Amir Vahedi (February 25, 1961 – January 8, 2010) was an

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

professional poker player born in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. who won a World Series of Poker (WSOP)

bracelet A bracelet is an article of jewellery that is worn around the wrist. Bracelets may serve different uses, such as being worn as an ornament. When worn as ornaments, bracelets may have a supportive function to hold other items of decoration, suc ...

at the 2003 World Series of Poker in the $1,500 No Limit Hold'em event.

World Series of Poker

Vahedi was named No Limit Texas hold 'em player of the year in 2001 and was runner-up to

Men Nguyen Men "The Master" Nguyen ( vi, Nguyễn Văn Mến; born 1954 in Phan Thiet, Vietnam) is a Vietnamese-American professional poker player. Personal life In 1967, he dropped out of school at age 13 and became a bus driver to help support his fam ...

for Card Player Magazine's 2003 Player of the Year. In 2003 he made the final table of the Main Event of the World Series of Poker and finished sixth, earning $250,000. Earlier in the series, he won his first WSOP bracelet in the $1,500 No Limit Hold'em event for $270,000. During the 2003 World Series of Poker, in reference to the natural tendency of players to tighten up on the bubble (when only a few eliminations are left to the money), Vahedi stated: "In order to live, you must be willing to die." Vahedi was also the season three champion of the

Ultimate Poker Challenge The Ultimate Poker Challenge (UPC) was a series of weekly poker tournaments acting as super-satellites into the series semi-finals. The first and second seasons are available on NTSC DVD. In the United States, it was a syndicated program. Form ...

. During his lifetime, Vahedi won over $3,250,000 in live tournament play. His nine cashes at the WSOP account for $671,216 of those winnings.World Series of Poker Earnings
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World Series of Poker bracelet

Personal life

Vahedi served in the

Iranian army The Islamic Republic of Iran Army Ground Forces ( fa, نیروی زمینی ارتش جمهوری اسلامی ایران, ''Niroo-ye Zamini-ye Artesh-e Jomhuri-ye Eslâmi-ye Iran''), acronymed NEZAJA ( fa, نزاجا, NEZEJA) are the ground forc ...

during the

Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Ba'athist Iraq, Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations S ...

before becoming a war refugee and immigrating to the US, settling in Sherman Oaks, California. He was one of

Ben Affleck Benjamin Géza Affleck (born August 15, 1972) is an American actor and filmmaker. His accolades include two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a Volpi Cup. Affleck began his career as a child when he starred in the PBS education ...

's early poker tutors. Vahedi died at the age of 48 due to possible complications of

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...

on January 8, 2010.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vahedi, Amir 1961 births 2010 deaths Iranian poker players World Series of Poker bracelet winners Deaths from diabetes People from Tehran Iranian emigrants to the United States Islamic Republic of Iran Army soldiers of the Iran–Iraq War