World Poker Tour

Jeff King

Birthplace
Manchester, Connecticut

Birthday
December 7

Total Winnings
$368,195

Born and raised in Connecticut, Jeff King spent about four years as a poker dealer before making the transition to full-time professional poker player. It was during his dealing days that he paid special attention to the players at the table, watching their play and developing his own strategies that he would put into play on his off-hours. Eventually, he cut his hours of dealing to part-time so he could play more poker, and when his bankroll was sizable enough and he was confident in his abilities and results, he quit dealing altogether to play on a full-time basis.

Jeff has now been a pro poker player for eight years, and in that time, he has amassed nearly $1 million in tournament winnings. Though his strengths lie mostly in cash games, where he plays in his home state of Connecticut at Foxwoods on a regular basis, tournaments caught his attention back in 2001. His skills in a variety of games gives him a leg up on many of his competitors, so he has tried his hand – and succeeded – at various tournaments through the years. In 2006, he won the World Series of Poker circuit event in Atlantic City for $345,708 and a championship ring.

To his credit, Jeff has three World Series of Poker cashes, in addition to the circuit event, including a final table in the $5000 Omaha hi-lo event in 2006. He has also cashed in three World Poker Tour events, the most significant of which was in the big one – the 2008 WPT World Championship. He made the final table, and with friends Gavin Smith, Bill Edler, and Erick Lindgren in the audience to root him on, he was eliminated in sixth place for over $260,000. It was the first place finish that eluded him, but history shows that Jeff King will be back. With a supportive wife and two young children at home cheering for him, there might be no stopping him.