John Barch “Tex“

Hometown
McKinney, TX

Total Winnings
$40,037

John "Tex" Barch has a nickname befitting a man who has made millions of dollars playing the world's most popular poker game. It's only right that a man named Tex-- who is among the top 20 all-time World Series of Poker money winners-- should have made most his money playing Texas Hold'em. Barch, a University of Montana business school graduate, had been playing poker for 13 years without making a huge splash in the tournament world. It took just one tournament to change everything.

Despite some modest success, Barch's major tournament cash winnings before 2005 didn't amount to enough to buy a decent car. Though he had cashed in a few preliminary events at the World Poker Open and World Series of poker, he was not making enough money on the tournament circuit to call himself a full-time pro. Married with two children, Barch supported his family with the money he made from his bar, Big Johnson's Beer Garden Bar near Dallas, Texas. It wasn't a bad life and his job allowed him to play poker here and there.

That all changed in 2005 when Barch came out of nowhere to make the final table of the 2005 World Series of Poker main event. After several grueling days of play, Barch placed third and won $2.5 million. Since then, Barch has spent a lot more time on the poker tournament circuit and has cashed several more times in major events.