeley with a scholarship to play both football and basketball. When things got rough for his family, Cloutier was forced to drop out of school and settle for a job to do his part. This lasted until he was drafted into the army and sent to fight for the country. It was with this tour of duty that T.J. discovered poker. After his duties were fulfilled, Cloutier didnt jump right into playing poker professionally. Instead, he went back to his passion of football and found a spot on the Montreal Allouettes in the Canadian Football League. Later traded to the Toronto Argonauts, Cloutier continued to play football until a knee injury cut his career short. Soon after, T.J. moved to Texas and his poker career really began to kick off. Working in Texas on an oil rig, Cloutier started to play poker more and more in his spare time. Soon enough, T.J. would realize that he could make more money playing poker full time and quit his job. Inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2006, T.J. has authored books on both No-Limit and Pot-Limit Holdem as well as Omaha. His career tournament earnings total $10,444,516 with $4,710,417 of that coming at the WSOP.

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poker-players

Jack Treetop Straus

@Hall of Fame @Layne Flack

Biography Jack “Treetop” Straus was an American poker player who won the 1982 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. Nicknamed “Treetop” as a result of him being 6'6", Straus died of an aortic aneurysm on August 17, 1988 while playing high-stakes poker at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles. Later that year, Straus was posthumously inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1988. He holds the dubious honour of being one of three Poker Hall of Famers to die whilst playing cards, joining Tom Abdo and Wild Bill Hickok.

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poker-players

Brian Rast

@Hall of Fame @Layne Flack

Biography Brian Rast is an American poker player and winner of six World Series of Poker bracelets, and a 2023 Poker Hall of Fame inductee. He is one of only two players to have won the $50,000 Poker Players Championship on three occasions, doing so in 2011, 2016 and 2023. Read More: Life in the Rast Lane: Brian Rast’s Incredible Poker Journey Biography Rast was born in 1981 in Denver, Colorado. He then moved to Poway, California where he graduated from Poway High School in 2000. After finishing High School Rast entered Stanford University, but dropped out rather soon in order to seek career as a professional poker player. Rast’s passion for poker came in 2003 after he saw the best-known poker-themed movie Rounders starring Matt Damon and Edward Norton.

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poker-players

Huck Seed

@Hall of Fame @Layne Flack

Biography Huck Seed is an American poker player who won the 1996 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. He has won four WSOP bracelets and made two WSOP final tables during his career He also won the WSOP Tournament of Champions in 2010, and the National Heads-Up Poker Championship in 2009. In 2008 and 2009 he made back-to-back final tables in the WSOP $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. In 2020, Seed was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.

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poker-players

Mori Eskandani

@Hall of Fame @Layne Flack

Biography Mori Eskandani is a poker TV producer and president of PokerGO. He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2018. A former high stakes cash game player, for two decades Eskandani has worked behind the scenes on such programs as the World Series of Poker on ESPN, NBC Heads-Up Championship, Poker After Dark and High Stakes Poker. PokerNews Covered Events Event Place Prize 2023 World Series of PokerEvent #22: $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship 17th $17,500 2022 WSOP OnlineEvent #1: $400 NLH Kick-Off 36th $1,332 2022 World Series of PokerEvent #9: $1,500 Seven Card Stud 27th $3,018 2021 World Series of PokerEvent #12: $1,500 Limit Hold’em 52nd $2,631 2012 World Series of PokerEvent 32: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. 9th $35,923 2010 World Series of PokerEvent #57: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Championship 331st $36,463 2008 World Series of PokerEvent 4 - $5,000 Mixed Hold’em (Limit/No Limit) 32nd $10,922

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poker-players

Mori Eskandani

@Hall of Fame @Layne Flack

Biography Mori Eskandani is a poker TV producer and president of PokerGO. He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2018. A former high stakes cash game player, for two decades Eskandani has worked behind the scenes on such programs as the World Series of Poker on ESPN, NBC Heads-Up Championship, Poker After Dark and High Stakes Poker. PokerNews Covered Events Event Place Prize 2023 World Series of PokerEvent #22: $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship 17th $17,500 2022 WSOP OnlineEvent #1: $400 NLH Kick-Off 36th $1,332 2022 World Series of PokerEvent #9: $1,500 Seven Card Stud 27th $3,018 2021 World Series of PokerEvent #12: $1,500 Limit Hold’em 52nd $2,631 2012 World Series of PokerEvent 32: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. 9th $35,923 2010 World Series of PokerEvent #57: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Championship 331st $36,463 2008 World Series of PokerEvent 4 - $5,000 Mixed Hold’em (Limit/No Limit) 32nd $10,922

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