Russ Hamilton - Professional Poker Player

Updated 2008/2009
It’s been a long time that Russ Hamilton has been playing the game of Poker. He started playing the game when he was 7 years of age. But he started taking the game seriously when in 1984 he shifted to Las Vegas to pursue it further. It was not that he was gambling for the first time. He was already a very successful gambler before reaching Las Vegas. He wanted to spend as much time as possible for poker. He accepts that luck plays a very important role in the game of poker as most of the players believe. But he also believes that having a winning or a positive attitude also plays an equally important role in the game. He always says that “a bad attitude will always cost you money”. He usually spends a lot of time before the game to set his mind and making it positive. He is strictly against talking about negative incidents and bad losses before the start of the game. He also happens to be one of the world’s most successful sports better. He also works with ultimatebet.com and helps them restructure their tournaments.

It was the biggest goal of Hamilton to win the World Series of Poker. He once said about his goal that “It puts you in a very elite group of poker players that very few people can enter”. He finally got a chance in 1994, the silver anniversary of the World Series of Poker. He made his way to the finals where he was one of the two and also the chip leader. He was with Hugh Vincent whom he had already beaten heads up at the final table earlier. Vincent had 8c 5h, Hamilton had Ks and 8h. Vincent was small blind and he limped in. The flop was dealt as Hamilton checked. It came 9d 8d 6d. Both had a pair of eights, but Hamilton had a better kicker. Hamilton reacted quickly by checking. Hamilton moved all in as Vincent bet. The turn came out to be 10c which was not of help to both the players. The river was Js. Hamilton won the pot and the tournament because of his King kicker even when both had a pair of eights.

After that win, Hamilton has not been very active in the tournaments as he prefers to play for money. He also finished 4th in the tournament in 1996. He has also won lot of World Championships in Casino games. He founded the famous Black Jack tour in 2005. Very less information is available about this great player. Though he has not written a book on Poker, he can be a very good guide to beginners. His advice of having a positive attitude towards the game is something many would like to follow. Till date, his total prize money from tournaments has crossed $1,500,000.