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Barry Greenstein Bio
Screen name Barryg1

Barry Greenstein Photo

Barry Greenstein started his poker career much like many other players. First, he got into the game to chase money and to make himself a living. Later in life, the game became a way for him to give back to those that were less fortunate.

Greenstein learned how to play poker from his father at an early age and he continued to play poker through his youth and into adulthood. He went to college at the University of Illinois at Urbana in Champaign. He studied both Computer Science and Mathematics and he received a BA in Computer Science. Greenstein played poker through college and then proceeded to continue to play professionally after he graduated.

Read More about Barry here

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Season 7 of High Stakes Poker is currently underway on GSN. This year there are a few notable changes in the show. First, the show has been moved form the Golden Nugget to the Bellagio. Next, the show is sponsored by PokerStars.net, and as such Full Tilt Poker pros will not be appearing on the show. Finally, Gabe Kaplan has been replaced as host by former “Saturday Night Live funny man” Norm MacDonald.

The season started with the following lineup.

Seat 1: Doyle Brunson

Seat 2: Vanessa Selbst

Seat 3: Barry Greenstein

Seat 4: Antonio Esfandiari

Seat 5: Robert Croak

Seat 6: Phil Ruffin

Seat 7: Bill Klein

Seat 8: David “Viffer” Peat

Croak, Ruffin, and Klein are all amateurs. Croak is the creator of Silly Bands, Ruffin is the owner of Treasure Island in Las Vegas, and Klein is a retired business owner.

The first episode got off to an explosive start when Ruffin stacked Vanessa Selbst. After a raise to $4,900 by Doyle Brunson, Selbst, Ruffin, and Antonio Esfandiari all called. The flop fell 4c-9c-3d and Esfandiari bet out for $17,100. He was holding 10d-9d for top pair. Ruffin called, Brunson folded, and Selbst raised to $63,800 holding a pair of queens. Ruffin almost acted out of turn, and this caused Esfandiari to get out of the way. Ruffin then raised to $117,100. Selbst moved all-in on Ruffin, and he made the call. He then turned over pocket threes for a flopped set. Selbst was unable to catch another queen and she had to re-buy for $200,000.

The very next hand saw a huge $428,600 pot. Bill Klein was dealt aces and raised to $3,000. David Peat called with Jh-10h, and Ruffin called with Js-4s. The flop fell Kh-10c-5c. Klein led out for $7,000, followed by a raise by Peat to $24,000. Ruffin got out of the way and Klein made it $67,000 to go. Peat shoved and Klein made the call. The two decided to run it just once. That decision may come back to haunt Klein as a heart hit the river to complete Peat’s flush and send the $428,600 his way.

The second episode saw the same cast of players return and Klein continued to get pocket pairs cracked. This time he was dealt pocket kings but failed to three-bet pre-flop after Selbst raised with pocket eights. This would come back to bite him as both Esfandiari and Peat splashed around with the two players. Peat held 7-5 offsuit and proceeded to flop trip fives on a board of J-5-5. Klein decided to check raise the flop against Peat and this forced the other opponents out of the hand. Klein then bet the turn and river, and Peat called him down both times. He then showed his trip fives to drag a $160,800 pot.

Peat later learned that you cannot bluff a calling station. The board at the turn was Ks-Ah-8d-4h. Ruffin bet $20,000 into a $19,000 pot holding Kc-3c. Peat then decided to raise to $50,000 holding 9c-2c. Ruffin made the call and then checked when the river fell the Qh. Peat bet out $100,000 on nothing but air, and Ruffin almost insta-called. He then showed his pair of kings to take down the $319,000 pot.

The biggest hand of the season then went down between Barry Greenstein and Antonio Esfandiari. On a flop of 10c-6h-4h, the two got into a raising war that saw Greenstein move all-in. He was holding pocket fours and had flopped a set. Esfandiari then asked “run it once or twice” and slam dunked the call. He was holding 8h-7h for straight flush draw and gutshot straight draw. Greenstein said to run it just once no sooner than he said run it once, the Qh hit the turn to give Esfandiari a flush. The board failed to pair and Esfandiari took down a $593,900 pot.

Episode three of HSP saw the busting of Robert Croak by Phil Ruffin. Ruffin, Croak, Selbst, and Esfandiari saw a flop of Ah-Jc-Ks. Croak bet out $11,000 with A-J and two pair, only to be raised by Ruffin who held Q-10 for a flopped straight. Croak then moved all-in and Ruffin snap-called. Croak was unable to catch an ace or jack and Croak was both felted and gone. He decided he hand enough and in his place, Andrew Robl joined the fun.

The only other pot of significance was between Ruffin and Peat. Ruffin flopped top pair and Peat a straight draw. This time, Peat decided just to call bets on the flop and turn from Ruffin. After a final river bet, Peat decided to lay it down to give Ruffin the $200,000 pot. After this pot, Ruffin was up to almost $1 Million in his stack.

As you can see, there have been plenty of big pots this season in High Stakes Poker. It is good that the poker is doing a bit of the talking as new host Norm MacDonald is absolutely horrible in the booth. Hopefully this will be his only season of covering the show. Vinny Vinh’s chair would be more interesting to listen to.

There are still nine more episodes left to come this season for High Stakes Poker. Can Selbst rebound from her loss and will Ruffin continue to steamroll over the table? You have to tune in to find out.

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Doyle Brunson Photo

1 Doyle Brunson aka texdolly
Doyle Brunson is the number one cash game player in the world. He has built an empire from his winning in the “Big Game” in Las Vegas. He resides as the “God Father” of poker and is one of the most respected cash game players of all time. He has stood the test of time and has come out on top despite all his times going bust early in his career. Doyle is adept at all forms of poker, especially limit mixed games. He wrote the book on NL aggression, literally. Finally he reached a point where he hasn’t had to look back and reigns supreme at our number one spot. I estimate Doyle Brunson’s bankroll to have exceeded 100 million.

Chip Reese Image

2 David “Chip” Reese
Chip Reese is regarded as the best cash game player of all time by his peers. Chip Reese past away a couple years ago from pneumonia at an early age. Chip was one of the most soft spoken players and met with great respect from his opponents. He often helped out other poker players when they went broke. Chip was adept at all forms of poker and won the inaugural 50k H.O.R.S.E. event. Chip is a member of the Poker Hall of Fame and one of the greatest poker players of all time. It is estimated that he won over 40 million in his career.

3 Johnny Moss
Johnny Moss Image

Johnny Moss has been forever immortalized in the poker world as one of the greatest players to have ever lived. As our top two players, Johnny moss was adept at all forms of poker, especially stud versions. Years before any million dollar challenge by Tom Dwan, Johnny had a million dollar heads up match of his own. Johnny played Nick “The Greek” Dandolos in a lobby of a Vegas casino day in and day out and millions were exchanged. Finally Nick gave up after being nearly busted by the great Johnny Moss.

Phil Ivey Photo

4 Phil Ivey
Phil Ivey is regarded by most to be the best all around poker player in the world at the moment. And again like Doyle, Chip, and Johnny, Phil is adept at all forms of poker. Recently, Phil won his 6th bracelet in $2500 No Limit Deuce to Seven Draw. He did this Vs people who play Deuce to Seven on a regular basis, showing how adept he really is at different forms of poker. Phil Ivey has some of the best reading skills on poker tells that you can have. With endorsements, Ivey is said to be worth over 100 million dollars.

Stu Ungar Image

5 Stu Ungar
Stu Ungar takes the number five spot of the greatest cash game players of all time do to his ability to read players and his amazing skill on the felt. If Stu did not bet on sports, and was not overcome by his narcotic addiction, he would been alive today and playing in the “Big Game” with Doyle and the rest of the crew. Stu had a genius super human attribute, which would allow him to count a 3 deck blackjack shoe as once noted by Bob Stupak.

Tom Dwan Photo

6 Tom Dwan aka Durrrr
Tom Dwan is only 23 years old, but has won millions at the poker table. the reason why I’m ranking Tom so high is the number of hands he must have played. Tom Dwan has been multi-screening poker tables for years at Full Tilt
and must have played as many hands as Doyle Brunson has in his lifetime, but in a very short time period. Tom Dwan is adept at Pot Limit Omaha and NL Texas Holdem Poker, although he shows promise in other forms of poker.

Jennifer Harman Image

7 Jennifer Harman
Jennifer Harman is regarded as the best female poker player in the world by her peers and even has a chapter in Doyle’s Super System II. Jennifer has been a staple at the Bellagio in Bobby’s room since it started. She learned to play poker as a child at the age of eight where she would fill in for her dad. I would note that Kathy Liebert is the best tournament female player in the world and Jennifer is the best cash game player.

Sammy Farha Photo

8 Sammy Farha
Sammy Farha may not be the greatest winner in the Big Game, but I rank him at 8 because of his keen instincts
and willingness to gamble. He loves taking on the “young guns” and has taken a quite few out. He would rank in top five if this were the most stylish poker players in the world. When he was heads up with Chris Moneymaker, he stated that if he won the main event he would be even for that weekend.

Chau Giang
9 Chau Giang
Chau Giang is yet another player in the Big Game. He is also Doyle Brunson’s neighbor too, in an affluent neighborhood in Las Vegas. Chau Giang has more of a tight style and is the consummate rock at the table. Chau is no stranger to tournament poker either. Chau Giang is well respected and is commands respect like the great Chip Reese.

Patrik Antonius

10 Patrik Antonius
Patrik Antonius is a newcomer to high stakes poker like his rival Tom Dwan. Both entered the scene around the same time. Patrik is adept at most forms of poker and is an exceptional NL Holdem player. He specializes in PL HO / Holdem / Omaha, but Patrik is no slacker when it comes to mixed games either. He’s made the final table in the inaugural 50k H.O.R.S.E.

Di Dang Photo

11 Di Dang aka Urindanger
Di Dang and his brother are two of the most feared high stakes poker players on Full Tilt Poker. The two share a bankroll and I’m listing them next to each other in the lineup but not favoring one or the other. Di Dang is adept at NL Holdem and PL Omaha. Di Dang is tight aggressive. I place Di Dang and Hac Dang so high in the top cash game players of all time because of their young age and the number of hands they have played. Like Tom Dwan, Hac and Di have played millions of hands and accrued a lifetime of experience.

12 Hac Dang aka Trex313
Hac Dang aka Trex313 is the other half of the Urindanger / Trex313 duo. Hac Dang had a deep run in the 2009 WSOP and if I’m not mistaken took a bad beat by Phil Ivey late in the tournament. But this is not a tournament post, Hac is part of the Dang brothers who dominate online poker at the highest stakes. These brothers truley build up their bankroll, and graduated to the highest stakes, in a short period of time.

Barry Greenstein Photo

13 Barry Greenstein
Barry Greenstein is an adept mixed game player, but in an exceptional NL Holdem cash game player and tournament player. Barry is so adept at cash games that he was able to donate his tournament winnings to charity giving him the nickname “Robinhood of Poker”. Barry constantly evaluates his opponents and keeps track of their tendencies. He reminds me of Cal Ripkin Jr., who would document all the pitches thrown to him by different pitchers on his laptop. Barry’s roll runs deep and his love of asian poker babes runs deeper.

David Oppenheim photo

14 David Oppenheim
David Oppenheim is one of the most adept high stakes limit mixed game players in the world. David often plays in Larry Flynt’s big stud game with Barry Greenstein and Phil Ivey.
Larry’s game is rival to Bobby’s Room and has since moved from Larry’s house to Larry’s Hustler Casino. Playing often in Larry’s game, make him one of the most feared stud players in the world.

Howard Lederer Photo

15 Howard Lederer
Howard Lederer is known to be the greatest living limit holdem player in the world right now. Howard was a member of the “corporation” which was led by Doyle Brunson. Andy Beal, a billionaire from Texas, took on members of the Corporation heads up in limit holdem. Howard and the corporation heads up matches between Beal , was the subject of the book by Micheal Craig called Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King. This is the largest cash game to have taken place with blinds of 100k 200k at one time. Howard is said to have won 7 million in one day for the corporation. Howard has had a tournament chip on his shoulder for some time until recently he made 2 final tables in the WSOPE. Howard is most likely Doyle’s aire apparent to being the Godfather of poker.

Gus Hansen Photo

16 Gus Hansen
Gus Hansen is undoubtedly thing swingingest poker player to play poker in the world, and I’m not talking about swinger cruises or something kinki like that. I’m talking about his massive swings in online poker. At moments he seems like genius and other moments he seems like a borderline calling station. Gus is no stranger to 6 million dollar swings in a month or two making him the most volatile skilled poker player to date. I believe only Archie Karas has had biggers swings than Gus Hansen.

Archie Karas Photo

17 Archie Karas
Archie Karas has won and lost more money than probably any player in the history of poker. Archie is regarded as the best razz player in the world in cash games. Archie is the most reckless skilled poker player to date. Archie is from the old school and has had a net worth of over 40 million at one point.

18 Nicholas Andreas Dandolos aka “Nick the Greek”
Nick Dandolos is famous for taking on the great Johnny Moss, in the most famous heads up game until “The Corporation” took on Andy Beal. Dandalos was also known for his philanthropy to the educational system. Nick The Greek was one of the original poker degens and would even get treated at the table by paramedics before getting up and leaving. Nick was highly skilled at all forms of poker and
was the best on the east coast. However, he met his match VS our number 3 spot, Johnny Moss, in a an epic 5 month marathon heads up game.

Nicky Frangos Photo

19 Nicky Frangos
Nicky Frangos is known as the best known stud cash game player in the world. Nicky’s stomping ground is Atlantic City.

Matt Glantz Photo

20 Matt Glantz
Matt Glantz is known as one of the strongest poker pros on the East coast if not the world. Matt also does exceptionally well in poker tournaments with large buy-ins. Matt Recently won the High Rollers event in England.

Honorable mention
Danny Robinson
Danny was Mike Sextons mentor and Danny came from the home games of Ohio with Chip Reese. Danny was adept at seven card stud.

Freddy Deeb
Freddy won the 50k HORSE which is an indicator of a top cash game player. With it’s slow blind structure and mixed games, the 50k almost simulates high stakes action. It might even be better, since you can’t rebuy and the buy-in costs as much as a nice BMW.

Daniel Negreanu
I may had made a mistake by putting Daniel in the honorable mention category and not in the top 20. I think Daniel is highly skilled and adept at all forms of poker, but I categorize him as a tournament player.

Daniel Alaei
Daniel Alaei is one of the strongest cash game players out there. Daniel has made numerous appearances on High Stakes Poker with the other high stakes regulars. Daniel plays a poker style similar to Elky.

Walter Clyde Pearson
“I’ll play any man from any land any game he can name for any amount he can count.”
Puggy Pearson was one of the greatest cahs game players of all time during the era of the Texas Rounders. Although he wasn’t from Texas, he hung out and played with them quite a bit. Ironically Puggy was the originator of the “freezeout” which is now known as tournament poker.

Amarillo Slim
Amarillo will go down as one of the greatest players of all time. Amarillo was part of the original Texas Rounder who
shared bankrolls and traveled all around Texas, and then made their way to Las Vegas.

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Of all the tournaments of the year, the NBC Heads Up Tournament may be one of the funnest events of the year. In a sixty-four player field similar to NCAA’s March Madness, sixty four of the best online players in the world gathered at Caesars in Vegas to determine the best heads up no limit player of the year. At the selection party the night before the poker tournament, players are seeded and put against an opponent for advancement into the round of thirty-two. Many interesting match ups were seen in the first round of the tournament. Interesting matchups in the first round included PokerStars pros Daniel Negreanu vs. Chris Moneymaker, Mike Matusow vs. Dario Minieri, Full Tilt poker originals Erik Lindgren vs. Howard Lederer, and two online high stakes regulars David Benyamine vs. Gus Hansen. As it turned out, Negreanu beat Moneymaker, Minieri beat Negreanu, Lindgren defeated the professor, and Hansen beat Benyamine. Other notable first round finishes included Vannessa Rousso defeating Doyle Brunson, Peter Eastgate over Andy Bloch, and actor Brad Garrett advancing over Annie Duke.
Rousso had her work cut out for her in round two, however, being matched up with Phil Ivey. First round survivors Daniel Negreanu and Dario Minieri were matched up. Gus Hansen was paired up with one of the only men to cash in the tournament four years in a row, Huck Seed. Another interesting note took place, as the winners of the Hellmuth / Ishbia match would play the winner of the Tom Dwan / Barry Greenstein would play, leaving the door open for a possible rematch between hot NBC heads up rivals Tom Dwan and Phill Hellmuth. Rousso went through her second legend by eliminating Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu beat internet phenom Minieri, the Great Dane was eliminated by Huck Seed, and in an almost prophetic way, Phil Hellmuth beat qualifier Ishbia, as well as ‘durrrr‘ beating Greenstein, meaning the two would have a showdown in the sweet sixteen. Other sweet sixteen qualifiers were Paul Wasicka, Scotty Nguyen, John Juanda, online stud Bertrand ‘Elky’ Grospellier, David Williams, Erik Lindren, John Phan, Sam Farha, Kenny Tran, David Oppenheim, and Glen Chorny.
Rousso did it a gain with another impressive performance over Paul Wasicka. Daniel Negreanu showed up to his match dressed up as his opponent, Scotty Nguyen, and defeated his opposition, leaving Rousso next up in the elite eight. Grospellier and Juanda showed down in a marathon, where ‘Elky’ advanced to play the winner of the Hellmuth/Dwan showdown. The bout ended early when, on a board of A-J-5-9-9, all the money got in the middle. Dwan revealed K-9 for three of a kind, only to be trumped by Hellmuth’s 9-5 for a full house. Although all of the sweet sixteen took home $25,000 compared to the $20,000 entry, Dwan must not have been happy with his exit. David Williams defeated Erik Lindgren and Sam Farha bested John Phan to pair up against each other in the round of eight. David Oppenheim, who was added to the tournament the day of the first day when Layne Flack no showed, advanced to an improbable round of eight appearance by defeating World Series Heads Up Champion Kenny Tran. Oppenheim was matched with Huck Seed, who defeated Glen Chorny.
Vanessa Rousso was the talk of the tournament before she won a match with her signing with GoDaddy.com to be a new face of the website, one of the first non-poker related sponsorships for a poker player. She continued her heater in the tournament defeating yet another legend in Daniel Negreanu. Rousso would be paired up with the winner of the ‘Elky’/Hellmuth match. While Phil Hellmuth is in record for both the shortest NBC match as well as winning the tournament, he broke one of his own records here. On the second hand, Hellmuth picked up pocked queens and was trumped by Bertrand Grospellier ’s Aces for the new quickest match in NBC heads up history. On the other side of the bracket, David Williams was bested by Sammy Farha, who would play Huck Seed after he defeated underdog story David Oppenheim.

Huck Seed

The final four were set, and Grospellier, possibly the hottest player in poker today, took an early lead over Rousso. However, through tough play and two double ups, Rousso took the lead and finished ‘ElKy’ off when her pocket sevens trumped his K-6. On the other side, Huck Seed and Sam Farha went longer than any match in the tournament. After Farha had a dominated chip lead of 10:1, before Seed grinded back to a normal stack. With an average stack of only eight big blinds, the players got it all in when Sam Farha had A-K off vs. Seed’s 10-8 suited. Seed made a flush and earned a spot in the best 2-3 finals. In a post match interview, Seed said he felt comfortable with Rousso and never felt too worried. He beat Rousso in the first two matches, earning a $500,000 prize and his first NBC Heads up win. Seed, amazingly, has cashed all five years of the tournament, is the winningest player in tournament history, and will be the heads up champion for a year. Seed made an interesting comment on who was his toughest opponent of the entire tournament: Sam Farha. Another good year at the NBC Heads Up led to upsets, underdogs, and yet a dominating heads up player who won a $5,000 Heads Up tournament in Canada just last year taking the crown at Caesers: Huck Seed is your champion.

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