JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
It’s been all gimmels for Gershon Distenfeld at the 2020 World Series of Poker main event. The Orthodox Jewish resident of Bergenfield, New Jersey, is one of nine contestants to advance to the last round of the no-limit Texas Hold ‘em tournament, whose winner — considered to be the world champion of poker in a…
An Israeli mystery man has made it to the final round of the United States’s most prestigious poker tournament, besting some of the world’s top poker players along the way. Unlike other finalists, some of whom are well-known in tournament poker circles, Ofer Zvi Stern has no obvious online presence and hasn’t taken home a…
Ari Engel, the son of an Orthodox rabbi, has become one of the world’s best professional poker players over the last few years. Engel says poker is a game of skill, not chance. Here are his top five tips for becoming a better player. Patience is a virtue. I know you didn’t travel to the…
(JTA) — Ari Engel is homeless. It’s been a decade since he last held a regular job and two years since he gave up his apartment. But don’t shed any tears for him. Over the last 10 years or so, Engel has grossed about $5 million playing poker. The son of an Orthodox rabbi, Engel,…
A Montreal man skipped both of his mother’s seders to advance in a poker tournament in which he won more than $1 million. Eric Afriat on April 16 won the World Poker Tour/Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown in Hollywood, Florida. He missed both seders at his mother’s home in West Boca Raton, Fla. as he…
Israel native Amir Lehavot finished in third place in the World Series of Poker, taking home about $3.7 million. Lehavot, 38, who lives in South Florida, was eliminated Tuesday morning. The tournament in Las Vegas started on July 6 with 6,352 competitors who each bought in for $10,000. He moved to the United States from…
Who could have imagined that cigars and poker would be the main ingredients in the recipe of rescue of Jews on the cusp of World War II? “Rescue in the Philippines: Refuge from the Holocaust,” tells the story of how the five Frieder brothers from Cincinnati, built a cigar empire in Manila and with the…
