William G. Klein (born c. 1948) is a retired

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

businessman and poker player from

Laguna Hills, California Laguna Hills (; ''laguna'' being ) is a city in southern Orange County, California, United States. Its name refers to its proximity to Laguna Canyon and the much older Laguna Beach. Other newer cities nearby—Laguna Niguel and Laguna Woods— ...

Poker

Klein's family was a part owner of a manufacturing company. They sold the company and he retired after being diagnosed with

throat cancer Head and neck cancer is a general term encompassing multiple cancers that can develop in the head and neck region. These include cancers of the mouth, tongue, gums and lips ( oral cancer), voice box ( laryngeal), throat ( nasopharyngeal, orophar ...

. Klein entered the 2015 $111,111 One Drop High Roller and finished as the runner-up receiving a $2,465,522 payout. Klein donated his entire payout to two charities, the Orangewood Children’s Foundation and The Shea Center for Therapeutic Riding. In 2010, Klein appeared in Season 7 of

Game Show Network Game Show Network (GSN) is an American basic cable channel owned by the television network division of Sony Pictures Television. The channel's programming is primarily dedicated to game shows, including reruns of acquired game shows, along wit ...

's ''

High Stakes Poker ''High Stakes Poker'' is an American cash game poker television program. The poker variant played on the show is no limit Texas hold 'em. The first four seasons ran from January 16, 2006 to December 17, 2007 on GSN. The next three seasons ran f ...

''. In 2015, Klein played in the $250,000 Aria Super High Roller cash game where he won a $458,500 pot after hero calling

Antonio Esfandiari Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari (; born December 8, 1978, as Amir Esfandiary), is a professional poker player and former professional magician, known for his elaborate chip tricks. Esfandiari was the face of the now-defunct poker site, Ultim ...

with on a board of . Esfandiari held for a stone cold bluff. As of 2023, Klein's live tournament winnings exceed $6,100,000.

Rankings

Klein was ranked 18th and 96th on the 2015 & 2016 Money Lists, respectively. Klein is currently ranked #180 on the

Global Poker Index The Global Poker Index (GPI) is a leaderboard index that ranks over 450,000 live tournament poker players in the world. The GPI poker rankings are updated on a weekly basis. Players’ performances are assessed by their finishing positions in pok ...

with his highest ranking being #158.

References

External links

Card Player profile

Hendon Mob profilePokerNews profile

WSOP profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Klein, Bill Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American poker players American businesspeople People from Laguna Hills, California