Poker Player - Jeff Shulman
Jeff Shulman is a man of many talents and great reputation on the professional poker circuit. He is the editor of the esteemed Card Player Magazine, the son of poker authority and publisher Barry Shulman, a graduate from the University of Washington, and also a poker player with at least 4 first place finishes in live tournaments.
Jeff was born in Seattle on 18th February 1975 and started playing poker from a very early age, thanks to the tutelage of his father no doubt. It was a summer camp though, when Jeff was aged 13 that he really started to put his poker knowledge to the test, and he would regularly win around $5 per day from playing poker with his friends. Since that time, Jeff continued to pursue an interest in poker, not only as a player, but also a sporting industry.
In 2000, Jeff had an exceptionally successful year, and was very close to winning a title at the World Series of Poker $10,000 main event. He had $2 million in chips but then disastrously lost two huge pots to Chris Ferguson. Chris Ferguson went on to take the championship, and Jeff finished in 7th place, still winning $146,700.
In 2001, Jeff finished second at the Four Queens Poker Classic No Limit Hold’em event, winning over $9,000. He finished in first place at the LA Poker Classic No Limit Hold’em 2003 event, with a prize of $83,990 and then 12th place at the World Poker Tour Third Annual Five Star World Poker Classic, with cash winnings of $94,355. More recently, at the 2005 World Series of Poker, Jeff achieved 4 cash finishes, one of which was a 7th place prize of over $50,000.
Jeff’s nickname is “Happy”, and although he is not one of the most prolific winners in the poker world, he still has total tournament winnings of close to $900,000 to date. The nickname is a reference to his character at the tables, but is also an indicator of just how much Jeff loves the game. Poker makes him happy. When he is not playing poker, he is the editor of Card Player Magazine, a publication which he and his father have turned into one of the most respected and widely read poker magazines. The magazine was originally launched in 1987, but was targeted at advanced and professional poker players only. Jeff’s father, Barry Shulman, bought the publication and together the father and son team refocused the magazine and turned it into a roaring success. Card Player Magazine is now focussed at all levels of player and is filled with informative and interesting articles that go beyond “how to increase your hourly earnings.”
Jeff Shulman is currently appearing in Poker Superstars III, and is still a relatively young player, having only really become fully involved in the poker world from late 1999. In the past six years, his life is now fully immersed in poker as he balances running the magazine and also finding time to get to the tables to play. He respects a huge variety of poker players, including Daniel Negreanu, Phil Helmuth, Phil Ivey, Adam Schoenfeld, Thuan and Men Nguyen, Tony Ma, Erick Seidel, Diego Cordovez, and of course, one Barry Shulman. He is also a advocate for more televised Poker, being of the new generation of players who see the game as a worthy commercial sport that should be brought to a wider audience whenever possible. He also believes that at live tournaments, family members should not have to play at the same table, until the final table. With such a positive outlook on all things and such drive and ambition for poker, Jeff Shulman is a great ambassador for the game, and will no doubt be winning far more titles in the future.
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