Barry Greenstein

Barry Greenstein is one of the most recognized players in poker. His unique look, his reputation as the “Robin Hood of Poker,” and his participation in the highest stakes games puts him in a unique group of experienced players who keep up with the changing life of the game.

A Chicago, Illinois, native, Barry Greenstein was born on December 30, 1954. The studious youngster graduated from Bogan High School and went right on to the University of Illinois for a degree in computer science. While he was pursuing his Ph.D. in mathematics, he strayed to take a job for a new company called Symantec in California, developing new products for the software security business.

That decision was a smart one, as the company went public, leapt into the Fortune 500, and gave Greenstein the opportunity to retire in 1991 at the age of 36. With time on his hands, he decided to give more attention to poker, a game that he learned in college and enjoyed as a leisure activity. He played cash games in the poker rooms and card clubs of California to hone his skills and took to the tournament scene in the early 1990s.

Greenstein’s first official tournament cash was at the 1992 World Series of Poker, where he finished in 22nd place. Back in Los Angeles, he made final tables in local tournaments like the L.A. Poker classic, but by 1996, he made his first WSOP final table in a limit ace to draw event. And he made another final the following year in a deuce to seven draw tournament. His ability to play multiple game variations was an early key to his growth in tournament poker, though cash games remained his bread and butter.

His penchant for high stakes games became clear in 2003 when Larry Flynt organized his $125,000 buy-in Poker Challenge in Los Angeles, and Greenstein took the win for $770,000. It was then that he made it known that he would donate a majority of that money to Children, Incorporated to help poverty-stricken children around the world. He donated $440,000 from the Flynt game and vowed to donate a portion of winnings going forward.

From there, his tournament wins became more frequent, chalking up victories at the California State Poker Championship, U.S. Poker Championship, and Tropicana Poker Championship. In 2004, Greenstein took his game to another level by winning the televised World Poker Tour Jack Binion World Poker Open in Tunica for $1,278,370. He also final tabled the WPT PartyPoker.com Million III Cruise, taking home $194,763 for fifth place. He won a side event at the Bellagio Five Star World Poker Classic one month later for $215,969, and that summer saw him cash in five WSOP events, two of which were final tables and one a victory in the $5,000 No-Limit Deuce to Seven Draw for his first gold bracelet.

Greenstein won his second WSOP bracelet in a $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event in 2005, won the WPT Invitational in 2006, and final tabled the WPT World Poker Challenge that same year and finished sixth. He nearly missed the televised table at the 2007 WPT Mandalay Bay Poker Championship with a seventh place finish, but he did made it to fourth place at the 2007 WPT North American Poker Championships in Ontario, Canada. Meanwhile, he added a final table of the WSOP $50,000 World Championship HORSE that year and won another bracelet in 2008 with victory in the $1,500 Seven Card Razz.

After nearly two decades in poker, he accumulated more than $7 million in live tournament winnings while playing in the highest cash games in Los Angeles and Las Vegas that often reach the $4,000/$8,000 limits. He also authored the 2005 book entitled “Ace on the River” about strategy and life as a professional poker player. And he has been a sponsored pro for PokerStars for many years.