Barry Greenstein
Not all poker players play just for the sake of making good money really fast for themselves. Some of these players are actually kind-hearted, playing both to keep themselves satisfied with the monetary value that they gain, as well as to share their blessings to those who are most in need of their assistance by giving part of their winnings to various charitable institutions. Barry Greenstein is one of those players. He may be nicknamed “The Bear”, but he is no vicious creature of the forest – he contains one of the kindest hearts in the poker industry, gaining popularity as “The Robin Hood of Poker”.
Greenstein is one of those poker players who picked up the game at a young age, and within the family. It was his father that introduced him to the game, and he continued playing as he had adopted a fondness for the game. He went to college at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science there. He continued to study, going to graduate school to earn a PhD in mathematics, but although he finished his dissertation, he did not defend this to a panel to earn the degree. He played poker all throughout this time, but he wanted to adopt children and so he took a regular job at Symantec, playing poker on the side. It was not until later, when he was thirty-six years old, that he was able to retire from his day job altogether to play poker full-time.
He debuted in the professional poker tournament scene in 1992, when he joined the 23rd Annual World Series of Poker. He finished quite remarkably well at 22nd place, taking home $8,080. This was followed by a few more places in different tournaments, until he achieved his first-place win in 1997, when he won the California State Poker Championship’s Limit Hold’em event. He took home $29,000 for that event. He returned to the WSOP and the California State Poker Championship several times throughout his career. His biggest win so far, however, came in 2004, when he joined the Jack Binion World Open, a World Poker Tour event, and he finished first, taking home more than $1.2 million. As of 2009, he has made more than $6.9 million, and he has obtained three WSOP bracelets. Majority of his huge winnings went to charity though, and his biggest recipient is Children Incorporated, which sponsors childrens’ needs around the world.