Andy Bloch

Born in Orange, Connecticut and currently residing in Tacoma Park, California, Andy Bloch is not exactly a cowboy by traditional standards. With a gambling career as impressive as Andy’s though, the man deserves to wear any hat he wants, be it that of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology team blackjack member, professional card counter, or multimillion dollar poker tournament winner, a cowboy hat fits just as well as any.

Bloch started playing poker before he began attending M.I.T. where he earned two electrical engineering degrees. It was at the prestigious where he joined a group of fellow students that took on big casinos beating them for millions with their blackjack abilities, card counting being just one of them. When the computer chip building project Andy was apart of was cancelled he took up poker more seriously and really got into semiprofessional gambling during his time between M.I.T. and Harvard Law school which as paid for with gambling winnings. After he earned his JD and passing the bar, Bloch decided to forego a law career and focused on the cards instead.

Despite not having a televised major tournament victory, Andy has many six figure wins under his belt, the largest being his $500,000 Pro-Am title in 2006. With multiple major second place finishes at the World Series of Poker, his most notable was being runner up in the inaugural $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event where he was outlasted by only Chip Reese, the player the tournament was later renamed after. After and all night heads up battle, Andy walked away with $1,029,600 and the respect of many other top gamblers.

As an expert in Game Theory, Bloch is able to mix math and instinct. As a Full Tilt Poker pro, Andy made a vow to donate all of his online poker winnings to charity. In addition to his more than $3,700,000 in tournament winnings, he is also a Roshambo (rock, paper, scissors) world champion. In his opinion, in order to be a world class poker player, you need “intelligence and self control, combined with a willingness to gamble,” and as a long term winner in just about everything he as ever tried, that’s advice many aspiring and veteran poker players may want to heed.