Poker has to be one of the most played games on the planet. In fact, depending on where you source your info, there are said to be anywhere from 40-60 million people across the globe that play poker on a regular basis. That’s pretty astounding! But what’s even more surprising is the fact that the game has only gone mainstream in the last decade or so. Why is that? Two words: online poker, but we’ll get to that later.
Now, many casual observers of the game assume that it’s played by white men (and women) more so than people of different ethnicities, but that’s not true. The game is massive in Asia where there are a pro poker tour and an island (Macau) that is pretty much as dedicated to gambling and poker as Vegas is.
But today, we’re talking about the black men who not only play the game but are also damn good at it. Before you say it, yes, there are black women who play poker too, but none have yet to make a serious impression on the game or make career earnings of over a million.
Black Men Playing Poker
As we mentioned earlier, for many years, the poker room was considered the haunt of wealthy white men and with good reason. Black men rarely played at major tournaments and when they did, there was very little fanfare about it.
Poker was a game played in back rooms or casinos, and it wasn’t a sport worthy of a primetime TV slot. So, when players of any ethnicity did well, the average Joe like us didn’t hear a word about it.
Online Poker Opens the Door
Access to games and casinos was never an easy task here in the U.S. It was often either travel to Vegas or Atlantic City or play a home game. But then, online poker came into play, and the floodgates opened. And not just for black players but for women, people with limited mobility and players both young and old. Online poker rooms now provided players with a platform that they could play in regardless of their skill levels, putting the sport within the reach of millions.
Online poker became a level playing field, but it also had its detractors. Many poker pros considered it a bit of a joke and didn’t take it seriously. All that changed in 2003 when Chris Moneymaker (an online poker grinder) won the WSOP. Here was a player who spent his days and nights playing online and he beat the pros at their game.
It was a wake-up call for the industry, and suddenly, live tournaments were accessible to all through online qualifying satellites. And when a sport becomes so accessible to all, people of all ethnicities and backgrounds start to enjoy success.
The result was an unprecedented boom that now sees the worth of the online casino market approach $52 billion in the U.S. alone!
The Black Poker Pros
David Williams
Williams is a Texas-born player who has career earnings of almost $9 million in live tournaments. He has one WSOP bracelet to his name, winning it in 2006. Interestingly, his mother is also a decent poker player and outlasted him in the WSOP Main Event in the same year he won his bracelet.
He’s also an accomplished online player, having won an event in the 2009 World Championship of Online Poker. Williams currently lives in Vegas and is still active on the pro circuit. At 38 years of age, we reckon there’s a lot more to come from this guy.
Paul Darden
Now, Paul Darden is a bit of a Jack-of-all-trades. He’s a rap music promoter, a nightclub owner and a professional poker player. Darden can attribute much of his success at the tables to his mentor Phil Ivey (who you’ll see later down the list). Ivey convinced Darden to take a shot at the WSOP, and since then, poker is a bit of an obsession with him. Darden was once accused of murder as a 15-year-old but was later acquitted due to a case of mistaken identity. And to say he turned his life around since would be a bit of an understatement.
Alongside his successful entrepreneurial career, he has career poker earnings of over $2 million, with his best cash prize $300,000 in a Texas Hold ‘em tour event in 2005. He’s gone off the boil in recent years, but he is still active on the pro circuit.
Phil Ivey
Widely considered one of the greatest poker players of all time and known as “The Tiger Woods of Poker,” Ivey is a bit of a phenomenon. And as a matter of fact, one of his early nicknames was “The Phenom” after he won three World Series of Poker bracelets in 2002.
A former telemarketer from New Jersey, Ivey’s incredible career winnings include 10 WSOP bracelets, being the youngest player ever to do so. He has total live poker earnings of over $26 million, with his best cash prize the $3.5 million he won at a Texas Hold ‘em challenge in Australia back in 2014.
Through sponsorship deals and some clever business moves, Ivey has amassed a personal fortune said to be in excess of 100 million. Not bad for a kid who used a fake ID to play poker in Atlantic City.
An honorable mention goes to Mekhi Phifer of TV fame and Yasiel Puig that you may recognize from the recent bench-clearing spat. Phifer is the actor we know from ER and the movie “8 Mile,” but did you know that he spends his free time playing poker at charity events with all his winnings going to the Love Our Children charity? Hats off to him for using his celebrity status and love of poker for a greater good.
Yasiel Puig is a right fielder for the LA Dodgers who hosted a poker night for his charity Wild Horse Foundation. A great success with local celebrities and athletes getting involved, all the proceeds go to an incredible cause.
Of course, there are other black poker players who are grinding away trying their best to make it the final table at the WSOP Main Event, but these three are the most famous. They have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that poker is an inclusive sport where your background, color or past has no bearing on your chances of success. Maybe it’s time to hit some of those online poker rooms after all.
