Jew Poker

I\’ve got a fun little speaking gig this weekend — visiting the Beth Torah men\’s club to talk poker.

Last year\’s appearance went well — in fact, click here if you\’ve got 90 minutes to kill listening to some questionable audio — but while regaling the breakfast crowd with poker-boom lore, home-game theory, and tales from the WSOP, I did stumble on one question … \”Are there any Jewish poker pros?\”

\”Absolutely,\” I said. \”A lot of them. Like, um … uh … um … oh! Barry Greenstein! He\’s Jewish, right? Wait, is it GreenSTEEN or GreenSTINE? I never remember.\”

Oy.

Actually, if you look back to the old days, you\’ll find two types of people regularly making final tables — Jews and Texans. Huh, interesting. In fact, in one legendary WSOP showdown, that\’s all there were.

Anyhow, this year I\’m not gonna let the gentlemen of Beth Torah throw me. Here\’s an interesting story about a different sort of Jewish poker. And below is a list of a few great Jewish players that come to mind. Any others I might be missing?

Barry Greenstein
Mike Matusow
David Grey
Jay Heimowitz
Stu Ungar
Gabe Kaplan
Eli Elezra
Scott Fischman
Annie Duke
Howard Lederer
David Sklansky
Wendeen Eolis
Mel Judah
Josh Arieh
Michael Mizrachi
Jack Strauss
Lyle Berman
Eric Seidel
Jamie Gold
David Levi
David Oppenheim
Barry Shulman
Michele Lewis
Austin Pete
Thum