World Poker Tour

Roland de Wolfe “The Sheep“

Birthplace
London, England

Total Winnings
$1,741,775

Gaming has always been an integral part of Roland de Wolfe's life, as he came from a family that wagered on many things. He was playing cards at a young age, challenging friends to games on the school bus, and betting on tennis by the time he was 14-years old. When he was old enough to get into pool halls and pubs, he played for money with local patrons and played blackjack at the casinos around town. During his years of higher education, he took a journalism course at Brighton and found his calling " writing about sports and gaming. He took a job with Inside Edge, a gaming publication in London, and began traveling the tournament circuit to write about poker events.

Eventually, de Wolfe's participation in the poker scene grew. Though his cash game play was not strong at the Victoria Casino, he found an opportunity to play in a tournament at the Gutshot Poker Club, where he won the no-limit hold'em event. He then took to the internet to improve his game and began a winning streak in 2004. Despite his love of writing, he weighed his options of working for a boss and building a bankroll to play poker on a full-time basis, and he chose the latter. He quit his job, albeit on good terms, in 2004, and poker would soon know that a skilled player had joined the ranks of the pros.

De Wolfe played some tournaments during the World Series of Poker in July 2005 and made it back across the ocean to play in the World Poker Tour Grand Prix de Paris main event later that month. That decision would change his life. He won the event, his first major title, and over $500,000 in prize money. He took also won a seat in the WPT Championship and parlayed it into a final table performance. He finished in third place for more than a million dollar payday. Just a few months later, de Wolfe won the European Poker Tour Dublin event, becoming the first player to win both a WPT and EPT tournament. De Wolfe continues to play on the pro poker circuit. In April 2007, de Wolfe took second place at the Irish open. In just a few years on the circuit, the one-time journalist has cemented his place in the poker world with more than $3.5 million in winnings.