John Anthony Cernuto (born January 10, 1944, in Jersey City,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

) also known as ''Miami'', is an American professional poker player based in

Las Vegas, Nevada 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 Vega ...

, specialising in Omaha hi-lo events. Cernuto has won over $5,500,000 in live tournament winnings, his largest score was for $259,150 from his $2,000 No Limit Hold'em

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 ...

victory in the 1997 World Series of Poker.

Early years

Before embarking on his poker career, Cernuto graduated Florida State University as a finance major. After graduating, he worked as an

air traffic controller Air traffic control specialists, abbreviated ATCS, are personnel responsible for the safe, orderly, and expeditious flow of air traffic in the global air traffic control system. Usually stationed in air traffic control centers and control ...

. When

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Ronald Reagan fired the air traffic controllers during a 1981 strike, he turned to poker for his profession.

Poker career

World Series of Poker

He first cashed in 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) after making the final table in the 1989 World Series of Poker in the $5,000

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 ...

event. He finished fourth in the final table, which featured

David Sklansky David Sklansky (born December 22, 1947) is an American professional poker player and author. An early writer on poker strategy, he is known for his mathematical approach to the game. His key work ''The Theory of Poker'' presents fundamental p ...

Humberto Brenes Humberto Brenes (; born May 8, 1951) is a Costa Rican professional poker player. Brenes currently resides in Miami Lakes, Florida with his wife (Patricia) and three children (José Humberto, Roberto, Jessica). Brenes began his gambling career ...

Gabe Kaplan Gabriel Weston Kaplan (born March 31, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, and professional poker player. He played the eponymous teacher in the 1970s sitcom ''Welcome Back, Kotter''. He later became a professional poker player and a commenta ...

, and the tournament winner

Don Holt Don Holt is an American poker player. He has won a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet and has cashed in various events at the WSOP including the Main Event. Holt began playing at the WSOP in the 1980s. He won his bracelet at the 1989 Worl ...

. Five WSOP cashes followed before Cernuto won his first bracelet in the 1996 WSOP $1,500 seven card stud split tournament. He also won the $2,000

no limit No Limit may refer to: Music Record labels *No Limit Records, a record label founded by Master P * No Limit Forever Records, a record label founded by Romeo Miller, son of Master P Albums * ''No Limit'' (Art Pepper album), 1977 * ''No Limit'' ...

hold'em Texas hold 'em (also known as Texas holdem, hold 'em, and holdem) is one of the most popular variants of the card game of poker. Two cards, known as hole cards, are dealt face down to each player, and then five community cards are dealt fac ...

event in the 1997 World Series of Poker and the $1,500

limit Limit or Limits may refer to: Arts and media * ''Limit'' (manga), a manga by Keiko Suenobu * ''Limit'' (film), a South Korean film * Limit (music), a way to characterize harmony * "Limit" (song), a 2016 single by Luna Sea * "Limits", a 2019 ...

Omaha event in the

2002 World Series of Poker The 2002 World Series of Poker (WSOP) was held at Binion's Horseshoe. The 2002 WSOP was historically notable for two reasons. The series was the first WSOP in which pocket cams were installed to allow broadcasters (on tape delay) to show the pla ...

. Cernuto made an impressive three final tables in the

2006 World Series of Poker The 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP) began on June 25, 2006 with satellite events, with regular play commencing on June 26 with the annual Casino Employee event, and the Tournament of Champions held on June 28 and 29. 40 more events in various ...

, two in

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, ...

and one in Razz. During the $2,500 Razz tournament of the

2009 WSOP The 2009 World Series of Poker was the 40th annual World Series of Poker (WSOP). It was held at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, and ran from May 27 to July 15. There were 57 bracelet events, culminating in the $10,000 No- ...

, Cernuto collapsed and was taken to a hospital, where he spent the night after being diagnosed with internal bleeding. At the

2011 World Series of Poker The 2011 World Series of Poker was the 42nd annual World Series of Poker (WSOP). The WSOP is the most prestigious poker tournament in the world with the winner of the Main Event considered to be the World Champion. It was held at the Rio All Suit ...

Main Event, Cernuto finished in 345th place for his best career placement in the World Championship. As of the

2016 World Series of Poker The 2016 World Series of Poker was the 47th annual World Series of Poker (WSOP). Most of the events occurred May 31 – July 18 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. There were 69 bracelet events, including the $10,000 No Lim ...

, Cernuto has cashed in at least one event at the World Series of Poker every year since 1992. His 65 cashes place him in the top 15 of the all time WSOP tournament cashes list.

World Series of Poker bracelets

Other poker achievements

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

, Cernuto won the $1,000 Seven Card Stud event at Amarillo Slim's Super Bowl of Poker tournament series, earning a cash prize of $58,000 in addition to the title. The victory at the SBOP was Cernuto's first career victory in a major poker tournament. In 2003, he won the third

World Heads-Up Poker Championship The World Heads-Up Poker Championship (WHUPC) was an annual elimination-format poker tournament of heads-up no limit Texas hold'em matches. The tournament was co-created by Late Night Poker's Nic Szeremeta, PokerInEurope's Jon Shoreman, and gamin ...

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, outlasting a field including fellow professionals

Ivo Donev Ivo Donev (born 25 December 1959) is a Bulgarian, with Austrian passport, who is a professional chess and poker player. Chess His father, Hristo Donev was a national master at chess. Ivo Donev won the 1989 CSSR International Chess Tournament ...

Ram Vaswani Ram "Crazy Horse" Vaswani (born 1 September 1970 from Finchley, Greater London) is an former professional poker and snooker player and the youngest member of The Hendon Mob, a group of professional poker players. He resides in Finchley wi ...

Dave Colclough David E. Colclough (4 March 1964 – 18 October 2016) was a Welsh poker player. Early life Colclough was born in Carmarthen. Prior to becoming a poker professional, he worked in IT. He left IT after the 2000 World Series of Poker. Poker ...

Scotty Nguyen Thuận B. "Scotty" Nguyễn (born October 28, 1962) is a Vietnamese-American professional poker player who is a five-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, most notably as the winner of the 1998 World Series of Poker Main Event and ...

, and

Padraig Parkinson Padraig Parkinson (born 1957 in Galway) is an Irish poker player. He is chiefly recognised as the grand final winner of Late Night Poker series 5 (where he defeated Korosh Nejad) and as the third-place finisher of the 1999 World Series of Poker ...

on the way to the €60,000 grand prize. Cernuto has also made one

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) final table at the 2005

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 l ...

Caribbean Poker Adventure event won by John Gale.

Poker Winnings / Accolades

As of 2017, his total live tournament winnings exceed $5,500,000. His 65 cashes at the WSOP account for $1,715,840 of those winnings. In 2019, actor James Woods, a close friend of John's coined him the “Ironman of Poker”, as John is the all-time leader in poker tournament cashes. At the 2020 Global Poker Awards John was given the distinguished “Hendon Mob” award for his lifetime tournament cashes record.

Blackjack

Cernuto has made appearances on the ''

Ultimate Blackjack Tour The ''Ultimate Blackjack Tour'' was a televised series of Elimination Blackjack tournaments that aired in syndication. It debuted on September 16, 2006. The show consists of a series of televised Elimination Blackjack tournaments. The winner of ea ...

'', making a final table in the

Elimination Blackjack Elimination Blackjack is a tournament format of blackjack invented by Russ Hamilton, that was played on the Ultimate Blackjack Tour and in various casinos. It combines the game of blackjack with elements of No Limit Texas Hold'Em. Unlike Texas Hol ...

event where he played in a tournament format of the game of blackjack.

Personal life

Cernuto is divorced. He has a son, Tony, who is also a poker player and a daughter, Deborah.

Notes

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cernuto, John 1944 births American poker players Living people Florida State University alumni World Series of Poker bracelet winners Super Bowl of Poker event winners People from Jersey City, New Jersey People from the Las Vegas Valley Air traffic controllers