Barry Greenstein



Barry Greenstein (born December 30, 1954 in Chicago, Illinois) is a professional poker player. He was exposed to poker at a young age by his father, Jack, who had played poker in the Army. After graduating from Bogan High School, he earned a bachelor degree in computer science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He also studied for a PhD in mathematics, but left before completing his dissertation. He worked for Symantec until retiring in 1991 at age 36 when he began to play poker full time. Greenstein has two children and four stepchildren, and resides in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. His stepson, Joe Sebok, is also a professional poker player.

In 2005, Greenstein wrote a book titled Ace on the River. Tuan Le, a WPT Season 3 champion, claims that book showed him how to succeed on the poker circuit. Greenstein is known for giving away a free copy of his book to the player who eliminates him in a tournament, including his autograph and details of the hand. Greenstein taught former girlfriend Mimi Tran how to play poker in exchange for her teaching him how to speak Vietnamese. He also plays online at PokerStars, under the alias "barryg1" and is a member of the cardroom's Team PokerStars.

As of 2007, his total live tournament winnings exceed $5,000,000.

Tournament play
Greenstein has appeared in each of the first three series of Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament and all four seasons of the GSN series High Stakes Poker.

Greenstein has two World Series of Poker bracelets.

He has also won two World Poker Tour (WPT) titles:
 * Fifth Annual Jack Binion World Poker Open ($1,278,370)
 * 2006 WPT Invitational at the Commerce Casino ($100,000)

Trivia

 * At one time, Greenstein donated all of his tournament winnings to charities, mostly to Children, Incorporated, and he is sometimes called the Robin Hood of poker. Not wanting to draw attention to himself, Barry told people that he invested his winnings.