Gary Benson (born 1957, in Sydney, Australia) is a professional poker player and

sports bettor Sports betting is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome. The frequency of sports bet upon varies by culture, with the vast majority of bets being placed on association football, American football, basket ...

. He has won a

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 ...

bracelet in addition to other titles as a poker player.

Early life and career

Benson started playing poker during his school years, but his interest in

card games A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). A small number of card ...

was fostered at a young age by his grandmother. He attended his first live poker game in the late 1970s and has been a stalwart on the Australian and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

poker scene ever since. Benson obtained a

Bachelor of Business A Bachelor of Business (BBus, BBus (Major)) is a three to four year undergraduate degree in the field of business offered by traditional and newer universities from the post-Dawkins era in Australia, New Zealand and Ireland. It is similar in form ...

from the University of Technology, Sydney in 1983, and was admitted as a Chartered Accountant in 1985. From 1989 until his retirement in 1995, Benson worked as a partner at the chartered accountant firm

Grant Thornton Grant Thornton is the world's seventh-largest by revenue and sixth-largest by number of employees professional services network of independent accounting and consulting member firms which provide assurance, tax and advisory services to private ...

. Benson has been married twice with three daughters, and his hobbies include

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

genealogy Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...

and

travel Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel c ...

Poker career

Benson attended the first Australian Poker Championship held in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

in 1987, and has since attended nearly every major poker event in Australia and New Zealand. Benson enjoys Pot Limit Omaha and Limit

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 ...

tournaments, predominantly plays Omaha Hi/Lo online, and can often be found playing the biggest cash games at any casino he attends, usually High Limit Omaha. In addition to many tournament victories, Benson's major achievements include being crowned the Australian Poker Champion in Adelaide in 1997, and the Australian National Champion in Canberra in 2000. Benson made his first trip to

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

in 1990 and entered his first

in 1996, where he won the $1,500 Seven-card stud event to become the first Australian-born winner of a gold bracelet. On 24 April 1996, after a 15-hour battle, Benson managed to outlast the field of 247 players to take home the $148,200 prize. Benson reached the final table fourth in chips and finished heads-up with Las Vegas poker professional Billy Cohen. On the last hand, Cohen was forced all-in after Benson had won a huge pot on the previous hand. The two-hour heads-up battle was finally over when Benson's pair of Kings beat Cohen's pair of sevens. Benson also had three money finishes at the 2006 WSOP. As of 2014, Benson's total live tournament winnings exceed $2,000,000 including his 2nd-place finish in

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 ...

Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic in

in 2013 for $672,685. As of 2024, his live tournament winnings exceed $2,500,000. In January 2009, Benson was honoured to become one of the inaugural inductees into the Australian Poker Hall of Fame.

Chess career

Benson started playing chess at the age of 13 and joined the Correspondence Chess League of Australia (CCLA) in 1970. Benson is a former Australian Champion having won the Australian Correspondence Chess Championship in 2003. Benson was awarded the International Master (IM) title for Correspondence Chess in 2004, and the Senior International Master (SIM) title for Correspondence Chess in 2005.

References

External links

* *
Gary Benson
at Poker Network
Gary Benson
at The Hendon Mob * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Benson, Gary 1957 births Australian poker players Australian chess players World Series of Poker bracelet winners Sportspeople from Sydney Living people