Russell Aaron Boyd (born December 24, 1980), commonly known as Dutch Boyd, is an American professional
poker
Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...
player from
Culver City, California
Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most d ...
(originally from
Columbia, Missouri
Columbia is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is the county seat of Boone County and home to the University of Missouri. Founded in 1821, it is the principal city of the five-county Columbia metropolitan area. It is Missouri's fourth ...
).
Inspired by the 1998 movie ''
Rounders
Rounders is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams. Rounders is a striking and fielding team game that involves hitting a small, hard, leather-cased ball with a rounded end wooden, plastic, or metal bat. The players score by running aroun ...
'', Boyd began playing
online poker
Online poker is the game of poker played over the Internet. It has been partly responsible for a huge increase in the number of poker players worldwide. Christiansen Capital Advisors stated online poker revenues grew from $82.7 million in 2001 t ...
day and night through his last year of law school. After graduating law school, Dutch moved to California and began playing poker during the day and working for a department store at night. During this time, Boyd and his brother decided to begin an
online casino
Online casinos, also known as virtual casinos or Internet casinos, are online versions of traditional ("brick and mortar") casinos. Online casinos enable gamblers to play and wager on casino games through the Internet. It is a prolific form of o ...
specializing in poker. He raised $50,000 from family and friends and began the PokerSpot website, which would eventually fail and spark controversy.
After the failure of PokerSpot, Boyd suffered from a series of self-alleged mental problems, eventually leading to his commitment for a short time in
Antigua
Antigua ( ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the native population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Bar ...
.
Personal life
Russell Boyd lives in Las Vegas and is in a long term relationship with his girlfriend Michelle.
Poker career
World Series of Poker
Boyd received substantial media attention during his deep run on the
2003 World Series of Poker
The 2003 World Series of Poker (WSOP) was held at Binion's Horseshoe.
Preliminary events
Main Event
There were 839 entrants to the main event. Each paid $10,000 to enter what was the largest poker tournament ever played in a brick and mortar ca ...
Main Event, where he finished in 12th place. He was involved in a key hand late in the tournament with
Chris Moneymaker
Christopher Bryan Moneymaker (born November 21, 1975) is an American poker player who won the Main Event at the 2003 World Series of Poker (WSOP). His 2003 win is said to have revolutionized poker because he was the first person to become a worl ...
. Boyd held KQ and Moneymaker had pocket 3s. After the 9 2 5 flop had missed Boyd, Moneymaker bet $100,000, and Dutch forced him all-in on a bluff. Moneymaker thought for a while about calling, but eventually did put his tournament life on the line. Boyd did not improve on his over cards and was left with a very small stack. Boyd would go down in 12th place not long after the hand, and Moneymaker would go on to win the tournament. Shortly after this, he founded a group of young poker players called ''The Crew'' that achieved notable success. In addition to playing poker professionally, Boyd attempted to establish another online poker room which charged players a monthly membership fee rather than rake in order to play.
Boyd's new endeavor would not materialize.
Boyd has won three WSOP bracelets in his career. His first came in the
2006 World Series of Poker, where he won a $2,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em Six Max event for $475,712, his largest tournament win to date. He won his second in
2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
in a $2,500 Limit Hold'em/Six Handed event, and his third in
2014 in a $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em event.
Other poker ventures
In 2007, Boyd won a $1,000 buy-in event at the Five Diamond World Poker Classic for a $237,685 prize.
Poker earnings
As of 2016, Boyd's total live tournament winnings exceed $2,530,000.
His 40 cashes at the WSOP account for $1,731,187 of those winnings.
World Series of Poker bracelets
Online poker
PokerSpot controversy
Prior to his professional poker career, Boyd was the president and co-founder of the PokerSpot
online poker
Online poker is the game of poker played over the Internet. It has been partly responsible for a huge increase in the number of poker players worldwide. Christiansen Capital Advisors stated online poker revenues grew from $82.7 million in 2001 t ...
cardroom, which operated from May 2000 to late 2001. PokerSpot was based out of
Antigua
Antigua ( ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the native population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Bar ...
, but Boyd never obtained an Antiguan gaming license for the cardroom. When PokerSpot ceased operations, the cardroom did not refund $400,000 of player funds. A substantial controversy has arisen from actions taken by Boyd and the staff of PokerSpot during this time.
According to Boyd, in January 2001, PokerSpot's credit card processor was late in transferring player funds to PokerSpot. As a result, PokerSpot did not have all the player funds that were being used at their site. Eventually this resulted in PokerSpot being shorted six weeks of credit card deposits, which PokerSpot could not cover. Players were unable to cash out, and eventually the site shut down.
When financial problems began with PokerSpot, players who called PokerSpot customer support requesting withdrawal of their deposited funds were told many different stories, ranging from a 30-business-day hold to a promise that their checks were "already in the mail." In an online newsgroup in November 2002, Boyd admitted that players had been deceived. Boyd stated that he told his Customer Support staff to, "... spin it so that the players don't feel the need to make a mad rush on the cardroom OR the need to tell everyone they know that PokerSpot
sgoing to hell in a handbasket. Spin it so that the players continue to just keep on playing."
Boyd also angered many players by regularly sending e-mails and posting on the ''rec.gambling.poker'' newsgroup in 2000 and 2001, stating that PokerSpot would "make good on all pending cashouts."
As of May 2021, this promise has not been fulfilled.
There is a disagreement regarding a potential PokerSpot buyout offer that might have refunded all money deposited by former PokerSpot players.
Burton Ritchie
Burton Ritchie is a convicted drug dealer and money launderer, currently serving 20 years in federal prison.
Life and career
Ritchie was born in Fairhope, Alabama. He became involved with politics in 1994 when he ran against sitting councilman Do ...
posted an open letter on RGP in January 2003 stating the details of the buyout offer, which included the paying off of existing debts and a $200,000 payday and 10% equity stake for Boyd in the new company. While defending himself against Ritchie's claims, Boyd subsequently acknowledged that he had indeed backed out of a deal with Ritchie to pursue a better deal with Golden Palace. Boyd claims that Golden Palace backed out of their deal, which lead Boyd to try and revisit the Ritchie deal, only to find that Ritchie was no longer interested.
In a newsgroup posting in 2007, Russ's brother Robert Boyd claimed that CyberWorld Group/Golden Palace reneged after hiring away PokerSpot's lead developer.
Two Plus Two lawsuit
In December 2009, Two Plus Two Publishing, a poker publisher founded by
Mason Malmuth
Mason Malmuth is an American poker player, and author of books on both poker and gambling. He is the owner of Two Plus Two Publishing, which publishes books and runs an online gambling discussion forum.
Malmuth was born in 1951 and grew up in C ...
, filed a lawsuit in federal court in Las Vegas alleging that Boyd and his co-defendant, Jacksname.com, took actions that “have disrupted or are intended to disrupt Two Plus Two’s business by, among other things, diverting web users away from Two Plus Two’s Web sites and forums".
Boyd allegedly registered a domain name using the phrase "Two Plus Two" and the word "poker” and later linked the domain name to a poker strategy and gaming services website.
Boyd’s response to the lawsuit was that it is "without merit and is designed to encourage me to pay him
almuthoff or face a substantial legal bill defending myself against it."
Two Plus Two Publishing's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment was granted by Judge Kent J. Dawson on March 1, 2012. Statutory damages in the amount of $25,000 were awarded to the plaintiff, and attorney’s fees and costs were awarded in the amount of $33,985.45.
''Poker Tilt'' book
In March 2013, Boyd announced his first poker book titled ''Poker Tilt'', co-authored by Laurence Samuels. Boyd used the crowdfunding platform
Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
to fund publishing the book, which was released on May 13, 2014.
Twitch
Apart from playing poker and writing about it, Boyd also Vlogs about it and has a Twitch channel.
References
External links
Official siteBoyd's book projectA historical archive of rec.gambling.poker newsgroup posts about BoydPokerListings.com player profileTwitch*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyd, Dutch
1980 births
American poker players
Living people
People with bipolar disorder
World Series of Poker bracelet winners
People from Columbia, Missouri
People from Culver City, California
People from Port Orchard, Washington