Barry Greenstein

Barry Greenstein is a very successful poker player whose accomplishments include many event winnings and the writing a publishing of his book, Ace on the River. He was born and raised in Scottsdale, Illinois on December 30, 1954. He has several tournament cashes including three World Series of Poker bracelets. He has finished in the money in 44 WSOP events and 19 World Poker Tour events of which he took down two titles. Many in the poker community know Greenstein as “The Robin Hood of Poker” because of his amazing generosity. For quite some time, all he did was donate his entire tournament winnings to charity. He particularly enjoyed donating to Children Incorporated.

He learned to play cards as a child from his parents who taught him Gin Rummy, hearts and poker. They encouraged him to learn the mathematical side of the games and not to let emotions get in the way of winning. By the time Barry was a teenager, he had developed true talent for poker and began attending home games with his friends. He would make up to $50 bucks a night at the young age of 13.

Even though he was incredibly talented as a poker player, he did not decide to play professionally in the beginning. He had big dreams of making a difference in the lives of others so after graduating from Bogan High School Barry earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Illinois. For the three years it took for him to earn his degree, Barry had also amassed a substantial amount of poker winnings. 10 years later, he had earned himself a doctorate degree in mathematics. The entire time he attended college, Barry was also playing poker and winning massive amounts in the process.

Just before graduating, Barry met and married his now ex-wife Donna who had three children, one of which is professional poker player, Joe Sebok. In order for Barry to adopt the children, lawyers advised him to get a job that didn’t involve poker. That’s when he and the family moved to Silicon Valley and along with a few other people, developed a business known today as Symantec. Around this time Barry and his wife Donna had two more children together.

Barry helped create the software program, Q&A which was named product of the year by many industry watchdogs. This put Symantec in the right direction which would eventually make them one of the leaders in the software programs industry. In 1990, Barry decided to call it quits at his day job, and take up playing poker full time. Why work so many hours when the money was so good at the tables and he could spend more time with his family? So, Barry Greenstein officially became a professional poker player in 1990 at the age of 36.

Now that Barry was devoting his time to the felt, he began playing 12 hours a day, nearly every day resulting in a swelling bankroll and a new level of skill. Even though cash games at the Cameo Club were his primary source of income, Barry decided to enter his first tournament in 1992. Off to the World Series of Poker he went with the $10,000 buy-in and high hopes. Despite insurmountable odds, Greenstein placed 22^nd in the Main Event- not bad at all for a first time tournament. During this time period, Barry and Donna decided to get a divorce and after a long custody battle, Barry was given full custody of the children.

After his divorce, Barry continued his success in the poker world playing No-Limit Hold’em, some Limit Hold’em and even tearing it up at ring games. After a while, Greenstein had earned a reputation for being one of the best players in the world. In 2003, Barry caught his big break when he entered and won the Larry Flynt’s $1 million Seven-Card Stud event at Hustler Casino. After winning such a substantial amount of money, he wanted to give something back to the world and took it upon himself to begin donating his winnings to charity. He chose the Children Incorporated charity and made his first massive donation. Since that time, Barry has contributed millions of dollars in tournament winnings to a slew of charities.