Faraz Jaka

Faraz Jaka is a professional poker player who made his first live-event cash in 2007. In the first 4 years of his career, Faraz cashed 28 times, made 11 final tables, cashed in 11 WSOP events, and earned over $3.1 million.

Faraz was born on September 9, 1985, in San Jose, California, where his parents encouraged his love of sports. In high school, he played basketball and set track records by running the mile in 4:29 and the half-mile in 1:59. He went on to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he majored in economics and business, and was introduced to poker by friends.

Faraz enjoyed the game, but played recklessly in the beginning, with his favorite move being to play any suited cards, hoping to make a flush. This tendency prompted his friends to give him the nickname “The Toilet,” which he soon adopted as his online poker screen name. Playing online, Faraz had several scores, including a great run in 2007, where within a 2-week span, he won a UB $200K Guarantee and a PokerStars’ Sunday Warm-Up to earn over $110,000. In August of that year, he took down Full Tilt Poker’s $1K Monday for $85,000, and won a Sunday Mulligan a few months later. In 2009, he won the PokerStars $1K Super Tuesday for $78,000.

After graduation, Faraz transitioned from online to live play. He had his first live-event cash at the 2007 World Series of Poker, where he finished 22nd for $14,445 in the $2,500 NLHE event. His next cash was in 2008, when he won his first title at the L.A. Poker Classic, taking down a $1,000 NLHE event for $104,900. After cashing at the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo, he cashed twice at the WSOP, taking 28th in the $1,000 NLHE to earn $14,904. His last cash of the year was at the WSOP Circuit event at the Horseshoe Hammond.

In 2009 Faraz cashed at the Bay 101 Shooting Stars, then cashed 4 times at the WSOP. He made the money in a pair of $2,000 NLHE events, finished 18th for $27,029 in the $5,000 NLHE, and finished 3rd in the $5,000 NLHE 6-Max for $400,525. Two weeks later, he made the final table of the World Poker Tour Bellagio Cup, finishing runner-up for $774,780. To end his year, he made another WPT final table when he finished 3rd for $571,374 at the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic. On the strength of those results, Faraz was named the WPT Player of the Year for Season 8.

Faraz cashed 7 times in 2010, starting with a 5th place finish in the $25,000 High Roller event at the Deep Stack Extravaganza to earn $95,000. Next, he cashed at the Bay 101 Shooting Stars, and took 3rd in the North American Poker Tour Mohegan Sun $25,000 NLHE Bounty Shootout for $80,000. At the Bellagio’s Five Star World Poker Classic, he finished 14th for $51,736 in the $25, 000 NLHE Championship, and at the WSOP, he cashed 3 times, making the quarterfinals of the $10,000 NHLE Heads-up Championship for $94,956.

In January 2011, Faraz made the money twice at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), cashing for $33,000 in the EPT Main Event, and finishing 4th in the NAPT $5,000 Bounty Shootout for $10,000. That summer he cashed once at the WSOP when he finished 28th in the $5,000 6-Max to earn $20,504. He went on to cash at the Grand Poker Series, the Deep Stack Extravaganza, and cash twice at the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic.

In 2012, Faraz started the year at the PCA in January, where he finished 4th in $10,000 NLHE EPT Main Event to earn $755,000.

More than a unique name and personality with fun hats at the tables, Faraz is a hybrid of old-school live and new-school online poker players. Along with an entrepreneurial business mind, Faraz keeps everyone wondering about his next move. He has declared that he is a businessman first and poker player second, and his financial decisions have reflected as much. Over the last few years, he has invested his earnings in real estate and started a company called AxisCasterboarding.com.

When not playing poker and tending to business matters, Faraz enjoys staying active by playing sports, and likes listening to hip-hop music.