Michael Gathy is a professional poker player from

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

with many successes in live and

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poker, including

World Series of Poker bracelet The World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet is considered the most coveted non-monetary prize a poker player can win. Since 1976, a bracelet has been awarded to the winner of every event at the annual WSOP. Even if the victory occurred before 1 ...

s at the

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and the

2020 World Series of Poker The 2020 World Series of Poker (WSOP) was the 51st edition of the event. Originally scheduled to begin on May 26 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There were 101 WSOP brace ...

. He is one of two players that have won 4 NLHE

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in the decade 2011-2020, alongside

Dominik Nitsche Dominik Nitsche (born 1990) is a professional poker player, originally from Minden, Germany but now residing in Edinburgh, Scotland. Nitsche began playing poker online in 2006, amassing winnings exceeding $3 million. In 2009, playing in his fi ...

. He was also the first person to win a

WSOP 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 pl ...

turbo In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pr ...

event.

Online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" o ...

he has won multiple SCOOP events and

WCOOP The World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) is an online poker tournament series sponsored by PokerStars. It is played on the PokerStars website in September. Established in 2002, WCOOP is PokerStars' attempt to establish the online equivalent ...

events on

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Background

Gathy had been a medical student prior to becoming a professional poker player. He learned to play poker

from a website that gave him $50 to begin with and started reading poker articles while learning to play. He eventually quit medical school when he started making a lot of money in mixed cash games online, so he could fully focus on his poker career.

Career highlights

In 2011, Gathy won the €175,000 first place prize in the

Belgian Poker Series €1,500 + €200 buy-in Grand Final in Namur. The year after, Gathy defeated a final table that included former bracelet winners John Esposito and

Eric Baldwin Eric Baldwin (born in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin) is a professional poker player from Henderson, Nevada who won the 2009 World Series of Poker $1,500 No Limit Hold'em event earning $521,991 and was the runner-up in the World Poker Tour $25,000 No Li ...

to win Event 21 $1,000 NLHE at the

. With 2,799 entrants, it was one of the largest events of the 2012 World Series. This victory made Gathy the second ever Belgian bracelet-winner (following Davidi Kitai). It was just the second

event he had ever competed in. When Gathy won the 1,629-entrant Event 34 $1,000 Turbo NLHE against a final table that included Jake Cody and Jason Duval, it marked the first

bracelet ever awarded for a turbo event. That day he was wearing the same green T-shirt he won his first bracelet with. Gathy joined Kitai, who won the $5,000 Pot Limit Hold'em 2013 World Series of Poker Event 19, as the only Belgian multiple bracelet winners. In

, he completed his

hattrick A hat-trick (commonly known as a hat trick), in various sports, means achieving three goals, three wickets in three deliveries, etc. in a single match. Hat trick, hat-trick or hattrick may refer to: * "Hat Trick" (''Once Upon a Time''), an episod ...

by winning the 541-entrant $5,000 NLHE 6-max Event 35 for $560,843. His fellow countryman (and high stakes regular) Thomas Boivin bubbled the final table, he busted in 7th place. Gathy's 4th

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 ...

win came in the last event of the 2020 WSOP, which was held online because of

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. He also has two second place finishes at the

World Series of Poker

An "O" following a year denotes bracelet(s) won during the World Series of Poker Online

Notes

External links

Michael Gathy
at Hendonmob.com
Michael Gathy
at ''

Bluff Magazine ''Bluff'' was an American magazine specializing in the game of poker. Separate editions were also published for Europe, Latin America, South Africa and Australasia. The American edition began as a bimonthly in October 2004 and went monthly in Aug ...

''
Michael Gathy
at ''

Card Player Card players are those participating in a card game. Various names are given to card players based on their role or position. Position Games of Anglo-American origin In games of Anglo-American origin played in English-speaking countries, ...

''
Michael Gathy
at WSOP.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Gathy, Michael Belgian poker players World Series of Poker bracelet winners Living people Sportspeople from Brussels Year of birth missing (living people)