There are thousands of amazing poker players out there, of all ages and nationalities, each one of them having a different story behind. Today we’ll discover one of them and we’ll tell you all that you need to know about Bill Klein.
William G. Klein was born in 1948 and is a retired businessman and poker player from California. He initially owned a manufacturing company that used to sell thinset and grout to other companies, including to the large corporation Home Depot.
It was quite a large company, having 14 locations all over the country and about 1,400 employees and it was bringing great money for him. But unfortunately he developed throat cancer and eventually had to sell it. This turned out to be a great decision because then the housing market had a big crash.
He used the money earned to fully focus on his health and eventually managed to defeat cancer. Since he still had plenty of money, he now lives the life of a retiree, playing golf, poker and just enjoying life at its best.
He began playing poker just like most people do – by playing house games with friends and family. But he started to really enjoy it and to get better and better, so he also began to play high stakes games with good players.
Slowly he became a popular player, appearing in many shows. For example, in 2010 he was featured on season 7 of the High Stakes Poker show hosted by the Game Show Network. Then, in 2012, he placed fifth in the World Poker Tour $100,000 No-Limit Hold’em Super High Roller event. Even on the fifth place, he still won more than $260,000.
Later on in 2015 he decided to play in the $111,111 One Drop High Roller WSOP event. He mentioned right from the start that everything he will win he will donate to charity, and in case he doesn’t cash, he will match the buy-in and give that away. The two charities he supports are the Orangewood Children’s Foundation and the Shea Therapeutic Riding Center.
Luckily for these charities, he finished second in the event wining $2,465,522. Even though this was a huge amount, he kept his word and donated all to the mentioned charities.
In 2015 he also played in the $250k Aria Super High Roller game and he won more than $450,000, playing the last hand against Antonio Esfandiari. 2015 was his best year so far and he was ranking 18th in the Money List.
2016 was a pretty good year too, and he was ranking 96th in the list. His current ranking in the Global Poker Index is #1787, while his best ranking ever was the 202 spot. His total live earnings are said to be at around $4 million dollars.
So there you go. This was all that you need to know about Bill Klein. Keep an eye on him as we will definitely hear more from this great poker player.
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