Barry Greenstein
Born in 1954 and often
called the “Robin Hood of Poker” or “the most successful
cash player of the decade” Barry Greenstein is one of
the top mixed cash game players in the world and has
recently brought his expertise to some of the top
tournaments. His “Robin Hood” nickname comes from the
fact that he gives all of his tournament winnings (over
$4 million so far) to charity. Greenstein mostly
supports the Children, Inc. charity for their work in
supporting underprivileged children. Some of his major
tournament wins include two World Series of Poker
bracelet coming in 2004 and 2005 (Draw Lowball and
Omaha, respectively). Also, Greenstein took the Jack
Binion World Poker Open title, which was a World Poker
Tour event.
Barry Greenstein has an interesting background including
degrees in Mathematics. Apparently, he was making money
at poker since he was 12 but he decided to ground
himself with a strong education and a steady job. He
actually signed on as one of the founding employees in
the ‘80s with what would later become software giant
Symantec (think Norton). Greenstein is a bit more
classically educated than most professional poker
players and has taken a different life route than most
professionals. He eventually “retired” from his computer
programming job and began taking up poker as a more
full-time endeavor.
Greenstein’s first love seems to be of children and
functional families, both his own and any of those less
fortunate around the world. You can’t really question
the commitment of a guy who’s donated over $4 million
because he didn’t need the money. He also says that he
refuses to teach his teenage son and nephew how to play
poker until they have completed some sort of educational
degree and “accomplish something productive”.
Greenstein regularly plays at the highest stakes games
in Las Vegas with names like Doyle Brunson, Chip Reese,
and Phil Ivey. You’ll usually catch him on TV at WPT
final tables or on GSN’s High-Stakes Poker. Apparently,
Greenstein has made the most money in the last decade in
these huge games but he believes that Phil Ivey will
eventually overtake all of them in terms of career
winnings.
Their usual game consists of
mixed variations like Hold’em, Stud, and Draw Lowball
with either $4,000/8,000 limits or a no-limit $100,000
structure. In 2005, he completed his book Ace on the
River, which he dubs as extremely unique for a poker
book. It was originally intended to be a chapter in
Doyle Brunson’s Super System sequel but ended up being
its own volume. If you ask Barry what it takes to become
a winning poker player, one of his first pieces of
advice is to “not become a poker player.”
Back
to Poker Players.
This article or portions of this article
may not be used in any form without permission.
|
