Julian Gardner is a
poker player from
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
.
Gardner is a second-generation professional, following in the footsteps of his father Dave. He started going to a local
casino
A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...
at the age of 15. By the time he was 20 he had won 10 tournaments. By 21, he had made 25 final tables.
In 2000 he entered 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 ...
(WSOP) main event for the first time. He tripled up within two hours to become the early chip leader. However, he was unable to make it through that day. Gardner was unable to attend the tournament in 2001.
At the age of 24, he finished second in the main event of the
2002 World Series of Poker
The 2002 World Series of Poker (WSOP) was held at Binion's Horseshoe.
The 2002 WSOP was historically notable for two reasons. The series was the first WSOP in which pocket cams were installed to allow broadcasters (on tape delay) to show the pla ...
, becoming the youngest player ever to win $1 million in a poker tournament.
Gardner also finished in the money at the main event in 2003 and 2004, making him the only player to finish in the money in 2002, 2003 and 2004. He qualified for the 2005 WSOP on the website Betfair. Although he did not make it into the money in the 2005 Main Event, he made 4 money finishes in other events, including the $5,000 No Limit Hold-Em tournament won by
T. J. Cloutier and the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha tournament won by
Barry Greenstein
Barry Greenstein (born December 30, 1954, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American professional poker player. He has won a number of major events, including three at the World Series of Poker and two on the World Poker Tour. Greenstein donates his ...
. Gardner also cashed in the 2007 main event coming in 64th place for $130,288.
Gardner also made appearances on the ''
Late Night Poker
''Late Night Poker'' is a British television series that helped popularize poker in the 2000s. It used "under the table" cameras that enabled the viewer to see each player's cards.
The show originally ran for six series between 1999 and 2002 ...
'' television series. He was also a member of the winning British team in the
Poker Nations Cup The Poker Nations Cup is an international poker tournament, televised on Channel 4 from March 2006 onwards.
The series is commentated by Jesse May and Barny Boatman. Padraig Parkinson covered for Boatman in preliminary match 2.
The series was film ...
. He is the co-author of the book ''The Secrets of Online Power Poker''.
As of 2015, his total live tournament winnings exceed $2,400,000. His 14 cashes at the WSOP account for $1,688,876 of those winnings.
He finished 3rd at the final table at
Poker Million VI winning his biggest prize since the 2002 WSOP, $250,000.
Gardner is engaged to poker player Kerry "Pint Size" Clarke. They both reached the semi-final of the 2005
888.com UK Poker Open, where Gardner eliminated her.
UK Legends of Poker: Julian Gardner
/ref>
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gardner, Julian
English poker players
English non-fiction writers
British gambling writers
Living people
English male non-fiction writers
Year of birth missing (living people)