Barry Greenstein

Barry Greenstein is one of the legends when it comes to poker. He was born in Chicago Illinois in December 30th 1954 and he lives in Rancho Palos Verdes California. He is one of the most talented players in the poker world. He began playing this game at a tender age and learned skills from his parents. His parents were very supportive and they showed him how to play a cool and analytical game. This made him very good at the game and by the age of 12 he could earn a huge sum of money from the game. A year later he started playing home games which would earn him 50 dollars every night. Before he thought of going pro Barry always had dreamed of being a doctor. He was a very bright boy and had even made his own software by the time he was 15. Going pro was also not an option as gambling is always associated with vices such as cheating and stealing.

Barry studied in Bogan high School where he excelled in maths and computers. He used to go to school during the day and at night he would play poker to make money. He went on to the University of Illinois where he majored and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in computer science. His routine did not change much in the university as he kept playing his games at night and making loads of cash. His winnings at this time could not be counted. After his undergraduate program, Barry went on to take a PhD in mathematics and spent the next decade of his life studying for a doctorate degree in mathematics. Al this time he was still playing and excelling in poker.

Even though he was busy with school life and poker he still managed to maintain a healthy social life and even got married to a beautiful lady called Donna who had three kids from a previous relationship. Unfortunately things did not work out with his wife and they got divorced. Barry filed for custody of the children and he was advised to get another job other than gambling which would increase his chances of winning the suit. He followed this advice and he gave up school and poker so that he could be able to live with his family. He moved to Silicon Valley where he partners with four people to begin a company known as Symantec. The company dealt with designing new software programs and he was also good at it. He finally gained custody of the children and had two others with Donna. The company was too dependent on his skills and they even gave him a doctorate degree so that he would stay and help them finish the software.

The product he was working in was known as Q& A and was named the software of the year by almost all industry magazines in 1986. This software put the company in the map to be on the best computer software makers in the world. To date Q& A is one of the proudest achievements Barry has ever made. This helped to instill some values such as maturity, patience and discipline in Barry as he new the importance of starting a project and staying with it till the end.

In the years he lived in California he joined the Cameo Club in Palo Alto where he continued with to play the game he was most talented in. This helped him to earn more money and it helped him to support his family. In the late eighties his wife and daughter developed complications with their health which needed a lot of money for treatment. This made Barry to spend more time on the tables so that he could get money to facilitate the treatment of his wife and daughter. This eventually led him to quitting his job at Sysmantec and concentrate fully on poker as he was making good money from it.

When he went into being a pro Barry entered into many tournaments which he won both in Vegas and California. He played limit hold’em and no limit hold’em and excelled in both games. His big break came in 2003 when he won a one million seven card stud event. After this tournament he made his first donation to charity and has been in involved in many charitable events which mostly deal with children. Barry attributes his success to his unique way of playing where he is always attentive to the game and follows all the rules and etiquette to the later. Playing for a long time has also enabled him to be able to make the correct predictions on the game and that is why he is good at it. Despite being a legend in the poker world Barry is one of the most humble guy you will ever meet. Find out more about Barry Greenstein on his official website at: Barry Greenstein

Posted by Joel on May 20 2010. Filed under Player Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry