Marc Karam (born August 28, 1980) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

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. In addition to playing in major international poker tournaments, he plays online poker.

Poker career

Late in the year 2001, Karam began playing micro-stakes home games and small local tournaments. Eventually, he deposited some money online and started to build a poker bankroll. He was a fan of professional wrestling and his friends had nicknamed him "Myst", short for "Mysterio" after his favourite professional wrestler,

Rey Mysterio Jr. Óscar Gutiérrez (born December 11, 1974), better known by his ring name Rey Mysterio, is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand. Widely regarded as one of the greatest profe ...

When he began playing online he chose to play under the name, "myst". He would deposit small amounts online and play $0.50/$1.00 no limit

holdem Of the three main types of poker (hold 'em, stud and draw), the term "hold 'em" refers to a variant of poker games where community cards are used. The more popular types of hold 'em poker include: *Texas hold 'em (sometimes it is simply called "hol ...

. Over the next 5 years, he moved up in stakes and built a bankroll in excess of $100,000 (USD). In early 2006, Karam won an entry into the ''2006

PokerStars PokerStars is an online poker cardroom that was a part of The Stars Group until it was sold to Flutter Entertainment on May 5, 2020. It can be accessed through downloadable poker clients for the Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. It is the large ...

Caribbean Adventure'' (PSCA) poker tournament by qualifying online via a "satellite" tournament. Shortly after qualifying for this event, he asked for and received a six-month sabbatical from his job at ''Transit Glass & Aluminum''. During this same sabbatical, Karam qualified for the ''2006

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 ...

(EPT) Grand Final'' in

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

through another online "satellite" tournament. He placed fourth in that tournament and quit his job to become a professional poker player. Since becoming a professional poker player, Marc has earned over $2,000,000 (USD) in major poker tournaments. He went on to place in the money at the ''4th Annual Five Star World Poker Classic'' and the July 21, 2006 No Limit Holdem event at the ''37th Annual

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 pla ...

''. He then managed to place in the top 6 at the next three major tournaments he entered; ''The 2006 North American Poker Championship'', ''The 2007 Aussie Millions'', and ''The 2007 EPT Grand Final''. Karam is the only professional player to have accomplished this feat. During the ''38th Annual

'', Karam earned over $9,000 (USD) for his 33rd-place finish in the ''World Championship Heads-Up No Limit Hold'em'' event, during which he defeated 2005 ''NBC National Heads-Up'' champion

Ted Forrest Ted Forrest (born September 24, 1964) is an American professional poker player, currently residing in Las Vegas, Nevada. Tournament wins Forrest won three bracelets at the 1993 World Series of Poker (WSOP). After the mid-1990s, Forrest turn ...

. In 2010, he entered into a sponsorship deal with online poker site,

Full Tilt Poker Full Tilt Poker is an Irish online poker card room and online casino that opened in June 2004. Formerly privately owned by Tiltware, LLC and later by the Rational Entertainment Group, the site was acquired by The Stars Group (then known as Amaya ...

References

External links

Official site

Canadian Poker Player interview

Pokerlistings.com interview

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karam, Marc 1980 births Canadian people of Lebanese descent Canadian poker players Living people People from Montreal Sportspeople of Lebanese descent