World Poker Tour

Michael Gracz “The Kid“

Birthplace
Warsaw, Poland

Birthday
October 23

Total Winnings
$1,777,816

Maciek "Michael" Gracz was born in Warsaw, Poland. His family immigrated to the United States when he was only four years old. Michael grew up in a quiet, suburban area of North Carolina. He always loved games, and that led him to take a part-time job at a retail game store in high school. That's where he discovered poker. Michael attended North Carolina State University where he majored in business. He eventually made enough money playing poker on the side to quit his job as a waiter and pay his school expenses.

Before he graduated from college, Michael went to Las Vegas to play in a big game. He won a tournament at the Bellagio for a $22,116 payday. Professional poker player Chris Bell liked what he saw in Michael. Bell then backed him in the Trump Poker Classic at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. Michael won that tournament as well, raking in $295,275. A month later, he graduated from college and took a job in sales. Poker was still his true passion, and he quit his job a few months later to pursue poker as a career. He knew he could always fall back on that college degree.

Since he decided to go pro, Michael Gracz has had a great deal of success in the world of poker. He entered the World Poker Tour event on the Party Poker Million cruise in 2005. He turned that $10,000 buy-in into $1.5 million. A few months later, Michael won his first World Series of Poker bracelet in the $1,000 No-Limit Hold 'em event. Since then, Michael has earned several WPT and WSOP cashes. Today, he still lives in North Carolina and often travels the poker circuit, looking for his next big win.