Barry Greenstein

Barry Greenstein has rightly earned the title of the "Robin Hood of Poker" because he donates the greater part of his tournament winnings to children's charities. He is known for his methodical style of play and his patient approach to the game, which invariably sees him survive in the larger entry tournament fields that have become a fact of life in today's Texas Hold'em poker circuit.

Barry is different to many of the poker pros, simply because he came to the table as already a wealthy man. As a young man growing up in Chicago, Barry was already displaying his incredible mathematical skills not only playing poker but also seriously dabbling in world of computer software, whilst contemplating a future as a medical doctor.

After completing school, Barry attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, earning a bachelor's degree in computer science, with his studies totally financed by his ever growing poker winnings.

After graduating Barry entered a Ph.D. program in mathematics, and he spent the next decade earning his doctorate degree, whilst financing his life through playing poker. Like many before him, and due to a change in his family circumstances, where he found himself with a ready -made family, Barry decided that it was time that he got a "day job" and what a day job it turned out to be. He moved his family to the fast growing Silicon Valley near LA where he established a start-up company with four other computer whizzes. The company developed into Symantec which became one of the largest software companies in their field. Despite his involvement in the company and his family, Barry still managed to find some time to keep his poker skills polished.

In 1990, Barry's life took another turning point when he decided to leave Symantec in order to spend more time with his family, By then he was a wealthy man and at the age of 36, was free to return to play poker on a more regular basis. This was the early nineteen nineties when Texas Hold'em poker was gaining a fresh new popularity due to the interest generated from online gaming. Barry began to enter tournaments in 1992 more for the challenge than for the money and enjoyed relative success.

Over the years Barry has won prize money at more than fifty major poker events, most of which have gone to charity. . In the last few years, Barry Greenstein has also earned himself a reputation as a top flight authority on the game of Texas Hold'em. His bookAce on the River, not only gives a lot of hints on how to succeed at the game, but also some insights on the life of a poker professional.

As new poker professionals join the circuit on almost a daily basis, Greenstein serves as role model to many, not only on his play, but also due to his humility and generosity to the less fortunate.