Greenstein Wins WPT "Poker By the Book" Tourney

Filed in archive Tournament News on April 30, 2007

Barry Greenstein is well-known for his poker playing ability. Whether its playing on High Stakes Poker, at Bobby's Room slinging thousand chips for the largest limits found in Vegas, or taking down World Poker Tour tourneys, Greenstein is a well known for his charity as well.

For many years Greenstein has given his tournament winnings to Children Inc. to assist disadvantaged children and give them a little hope where it might be hard to some while on the streets or living in poverty.

Recently, Barry took down yet another World Poker Tour event called the "Poker by the Book" invitational versus five other poker player/authors who put down their quills to compete for a free entry into next year's WPT Championship and the right to call themselves a "WPT Champion".

Barry's book "Ace on the River" gave some of his secrets into keeping a bankroll and a level head while sorting through the psychological part of poker.

Here's a recap of the single table tourney from PokerNews' B.J. Nemeth:

The World Poker Tour taped its 100th episode Friday night in dramatic fashion, as Carlos Mortensen won nearly $4 million and made history as the only player to win both major poker championships.

The WPT was back to work Saturday, taping episode #101. The lineup was incredible, featuring three former WPT winners (Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, and Antonio Esfandiari) and three former WSOP champions (Tom McEvoy '83, Johnny Chan '87-88, and Dan Harrington '95).

It was a WPT special invitational episode -- Poker by the Book, Chapter II. Each of these players was also a poker author.

The WPT single-table specials don't attract much attention, even with a star-studded lineup. Instead of playing for millions of dollars, there is just a single prize -- the winner gets a $25,500 entry into next season's WPT World Championship. With minimal stakes, there's much less drama -- but no shortage of fun. Be sure to check out our video from the set at the bottom of this story, complete with interviews of many of the players involved.

During the first level, the atmosphere was reminiscent of the popular show High Stakes Poker. The WPT will be joining HSP on the Game Show Network for season 6, when this episode will likely air.

Keeping with the literary theme, there were plenty of book references. In hand #4, Greenstein flopped a full house in a three-way pot, winning a small pot in a showdown against Negreanu. As Greenstein showed his lucky cards, Esfandiari asked, "Which chapter is that, Barry?"

With 101 WPT episodes complete, Greenstein has won four of them, though he is quick to point out that two were "real" victories (Tunica 2004 and Celebrity Invitational 2006) and two were minor (this one and the 2006 Fathers & Sons special).

There was a final bit of literary justice on this day. In the last hand, McEvoy was drawing dead on the turn, and the tournament was effectively over. The meaningless last card? An ace on the river.