World Poker Tour

Chris Loveland

Hometown
Somerville, MA

Birthday
November 13

Total Winnings
$198,745

People get into professional poker for a lot of reasons the thrill, the skill, or the run-of-the-mill. Chris Loveland made the transition from recreational player to professional for an entirely different reason: the company he was working for went out of business. With no job to go to, he took a little time off to player poker and never got around to doing anything else. A computer and math whiz who once wrote programs to make computer chips work, Loveland now spends his times making chips work for him.

Loveland's first major win came in 2004. He headed up to Foxwoods for the World Poker Finals and, not bankrolled to play in the main event, bough into a $1,000 limit hold'em event. Facing off against a tough final table, including Men "The Master" Nguyen, Loveland won the whole shooting match for more than $50,000. After that, he continued to play in tournaments, but found most of his poker success in cash games.

That all changed in 2006. Loveland entered the WPT Festa al Lago event and made it all the way to the final table. It would end up being his biggest tournament win to date. Loveland paints himself as a man who is neither out for glory or money. All he wants is the freedom from making decisions based on money. It looks like he is off to a good start.