Poker Stories: Dan Zack

Poker Stories

Dan Zack was perhaps the youngest player to get bit by the poker bug when Chris Moneymaker won the 2003 World Series of Poker main event. The Princeton, New Jersey native was just 10 years old at the time, but he was hooked, even going on to read the Harrington on Hold'em strategy series by age 13. The gaming standout had the skills to build up big bankrolls online, but lacked the discipline to hold onto it.

After having to rebuild a few times, Zack finally plugged his leaks and it wasn't long before he established himself as a threat in any game he entered. He won his first WSOP bracelet in 2019, taking down the $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw event. The next year, he bubbled the final table of the $10,000 online main event.

This summer, the 29-year-old was the runaway winner of the WSOP Player of the Year race, having racked up 16 cashes, four final tables and just over $1.45 million in earnings. He also managed to nab his second and third career bracelets, winning both the $10,000 Omaha eight-or-better championship and the $10,000 stud eight-or-better championship.

Highlights from this interview include winning the jar of pennies at the family reunion game, reading Harrington on Hold'em at age 13, losing $20,000 on a church retreat, why children shouldn't learn poker, quitting poker and finding it again in Germany, turning $1,000 into $100,000 in one summer, a crucial PLO pot in the Bahamas, eight 62-hour poker sessions, setting his sights on the series, battling a barker, getting staked for a high roller by a stranger, live stream stakes, losing a $200,000 pot to Garrett Adelstein, getting owned at $2k-$4k by Ray D, betting big on the election, Dustin Diamond, and never having a real job.