Andrew Bloch

Many people think that to win at poker at the top level, you need to be intelligent. More than that, you need to be intelligent and lucky. Whilst Andy Bloch may argue that it is more a case of avoiding being unlucky, his intellectual prowess cannot be questioned.

With two engineering degrees and a Harvard law degree to his name, Bloch has several relevant pieces of paper to back up this claim. As well as his success in poker, he was a member of the famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology Blackjack Team during his studies there.

Testament to his blackjack prowess is made in the form of a book (Bringing Down The House),a documentary (The Hot Shoe) and his own how-to DVD (Beating Blackjack) as well as numerous casinos listing him in the banned gamblers category – all because he was winning too much money from them.

Bloch began playing poker seriously in 1992 when he began to enter competitions each month with a $35 buy in. At the end of the year he had reached the stage where he was able to win a No Limit Hold ‘em event at the World Poker Finals, despite never having played the No Limit version of the game before.

His game continually developed and he was constantly looking to test himself at a higher level. During the final weeks of his first year at Harvard, Bloch skipped class to enter the World Series of Poker. Throughout this tournament he agreed to have his hole cards filmed for the purpose of a magazine article that covered the action and Bloch’s reaction to each hand.

In 1999, around the time of his 30th birthday, Bloch passed his bar exam but, much like his engineering career before, his pursuit of a legal job was to wait. With poker as his main focus, he began forging his way through the myriad of players as he approached the top end of the game. In 2001, he made two final tables at the WSOP and the following year he reached two final tables at the inaugural World Poker Tour.

Bloch tasted success during the second season of the Ultimate Poker Challenge, which included TJ Cloutier, Mike Mizrachi and Clonie Gowen amongst its contenders.

A regular player on Full Tilt Poker, Bloch generously donates all of his online winnings to charity. In 2006, this extended to his WSOP main event winnings after qualifying for the tournament through the Full Tilt site. That same year Bloch came second in the HORSE event after a grueling 286 hand heads-up battle with Chip Reese – the longest ever in WSOP history. Bloch forced Reese into four all in calls but could not twist the knife to win his first bracelet.