The Robin Hood of Poker

Most poker players just want to make themselves rich but there are some exceptions of the most notable of them is father of six Barry Greenstein known in poker circles as 'the Robin Hood of poker'. Greenstein is content to give away his considerable earnings from tournament poker.

Barry Greenstein was born December 30, 1954 in Chicago, Illinois and is a professional poker player. He was introduced to poker at a young age by his father. After graduating from Bogan High School, he earned a bachelor degree in computer science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He also studied for a PhD in mathematics, but left before completing his dissertation. Barry worked for Symantec until retiring in 1991 at the age of 36 when he began to play poker full time making the decision to turn his mathematical brain to work on the theory of poker.

The author of the celebrated book 'Ace on the River', Greenstein has won several major tournaments including the Poker Challenge Cup in 2003 when he successfully won the million-dollar first prize when competing in 7-card stud. His victory also in the Jack Binion World Poker Open in 2004 gave him $1,270,370 to donate to the range of charities he supports.

As you would expect, Barry Greenstein is extremely highly regarded by the other poker players and some have been known to say that if they have to lose that they would rather lose to Greenstein seeing as all the money is going to charity.

More Poker Stories, Poker Anecdotes

Australian media mogul Kerry Packer (above) was also famous for his generosity although in a different way to Barry Greenstein.

He once won $26 million at one sitting at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas but he is also said to have lost similar amounts in his time frequenting the casinos of London.

However, to his credit, he was also known to give tips of up to $100,000!