Barry Greenstein is one of the most remarkable poker players in today's sport. Greenstein is highly respected as a cash game specialist. But Barry Greenstein's more recent forays earned him a higher level of respect. Mr. Greenstein donates his tournament poker winnings to a number of charities, most notably Children International. Barry says he did this to teach his children about their responsibilities to those less fortunate than themselves, but he has been rewarded and enlightened along with his young ones.

HIS LIFE PRIOR TO POKER

Barry Greenstein came to poker honestly. His father was famous in his army until for his skills at the game. Barry's mother taught her son how to play cards. By the time he was 13, Greenstein was playing in $50 games. But despite his love for poker, the talented child had other pursuits.

The young man was a brilliant student, even writing his own computer software at the age of 15. His family expected that Barry would make a career in the burgeoning computer industry of the 1970's and 1980's. He attended the University of Illinois, gaining a BA in Computers with a Minor in Mathematics. By this time, Barry was seeking out higher stakes games, and considered himself a professional poker player.

But Barry Greenstein's career path took a detour when he met his future wife, Donna. She had 3 children and was going through a bitter custody battle over them. To help in the court case, Barry took a job with a software firm, Symantec. From 1984 to 1991, Barry would work at the firm, designing computer programs. He was quite successful in this job, playing a key role in the highly lauded Q&A software which Symantec produced in 1986. In 1987 and 1988, Barry and Donna had a pair of daughters together.

POKER ALL THE TIME

The Greensteins moved to Las Vegas in 1991. Barry dedicated himself full time to his poker game and would henceforth provide for the family through cards. Donna, a stay-at-home mom, grew discontent with life as simply the wife of a successful card player. The two got a divorce, but Barry successfully fought for custody of the children. A meticulous personality, Barry wanted to make certain his children were raised correctly.

During these years, Barry won a reputation as a superior cash game specialist. He played few tournaments and therefore was unknown to poker fandom. As the prizes for poker tournaments grew exponentially, Barry decided to get into the action. Since that time, he has become increasingly recognized, though Barry Greenstein is still not one of the "stars" of poker. One gets the impression Barry Greenstein isn't interested in such acclaim.

CHILDREN INCORPRATED

Barry's interests turned another direction in 2003. Greenstein had donated money to Children Incorporated over the years. The organization had been doing good in the world since 1964, expanding to help children with nearly 300 special projects in over 20 different countries. Barry and his children had been donating through Children Incorporated to a poor family in Tennessee, when the two families met. Barry realized that even the volunteers were apt to live under the poverty line.

Soon after, Greenstein won a major prize at Larry Flynt's $1,000,000 event. After cashing out, he decided to send $1,000 to each of Children Incorporated's volunteers worldwide. The letter response from these 440 volunteers was overwhelming, driving home to the Greenstein family the scope of what Barry had done. Not long after, Barry decided to donate every dollar of his tournament winnings to charity.

Since that time, Barry Greenstein has donated not only to Children Incorporated, but also to the Rainbow Shelter for Battered Women, Guyana Watch and the Peninsula Education Foundation. Barry has also donated to both his high school and college alma maters, Bogan High School in Chicago and the University of Illinois.

OTHER NOTES

Barry taught his longtime girlfriend, Mimi Tran, how to improve her poker game. She is now considered one of the best female poker players. He apparently taught her his secrets of poker in exchange for her knowledge of the Vietnamese language. It seems that Barry wanted to better converse with the Vietnamese players he ran into at the casinos and tournaments.

Barry Greenstein also has a book, Ace on the River. This book was a natural outgrowth of Barry's chapter long contribution to Doyle Brunson's Super System 2. Barry plays cash games at the Hustler Casino, with such men as Larry Flynt and Doyle Brunson. He plays online at Pokerstars under the name "crazyplayer".

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

♠ 1st Place at 2004 World Series of Poker $5,000 No Limit Deuce-to-Seven Draw.
♠ 1st Place at 2005 World Series of Poker $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event.
♠ 1st Place at 2003 Larry Flynt $1million One-Table Stud event.
♠ 5th Place at 2004 Party Poker Millions 3 event.
♠ 1st at the 5th Annual Jack Binion
♠ Over $4 Million in career tournament earnings.

This page was last updated on June 5th, 2006.