The Card Whisperer: Barry Greenstein Wins Lowball Championship
-- After scorching the poker tournament circuit in recent years, philanthropist finally wins first gold bracelet
What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
The words “poker” and “compassion” rarely surface within the same milieu. After all, poker is a predatory undertaking. The objective of the game is barbarian, namely to detach as many players from their bankrolls, as possible. Indeed, winning poker normally requires unscrupulous qualities, including the predilection to pulverize the final vestiges of fellow competitors.
But there are striking exceptions. One such exception is a mild-mannered 5’ 6” giant of a man named Barry Greenstein. Within the confines of poker’s perilous green felt jungle, Greenstein has the heart of a lion. The proverbial lion “roared” in the $5,000 Buy-In Deuce-to-Seven Lowball event at the 2004 World Series of Poker. He won a whopping $294,100. That normally wouldn’t be earth-shattering news in the poker world, now quite accustomed to six-figure prize pools and millionaires made by the turn of a single card. What is “news” is Greenstein’s greater purpose in life -- his inherent humanity and selfless acts of charity.
You see, Barry Greenstein donates all of his poker tournament winnings to charity. Lest anyone think the sums are insignificant, try to grasp these exorbitant figures Greenstein has given to charitable institutions over the past year:
2003 California State Poker Championship -- $100,815
2003 Party Poker Million -- $194,763
2004 Five-Star World Poker Classic -- $215,969
2004 World Poker Open -- $1,278,370
This list is by no means complete. The principal benefactors of this supremely-talented poker talent’s philanthropy are two organizations close to Greenstein’s heart -- Children Incorporated and Guyana Watch (Greenstein gives to other charities, as well). Children Incorporated provides food, clothing, school supplies, medical needs and other necessities for thousands of children in twenty-one countries, including the United States. The funds go to affiliated projects such as schools, orphanages, and welfare centers all over the world. Guyana Watch provides medial outreach to the small impoverished South American nation, through a volunteer team of doctors and dentists, and gives medical supplies and treatment to the needy.
Others can (and probably will) speculate on the spiritual ramifications of doing good deeds. Namely, does “giving” perpetuate even greater success? Whether by divine direction or pure raw talent, the fact is that Barry Greenstein may very well be the best poker player in the world at the moment. That’s a bold statement to make, but if the benchmark of preeminence is tournament wins and live action profits, Greenstein certainly belongs at the top of the list as poker’s top player.
On Friday night at 3:30 am, while most of America slept, Barry Greenstein was playing at a final table of a poker tournament in Las Vegas, competing for prize money he had no intention of keeping. It took him a total of 15 hours to wipe out the most talented field in poker history – comprised of 46 famous names sure to be recognized by every poker aficionado. The “Who’s Who” of poker included: Appleman, Baldwin, Baxter, Bechtel, Berman, Bloom, Bonyadi, Brunson, Chan, Corkins, Cunningham, Grey, Haveson, Ferguson, Forrest, Franklin, Giang, Harman, Hellmuth, Juanda, Ibrahim, Ivey, Lederer, Lindgren, Longson, Mortensen, (Scotty) Nguyen, (Men) Nguyen, Phillips, Reese, Seidel, Stupak, Tomko, Wattel, Wilkenson, Zelewski, Zolotow, and others including Greenstein. There were enough gold bracelets in the room to fill 50 pawn shops. Conspicuously absent were any players who could even remotely be considered “dead money.”
This is the competition Greenstein vanquished, while ESPN cameras rolled and captured the moment for posterity. Certainly, the decision to film and introduce an esoteric card game like Deuce-to-Seven Lowball to a national television audience was an admirable one, if nothing else. It’s unlikely that ESPN’s lowball telecast will challenge “Friends” and “Frasier” at the top of the Nielson Ratings. And that’s a shame, because the final table was comprised of an ensemble cast better than any TV sitcom. Howard Lederer, Chau Giang, Lyle Berman, Chris Ferguson, Steve Zolotow, and Wil Wilkenson ended up as the extras alongside Greenstein’s masterful performance.
When heads up play began, 2000 World Poker Champion Chris “Jesus” Ferguson was the lone obstacle to Greenstein’s bid to capture his first World Series of Poker victory. Greenstein had about a 3 to 1 chip lead over Ferguson, decked in his trademark black cowboy hat. Ferguson had a chance to make things interesting on the final hand when he had a better draw than Greenstein, but was nailed with a king. Greenstein had the better low (remember, the worst hand wins) and scooped the final hand of the night.
The runner up, Ferguson is fiercely competitive when it comes to playing in poker tournaments. But .even the five-time gold bracelet winner put things into,p proper perspective following his “defeat” – worth $169,200.
“Barry may very well be the top player in the world right now. All the top players respect Barry,” Ferguson said afterward. “I never like to lose, but if you are going to lose to anyone, who’s better to lose to than Barry, since all the money is going to charity?”
For anyone who thinks poker is not capable of having its own heroes, one name above all should dispel that notion – Barry Greenstein. Think of his benevolent deeds in this way: If every citizen of the developed world were to donate $10 a week to charity, the total contribution during a year's time would exceed $1 trillion dollars. Imagine a “1” -- followed by “12” zeroes. One-trillion dollars. That's one thousand times one billion! Or, one million times one million! It's a lot of money. And it could help a lot of people. The fact is -- Barry Greentein is carrying the weight of a lot of us. He is the type of human being we should all aspire to be – but to which we will almost certainly fall short, whether we try to equal his poker talent or his compassion.
-- Official Report by Nolan Dalla, Media Director -- World Series of Poker
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