ELI ELEZRA – THE ISRAELI POKER STAR

ELI ELEZRA – THE ISRAELI POKER STAR

The World Series of Poker (WPS) is among the most prestigious competitions in the sport. Players' legendary status is largely determined by the number of elite tour bracelets they have earned. The record holders for this indicator always come from the USA. Phil Hellmuth has 16, Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan and Phil Ivey have 10 each, while Jonny Moss and Eric Seidl each have 9. Vietnam's Meng Nguyen holds the record among other nationalities with 7, but close behind is Israel's Eli Elezra with 4 .

In 2021, he became a member of the Poker Hall of Fame and the first from Israel to do so. Success seems inevitable for a pro who says of himself: "Anyone who knows me and has played at least one hand against me knows how much I love this game!".

According to some data, his income from poker is over 4.5 million dollars. But this is only the official data. It's hard to quantify exactly how much Eli made from high-stakes games like those at the Bellagio with the likes of Doyle Brunson and Chip Reese. It was for them that the two of them Elezra shared that they learned "a fish to swim with the sharks", referring to himself.

Eli is extremely interesting not only with his skills in the game. His constant pranks endear him to fans, TV producers and even his table rivals. He recently published his autobiography, in which he tells a number of stories from his life. The book is one of the clearest proofs that the Israeli is not so often at the poker tables lately, but viewers still get opportunities to watch him.

But everything could have been completely different. He learned to play cards at a young age, but his dream after high school was to be a professional soldier. And not an ordinary one, but part of the Golani infantry brigade. In 1982, his dream became a reality and he was accepted into the elite units. A serious injury to his left leg during the war in Libya ended his military career.

While he is long inseparable from the hospital bed, he begins to learn the secrets of poker. He went to the state of Alaska, worked as a taxi driver, and later opened his own store. He moved to Las Vegas, where he started a photography business. He gradually built a real estate empire, and a huge part of his fortune was accumulated with the help of poker.

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