Upeshka De Silva is a Sri Lankan-American professional poker player from

Katy, Texas Katy is a city in the U.S. state of Texas within the Greater Katy area, itself forming the western part of the Greater Houston metropolitan area. Homes and businesses may have Katy postal addresses without being in the City of Katy. The city of ...

. A three-time

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 ...

(WSOP)

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winner, in 2020 he made the final table of the WSOP Main Event. De Silva was born in 1988, in

Colombo, Sri Lanka Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo met ...

and moved to the city of Katy, Texas in the United States when he 2 years old. He graduated from the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

with degrees in history and political science. At first, De Silva played in small home games with his high school friends. He got especially hooked on poker after the Moneymaker phenomenon and reading Doyle Brunson’s Super/System 2 book. In 2012, he began his poker career playing private cash games in Texas. De Silva made his first WSOP final table in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

when he finished in seventh in the $1,500 Millionaire Maker event. In

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, he won his first bracelet, outlasting a field of 1,655 in a $1,500 No Limit Hold'em event and earning $424,577. He also finished in 36th place in the Main Event that year. On Day 5 of the Main Event, he made a memorable call against

Fedor Holz Fedor Holz (born 25 July 1993) is a German professional poker player, originally from Saarbrücken, who focuses on high roller tournaments. He was ranked by Pocketfives.com as the best online MTT player in 2014 and 2015. In July 2016, Holz w ...

with on a board of after Holz had moved all-in on the river. De Silva's second WSOP bracelet came in a $3,000 No Limit Hold'em Shootout event in

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. He added a third bracelet in an online event on WSOP.com in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

. De Silva had made five WSOP final tables and cashed 49 times for $1,613,000 prior to the 2020 Main Event. De Silva made the final table of the 2020 Main Event, the first portion of which was held on WSOP.com, in eighth chip position. The day before the final table, however, he tested positive for COVID-19 and was disqualified, being awarded ninth place. De Silva has also made three final tables on the World Poker Tour. In 2016, he finished in third place at the Legends of Poker, earning $198,270; he was knocked out of the tournament by Pat Lyons after losing with to when a queen hit on the river. He also finished in fifth at the WPT Montreal in November 2018. In March 2020, De Silva made the final table of the L.A. Poker Classic, but the tournament was delayed more than a year by the COVID-19 pandemic; he eventually finished in sixth place. As of 2021, De Silva has live tournament winnings of $3,109,000.

World Series of Poker bracelets

References

External links

Hendon Mob profileWSOP profileWPT profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Silva, Upeshka American poker players World Series of Poker bracelet winners University of Houston alumni People from Katy, Texas American people of Sri Lankan descent Living people Year of birth missing (living people)