Paul Darden, Jr. (born October 27, 1968) is an American professional poker player, rap music promoter, and

night club A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

owner from

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

Early years

He was accused of murder at the age of 15, due to

mistaken identity Mistaken identity is a defense in criminal law which claims the actual innocence of the criminal defendant, and attempts to undermine evidence of guilt by asserting that any eyewitness to the crime incorrectly thought that they saw the defenda ...

but was acquitted. Poker was Darden's way of turning his life around, and he was helped in this by his

mentor Mentorship is the influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the personal and p ...

Phil Ivey Phillip Dennis Ivey Jr. (born February 1, 1977) is an American professional poker player who has won ten World Series of Poker bracelets, one World Poker Tour title, and appeared at nine World Poker Tour final tables. Ivey is regarded by numero ...

Poker career

Originally, he was best known as a

seven-card stud Seven-card stud, also known as Seven-Toed Pete or Down-The-River is a variant of stud poker. Before the 2000s surge of popularity of Texas hold 'em, seven-card stud was the most widely played poker variant in home games across the United States ...

player, where he had several notable tournament finishes in 2000 prior to winning 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) bracelet in 2001 for the $2,500 seven-card stud event, defeating Tom Franklin heads-up. In 2002, Darden won a

World Poker Tour The World Poker Tour (WPT) is an internationally televised gaming and entertainment brand. Since 2002, the World Poker Tour has operated a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting playdown and the f ...

(WPT) title in the $3,000 main event of the Gold Rush tournament. He would later finish in 2nd place behind

Gus Hansen Gustav Hansen (born 13 February 1974) is a Danish professional poker player from Copenhagen, Denmark who has lived in Monaco since 2003. In his poker career, Hansen has won three World Poker Tour open titles, one WSOP bracelet and the 2007 Aus ...

in the WPT Bad Boys of Poker invitational event. Additionally, in March 2005 he finished 5th in the $10,000 main event of the PartyPoker.com Million IV cruise. In 2003, he made his first money finish in the $10,000 WSOP main event, finishing in 45th place. He cashed in the same event in 2005. Darden is also the mentor of professional poker player Amnon Filippi. As of 2010, his total live tournament winnings exceed $2,100,000 with his 16 cashes at the WSOP accounting for $287,456 of those winnings.

References

External links

World Poker Tour Profile

Hendon Mob tournament results

{{DEFAULTSORT:Darden, Paul American poker players Living people World Poker Tour winners World Series of Poker bracelet winners 1968 births Nightclub owners People acquitted of murder