AJ Nimer’s Road To the US, Entrepreneurism, and His First WPT Cash

By Sean Chaffin

Poker is a family affair for A.J. Nimer, and he’s been playing pretty seriously since he was 18 years old.

Nimer was among the chip leaders after the second break on Day 2 with 320,000 chips. He has since slid down the leaderboard, but did find his way into the money. His brother, Sam, was also representing the Nimers, playing over in the seniors event that kicked off in the Choctaw Casino Resort’s Grand Theater on Sunday.

“We come from a family of poker players,” Nimer said. “As a kid, at about six years old, I remember sitting next to my father and watching him play in home games. Back then it wasn’t Texas hold’em, but various other games.”

It was a somewhat tumultuous upbringing for AJ. The Nimer brothers’ father, Aqil, was originally from Palestine, but left the country in adulthood. AJ and Sam were born in Algeria, but the family then moved on again.

“It’s a long story,” Nimer said of his family’s tale. “You could write a book on all this. We actually lived in Kuwait until the first Gulf War [in 1990] and then we moved here.”

Prior to leaving for Texas, AJ and Sam attended American and British schools while in the Middle East, and AJ eventually graduated from Indiana University.

Life in the US has been good. Their father taught his boys the ins and outs of poker through the years, and his passion for the game stuck with the brothers even after he passed away.

As 43-year-old from Plano, Texas, just outside of Dallas, Nimer is a recreational player and entrepreneur with almost $60,000 in live tournament winnings.

“I’m typically a cash player, but I do enjoy playing the bigger, high-stakes tournaments,” he said.

Nimer’s chip total rose as high as 500,000, but he then dropped back to around 200,000 in the span of about three hands. On the money bubble, Nimer was holding onto under 100,000 in chips, but he made it.

When not at the poker table, AJ works in his family-owned automobile export business. The company has dealerships in Dubai and Nigeria and exports cars for sale. The exports range from used cars to very high-end ones for their dealership in Dubai. His brother started the company in 2008, and Nimer left a corporate job to join the effort.

Business is good and the family also owns other businesses dealing with cars, including a collision center.

Married for six years with a young son and daughter, he enjoys playing soccer when he has some free time, which is rare with all his business interests and a busy family life.

While he’s never cashed in a World Poker Tour event before this event, AJ won a $185 Daily Deepstacks event at the WSOP in 2016 for $11,358. In 2013, he also cashed in the WSOP Main Event, finishing 491st for $24,480. He’s now looking to add an even bigger score here in the WPT Choctaw Main Event.

“It would be great,” Nimer said of possibly winning in Durant. “I see all the younger kids winning these kinds of tournaments all the time, so it would be great to see an older guy win it.”

This Texan can ship cars, but can he ship a big tournament win? Only time will tell.

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