Andy Black

Religion has played a huge part in Andy Black’s life and, perhaps uncharacteristically, is one of the main reasons that he is at the top end of the poker industry.

Born in 1965, Black grew up in Belfast with sectarian problems escalating as Catholics and Protestants clashed violently across Northern Ireland. To distract him from what was going on, his mother would aim to keep him inside the house by playing cards with him. Black also used this time to study and after securing good grades at school he escaped the conflict and moved to Dublin, where he still resides.

Whilst studying law at Trinity College his poker skills came to the fore as he was lured into the game by free food and coffee at a local casino. He also became a member of an established poker school in the university’s Junior Common Room, following in the footsteps of previous professionals such as Donnacha O’Dea and Padraig Parkinson.

Black soon put aside his plans for a career in the courtroom and instead focused on the cards room. His first major tournament appearance came in 1997 when he challenged in the main event of the World Series of Poker. In this tournament, Stu Ungar cleared Black out, first gaining his trust and then gaining his chips before winning the competition. Legend says that Ungar got lucky in the deciding hand but Black has gone on the record to say that he was outplayed.

The next year, Black, who was being followed by a documentary crew, returned to the tournament. They were planned to film a victorious return; unfortunately, what they saw was another disappointing defeat.

Disheartened, Black left the poker scene and, once again, religion played a major part in his life. This time it was Buddhism and it played a much more positive role in his life than religion previously had done. Initially he hoped it would help him with his poker, but he soon found a much deeper meaning in it. For five years, Black lived without any of his possessions as he took up residence in England as a semi-monastic Buddhist.

Despite many Buddhist teachings seemingly being in stark contrast to a sport based on gambling, in 2004, he returned to the poker circuit a more balanced man. He came fifth in the 2005 WSOP main event and collected just shy of $2million. He has since finished in the money on the European Poker Tour, the World Poker Tour and the Tournament of Champions.

At present, Black sits top of the Ireland All Time Money list.