World Poker Tour

Nick Schulman “The Takeover“

Birthplace
New York

Total Winnings
$3,269,221

Nick Shulman was drawn to the cards at a young age, and by the time he was 17-years old, he was playing online. His successes were few and far between in the beginning, but with an intense study of the game and countless hours at the computer grinding it out in low limit games, he began doing well enough by the age of 19 to call himself a professional poker player. Since he was too young to play in casinos, he continued to play online and count the days until he could play live poker.

Finally, Nick turned 21 and immediately turned to the underground clubs in New York City. Though he gave that up after being subject to raids that didn’t sit well with him, he was already burning up the cash games in Atlantic City and making a name for himself on the tournament circuit. His study of the game made him well-versed in many games, with stud eight-or-better being his personal favorite but no-limit hold’em as his base.

Nick burst onto the tournament scene at Foxwoods, only a month after he was legal to play in U.S. tournaments. He played the 2005 World Poker Finals, which was a $10,000 World Poker Tour main event, and crushed the competition and the record books by becoming the youngest WPT winner. He took the title and over $2 million in prize money, then returned in April of 2006 to complete in the WPT Battle of Champions, which he also won. He has since cashed in two more WPT events, as well as four WSOP events, one of those being a final table in the 2007 $5,000 no-limit hold’em tournament. And in 2007, he returned to the scene of his 2005 WPT win and made the final table again. He finished as the runner-up, and though he was disappointed, it showed that he still has the ability to “takeover.” The young poker phenom might be shy and not grant many interviews, but he’s not shy when it comes to competing in the world of poker. With over $3.3 million to his name in only a few years of tournament play, there’s no telling what the future holds.