Hossein Ensan (born 22 May 1964) is an Iranian-German professional poker player from Greven, Germany. In 2019, he won the

Main Event In sports, a card lists the matches taking place in a title match combat-sport event. Cards include a main event match and the undercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into a midcard and a lower card, according to ...

at the

World Series of Poker The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada and, since 2004, sponsored by Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker p ...

for $10,000,000. Ensan was born in Iran and moved to Germany in 1989 at the age of 25. There, he studied civil engineering at the University of Munster. He was unable to pay his bills, especially at the time when he was beginning a family. He has a daughter named Minusch Greshake and a wife named Alexa Greshake. He started working small jobs, such as a taxi driver, waiter, and painter. He then managed to start a taxi business in 2002, buying three cars, and had enough time to start his poker career. This was a late start, being 39 at that time. However, he stated that he knew the rules of poker since he played five-card draw when he was a kid. In August 2014, Ensan won the seniors event at the

European Poker Tour The European Poker Tour (EPT) is a series of poker tournaments similar to those in the World Poker Tour (WPT), created by John Duthie, winner of the inaugural Poker Million tournament. It began in 2004 as part of the worldwide explosion in Tex ...

's Barcelona festival, then a week later he finished third out of 1,496 players in the Main Event for €652,000. He also made the final table at EPT Malta in March 2015, finishing in sixth. Finally, he made his third EPT final table in Prague that December and won the tournament for €754,000. Ensan won a WSOP circuit ring in Rozvadov,

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

in 2017. He had just one WSOP cash prior to the 2019 Main Event, in the Colossus event at the WSOP Europe in 2017. At the 2019 Main Event in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

, Ensan entered the final table with the chip lead, having more than a third of the chips in play. On the 301st hand of the final table, he defeated Italian professional poker player Dario Sammartino heads-up, with against Sammartino's . His opponent check-raised all in on a board and Ensan quickly called, with the river card coming up a blank. At age 55, Ensan became the oldest Main Event champion since

Noel Furlong John James Furlong (25 December 1937 – 27 June 2021) was an Irish businessman and poker player who won the 1999 World Series of Poker main event. Early life Furlong was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland. He originally became a milliona ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

and the second German champion after

Pius Heinz Pius Heinz (born 4 May 1989) is a German professional poker player from Bonn, best known as the winner of the Main Event at the 2011 World Series of Poker. He is the first German player to capture the Main Event bracelet. He defeated Czech ...

in 2011. As of January 2020, Ensan's total live earnings exceed $13,000,000.

World Series of Poker bracelets

Biggest scores

References

External links

WSOP.com profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ensan, Hossein 1964 births Living people German poker players Iranian poker players World Series of Poker Main Event winners World Series of Poker bracelet winners World Series of Poker Circuit event winners European Poker Tour winners Sportspeople from Münster Iranian emigrants to Germany German taxi drivers