Andy Bloch Speaker Profile

Andy Bloch was born June 1, 1969 in New Haven, Connecticut and is a professional poker player. He holds two electrical engineering degrees from MIT and a JD from Harvard Law School.

Bloch started playing seriously in 1992, though he was part of the MIT blackjack team, entering some small $35 weekly tournaments once a month. By the end of the year, he had won one of the World Poker Finals tournaments, a $100(US) entry fee no-limit Texas hold'em tournament. That was the first time he ever played no-limit Texas hold 'em.

In 1997, he skipped the last week of law school classes to play in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. He was the guinea pig in a low-tech hole card cam trial. Tom Sims was looking for a volunteer to "sweat" and record all his hole cards, and he agreed. His records turned into a 2-part CardPlayer Magazine article. After passing the bar exam in 1999, he decided to delay his law career and went back to poker.

That career got delayed even further after making two WSOP final tables in 2001, a first place finish back at Foxwoods in 2002 (playing seven-card stud), and two World Poker Tour (WPT) final tables its first season, finishing 3rd both times. In 2005 Bloch chose to boycott the WPT in protest to its player release process. Bloch returned to the WPT after a lawsuit initiated by seven high-profile poker players, including Chris Ferguson and Phil Gordon, was settled in 2008.

Bloch was the second season winner of the Ultimate Poker Challenge.

Bloch is also an accomplished blackjack player and was featured in the blackjack documentary The Hot Shoe, as well as starring in his own instructional blackjack DVD, Beating Blackjack, which explains card counting. Andy Bloch was a member of the MIT Blackjack Team featured in the book Bringing Down the House. Bloch said he has made up to $100,000 in one session while playing blackjack.

He is a member of "Team Full Tilt" at Full Tilt Poker.

At the 2006 World Series of Poker, Bloch finished 2nd in the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event when his 9♣ 8♠ failed to improve against David "Chip" Reese's A♣ Q♣ in the final hand, on a board of J♠ 7♣ 7♠ 4♥ 4♠. The heads-up battle lasted 286 hands and was the longest recorded in WSOP history.

In 2006, he defeated Phil Laak heads up to win the Pro-Am Poker Equalizer taking in the grand prize of $500,000. The tournament was broadcast in early 2007 on ESPN.

In March 2008, Andy Bloch finished runner-up to Chris Ferguson in the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship.

Bloch finished runner-up to Nenad Medic in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em World Championship at the 2008 World Series of Poker, earning $488,048.

As of 2009, his total live tournament winnings exceed $4,200,000. His 24 cashes as the WSOP account for $2,149,821 of those winnings.

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