OK, first post. I'm tired of lurking. My question for the community is this: Which well-known poker players are actually broke or highly in debt? Seeing these people perpetually playing for millions at the final tables on television leaves me with the impression that they must have billion dollar bankrolls. But obviously this can't be true.

Below I will post all of the information I have gathered so far. If you can confirm, correct, or expand on any of the following statements, please do so. Additions are welcome too. I'm hoping that this thread will eventually become a place where people can share embarrassing stories (or even rumors) about our favorite poker celebrities... LET THE UNDER-THE-BUS-THROWING COMMENCE!!

- TJ Cloutier has a craps problem that keeps him broke. This is sad but true. He recently sold his most recent WSOP bracelet, which probably means he has none left in his possession.

- Phil Ivey was supposedly broke last February, but I find that hard to believe. If this is true, I don't know what his leak is (or was, since he's obviously not broke now.)

- David Williams is apparently broke and has now become part of Men the Master's traveling group of card cheats. I hope this isn't true.

- Antonio Esfandiari jokes about being broke (especially when he loses a big pot on High Stakes Poker) but there's no evidence to indicate his brokeitude. Plus he just signed an endorsement deal, although maybe that's because he was busto and out of options.

- Jean-Robert Bellande always complains about how unlucky he is. This is a sure sign of a major downswing.

- Elky is rumored to have gone busto a few times, but given his track record this seems highly unlikely.

- Patrik Antonius is also rumored to have gone broke at some point, but, again, this is unsubstantiated. I think jealous people just like to spread lies.

- Mike Matusow, the poster-boy of career gamblers, the degenerate’s mascot. I haven't read his book, but I assume that on any given day he's either up $1.2 million or deeply in debt to the wrong people. Various known (and unknown) poker players have staked him, so I guess you can never really be broke if people are clambering over each other to put you in action.

- Eskimo Clark... well... we all know about Eskimo... but I have a theory that he is not as broke as everyone thinks he is. I believe he just likes getting staked and splitting winnings. It’s all part of gambling fun. When he's flush, he's been known to put 20 to 30 horses in a single tournament. Besides, he still travels the circuit. He's got to be paying for those travel costs somehow. I seriously doubt someone's buying him plane tickets to Tunica just so he can beg for a stake.

- Doug Lee is another name that gets dragged through the mud. I don't know if this is because he's broke or because he sucks at cards.


Players I hope go broke: Lance Funston, Dario Minieri, Bryant King, Christian Dragomir, Luke 'FullFlush' Schwartz, Russ Hamilt- ... wait… never mind... I don't wish brokeness on anybody. Even the cheats.

I know this took you a long time to type, so ty for posting, but lol you are WAY off on some of these.

Doubt Ivey or Antonius or even Matusow could go broke with the Tilt money coming in every month.

Cloutier and Eskimo are most certainly broke.

Bellande is just a baller on a budget. What was his book called, Broke and Living Like a Millionaire?

yea def not matusow.


when he went to prison for having the cocaine buffet at his party he bet over 200k on sports from jail just to have something to do!


[x] hookers and blow

Pretty sad post imo.

Get a life.

What's next? "Poker celebrities pretending to be straight, but they are gay!"?

Or this: "Poker celebrities pretending to be good players, BUT THEY SUCK!

that list only has two people on it

couple of points

1) David williams was rolling in a bently on 2m2mm!
2) Whats wrong dario? He seems like a nice kid.

You're right about Dario, I should have said "Players I hope learn some table manners"

Toe boy and JRB?

OP, Who you with?

Wat?!?

[x] op has no knowledge of the poker community
[x] op needs to download full tilt poker and rail Ivey's Room
[x] The day Phil Ivey goes broke will be the day poker dies

Who's the other one?

OP needs to realize that there are many levels of broke.

There's BBV broke: having absolutely no money and living in your moms basement. There's high stakes broke: used to play nosebleeds, now can only afford to play the lower high stakes games. And there's everything in between.

Most of the guys listed in the OP are the latter.

If an individual has a reputation for being rich and successful at some point in his/her career (regardless of the career), they are going to do everything in their power to maintain that image. It's just human nature.

The title of this post is clearly too accusatory. Does anyone know how to change it? Maybe one of the admins could do me the honor of changing it to "We think these poker celebrities are rich, BUT THEY'RE BROKE!!"

finally someone called out ivey on pretending to be rich.

gj op.

Love the random mention of Lance Funston and Bryant King.

yeah poker millionaires are a joke,i just watched a episode on daily show where jon steward interviewed nandan nilekani,whos a self made billionaire entrepreneur,has a book published,commands tremendous respect,down to earth and not some media attention whore unlike the types we get for poker role models and made their fortune luckboxing a tournament

"Patrik Antonius is also rumored to have gone broke at some point, but, again, this is unsubstantiated. I think jealous people just like to spread lies."

didnt patrik just admit he lost 10 million last year on props and staking.

anyway this is the most half assed researched post ever. its truly 98% rumor 2% truth (+/- 2% error rate)

I heard Guy Laliberte is broke and flew to space to avoid paying his backers.

Pretty sure Bellande is near the bottom of the food chain. He seems to be living beyond his means and sustaining it some how, while getting staked. Seems fairly average at the poker.

[x] Just died from looking at your avatar.

greatest episode of HSP ever is when benyamine nearly donks 1/2 a mil to guy. and he says, this means a lot more to you than it does to me. guy has way more money than all the other HSP players combine.