Oliver "Ali" Nejad

Oliver “Ali” Nejad, who was born to Iranian parents in 1978, is best known in the poker world as a commentator on the sport. His voice is almost synonymous with televised poker having appeared on some of the top rated shows such as Poker After Dark and The National Heads-Up Poker Championship.

Nejad had been working as a reporter for an NBC affiliate in the San Francisco Bay area, an occupation that started when he was still in high school, when he happened to meet Mori Eskandani, a highly successful tournament director, in a game of poker. The two got chatting, mainly about poker and the role television was having on the game, when Nejad plucked up the courage and told of his desire to become a commentator.

This game was no one-off for Nejad who had been forging a career in poker in his homestate of California before this meeting. He left Berkeley College early and became a poker player, a game he used as an escape.

In December 1998, Nejad’s girlfriend died in a car accident. Two days later her mother committed suicide. Whilst many people would turn to drink, cigarettes, drugs or even vast amounts of coffee in this situation, those were avenues that Nejad didn’t partake in. He was offered prescriptions to help him cope but he turned down those as well. Instead he turned to poker and spent his time in casinos slowly building up a bankroll.

At the time of his girlfriend’s death he stopped working for NBC and he cut off his links with MTV. He was in middle of talks with the company to host the pilot of TRL. Instead, Carson Daly got the gig.

He made money from all varieties of the game: online, dealer, prop player, low limit player and high limit player. Despite his success, in 2002 he got back into television hosting an MTV pilot that eventually failed to materialise in to anything greater.

In 2003 he sent his audition tape to Eskandani who saw clearly that Nejad’s work in TV coupled with his poker knowledge made him the ideal candidate to be a poker commentator. It was almost perfect – many poker players were poor in front of the camera whilst a lot of TV personalities knew little of poker.

This has changed in recent times, however, with the likes of Mike Sexton, Howard Lederer and Phil Hellmuth all doing successful jobs. Nejad’s first presenting gig followed immediately and he was soon in huge demand around various television stations.

He has proved that he knows what he’s talking about with numerous appearances online at Full Tilt Poker and in local Los Angeles card rooms.. Nejad also entered the 2005 World Series of Poker and cashed in the $2,500 No-Limit Hold ‘em Event.