Fred Goldberg

Hometown
Hollywood, FL

Birthday
September 12

Total Winnings
$648,768

Some people build houses for a living. Some people build structures out of poker chips. Fred Goldberg does both. When you ask him what he does for a living, he never fails to mention that he's both a contractor and pro poker player from South Florida. While he's had success in both realms, his biggest poker win ever came from a final table he didn't make.

Goldberg went on a storybook run in the 2006 World Series of Poker main event and stood a good chance at winning the whole thing. It wouldn't end that way, however. Goldberg busted in tenth place on the TV bubble. While his win earned him more than $1 million, it left a sour taste in his mouth. He knew he could play with the best and it hurt him that he didn't get there. What's more, when he went to the WPT Five Diamond Classic later that year, he finished in 11th place. Once again, he got close to the elusive final table, but couldn't quite get there. Finally, after not doing as well as he would've liked in Tunica in 2007, he decided to take some time off. He went home and didn't play a hand of poker for two months.

The break served him well. Refreshed and revitalized, Goldberg headed to the WPT Foxwoods Poker Classic. It proved to be his time to shine. He battled his way through the field and made it all the way to the final table under the WPT final table lights. Just a few months later, Goldberg won his first World Series bracelet in the $5,000 mixed hold'em event. In just two years of professional poker play, Goldberg has earned more than $1.7 million.