Barry Greenstein

Barry Greenstein

The “Robin Hood of Poker” is known as much for his generosity as for his superior command of the game. Barry Greenstein stands out among the top poker players of the world for the fact that he donates virtually all his winnings to charity. A family man with five kids, he favors Children Incorporated and other children’s charities. He is also generous with his knowledge and experience, and refreshingly humble about his success.

Growing up in Chicago, Greenstein learned to play poker and other card games as a child. His exceptional mathematical ability no doubt helped him perfect his card skills, and by the age of 13 he was pulling in $50 a night from home games. Throughout high school and college, where he earned a degree in computer science, Greenstein continued to play and accumulate a handsome bankroll. He spent 10 years working on a PhD in mathematics but left in 1984 before submitting his dissertation to join a software startup, Symantec.

Career: By 1991 Greenstein was making far more from playing than his day job, and retired from software development to turn his full attention to poker. He spent long hours honing his skills at the tables of the Cameo Club in Stockton, California, and used his steady, methodical style to place well in game after game. For years he stuck to the side games, which was perhaps a good match for his quiet, unpretentious manner, but that did not stop him from building up his reputation along with his bankroll.

In 1992 he branched out and entered the WSOP Main Event, where he came in 22nd of 36. Greenstein continued to play well in tournaments, but did not hit the big time until 2003, when he won the $1 million Seven-Card Stud event at Larry Flynt’s Hustler Casino. Clearly on a roll, he followed up with a cool win of almost $1.3 million in the 2004 WPT World Poker Open.

Since then, Greenstein has used his well-rounded repertoire to keep on cashing in every year. In the WSOP, he has appeared at thirteen final tables and taken three bracelets (2004: $5,000 No Limit 2-7 Draw, 2005: $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha, and 2008: $1,500 Seven Card Razz). He also made another WPT win in 2006 and has played six final tables there.

In addition, Greenstein has remained an active cash game player in California and Las Vegas. On the internet, you can find him playing in the www.PokerStars.com room as “barryg1”, and he is also a Team PokerStars Pro.

Projects: A few years ago, the Robin Hood of Poker added poker writing to his quiver of skills. He shared his knowledge in a chapter of Doyle Brunson’s Super/System 2, and then wrote the bestselling Ace on the River in 2005. With his stepson, Joe Sebok, he works on poker-related TV, radio and print offerings though their PokerRoad venture.

Personal information: Barry Greenstein lives in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. He is divorced and has two children and three stepchildren. He taught his then-girlfriend Mimi Tran – now a poker pro – to play poker in return for Vietnamese lessons.

If you would like to watch Barry Greenstein play poker, you will have to either catch him on TV or visit the official PokerStars.com software and search for player “barryg1″.