Andrew Black (poker player)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Andy Black on Heads Up with Richard Herring |
|
| Nickname(s) | The Monk |
|---|---|
| Hometown | Dublin, Ireland |
| World Series of Poker | |
| Bracelet(s) | 0 |
| Money finishes | 6(+1) |
| Highest ITM main event finish |
5th, 2005 |
| World Poker Tour | |
| Titles | 0 |
| Final tables | 0 |
| Money Finishes | 2 |
Andrew (Andy) Black (born 20 July 1965) is a poker player from Belfast, Northern Ireland, who presently resides in Dublin.
Black played cards with his mother when he was younger, and began playing more seriously in 1986, whilst he was studying for a law degree at Trinity College, Dublin. He was a member of a long running poker school in the Junior Common Room (The JCR), that previously had noted poker players Donnacha O'Dea and Padraig Parkinson as members. He also began playing in the Griffin Casino in Dublin, reportedly because of the free food and coffee.
He was knocked out of the 1997 World Series of Poker (WSOP) main event by the eventual winner, Stu Ungar. There were rumors that Ungar got lucky and defeated Mr. Blacks A/K while holding A/Q. This was dispelled by Andrew Black himself on Full Tilt Poker, 12/10/06 who candidly affirmed that Ungar "just outplayed me" and that the A/K vs. A/Q story was nothing more than journalistic spice.
The following year a documentary titled Million Dollar Deal (narrated by John Hurt) was made of his visit to the same tournament. When he lost that too, he discarded all his possessions, travelled to England and lived in a semi-monastic Buddhist environment for 5 years.
Black successfully returned to poker in 2004, dominating in Irish tournaments and placing fifth in the 2005 WSOP main event. He led the final table of the main event at one stage holding over 1/3rd of the chips in play, however he succumbed to a number of bad beats by players making questionable calls and finished 5th, winning $1.75m.
In 2005 he appeared on the chatshow Heads Up with Richard Herring to discuss his faith and his poker career.
Since the 2005 WSOP main event, he has made a money finish on both the European Poker Tour and the World Poker Tour . In 2006 Andrew made the final table of the Tournament of Champions where he once again held a huge chip lead only to cripple his stack when he overplayed AK and ran into Daniel Negreanu holding pocket Kings. Andrew once again was eliminated in 5th place earning $100,000. Andrew has enjoyed a spectacular start to 2007 placing 2nd for $100,000 in the Pot Limit Omaha event and 3rd in the No Limit Main Event for $750,000 at the Aussie Millions in Melbourne, Australia.
Andrew is an official pro at Full Tilt Poker
As of 2007, his total live tournament winnings exceed $2,600,000.
