World’s Best Male Tennis Player Finds True Passion in Poker

Yevgeny Kafelnikov was once ranked the top male tennis player in the world, but he has now given that up to pursue poker.  Like most beginners, he started out by playing online games. One of the major incentives people switch to poker, especially online games, is because how much money is involved for such little work. Players stay home and do not necessarily have to have expendable money to play.

Yevgeny is being taught by Kirill Gerasimov, one of the highest earning Russian players in history. Up to date he has made over $2 million dollars in lifetime tournament winnings. Yevgeny has already started to qualify for tournaments but is far from making the $25,000,000 he made in tennis.

Many wonder why Yevgeny would quit his highly successful tennis career for poker.  At the time of the switch he was in his early 30′s and he believed that his career was most likely to go downhill as he got older. The idea was to quit while he was ahead, even to the disappointment of many fans.

Some of his largest tournament winnings were in 2004 and 2005 when he played in the Korona Russian Poker Championships, the Pacific Poker UK Open, and the 2005 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. In October of 2004 he placed in two events in the Korona Russian Poker Championship including the $5,000 Championship Event with 3rd place, and the $500 Pot Limit Omaha with 5th place.

These were some of his first big wins and made him a total of $14,492 dollars in winnings. In the following month he qualified for the Pacific Poker UK Open. He received 1st place in both the $10,000 Heat 17 and the Semi-Final III, and received his biggest win to date with his 3rd place finish at the Final in which he won $100,000.

This is all petty cash for a man who already has millions in the bank. To match his earnings from tennis he would have to win several WSOP titles. His attempt in 2005 cashed him in three events in the WSOP, but they were far from the multimillion dollar first prizes at the final table. His biggest winning was $10,745 dollars from the $1,500 Seven Card Stud in which he made 9th place. He also placed in the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Shootout for $7,535 and the $2,500 No Limit Hold’em for $3,645.

Yevgeny Kafelnikov has a daughter, but is divorced from his wife. He has also taken up golf and a commenting position for Russian Tennis in recent years. Many believe that Yevgeny’s poker playing is comparable to his aggressive playing on the tennis court. Whether this style can be improved is yet to be seen.