Julian Gardner is a professional poker player from Manchester, England. He is best known for his 2nd place finish in the WSOP main event in 2002.
Born in 1978, Gardner is a second-generation professional poker player, following in the footsteps of his father Dave. He started going to a local casino at the age of 15. By age 20 he had won 10 tournaments and by age 21, he had made 25 final tables. He turned pro the moment he left high school.
In 2000 he entered the WSOP main event for the first time. Despite being the early chip leader, he got eliminated out of the money.
After skipping the 2001 main event, he finished 2nd in the main event of the 2002 WSOP and, at the age of 24, became the youngest player ever to win $1 million in a poker tournament ($1.1 million). During his main event run, he was near the chip lead for the majority of the tournament, which is rare. Most players who have early chip leaders almost never do well in the end. On the final hand, Gardner had the J and 8 of clubs and Varkohni had Q 10 when the flop came Q-4-4 with 2 clubs. Gardner went all-in on a flush draw. The turn card was a 10. The river was a club and make Gardner's flush but it was a 10 of clubs to make Varkonyi a full house. Gardner, for a brief second, thought that he had won.
Gardner then cashed in the main event in 2003 and 2004, making him the only player to cash in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Although he did not cash in the 2005 main event (where he qualified through Betfair), he did cash in 4 different events. Gardner then cashed in the 2007 main event coming in 64th place out of 6,358 (the top 1% of the field) for $130,288. He has 13 total WSOP cashes.
Gardner also made appearances on Late Night Poker and was also a member of the winning British team in the Poker Nations Cup. He finished 3rd at the final table at Poker Million VI winning his biggest prize since the 2002 WSOP, $250,000.
Gardner is engaged to poker player Kerry Clarke. In 2005 they both reached the semi-final of the 888.com UK Poker Open, where Gardner eliminated her. He is the co-author of the book The Secrets of Online Power Poker and is a Full Tilt Poker Pro. As of 2009, his total live tournament winnings exceed $2,400,000.
Log in to post comments
or Register
bad_dog76 on November 30, 2007
headlessman1964 on December 31, 2006
Unregistered on August 24, 2005
Unregistered on August 20, 2005
Ivan Rodriguez on August 2, 2005
loser on May 12, 2005
Eddie on December 30, 2004
djnpa_30 on November 30, 2004
yeeeah on November 23, 2004
ucky on November 18, 2004
jc89 on October 28, 2004
Amir/Tus on October 27, 2004
pk99 on September 2, 2004
Amir/Tus on August 17, 2004
Unregistered on August 1, 2004
NL. on May 24, 2004
Ralphie on May 18, 2004
rookie on February 12, 2004
Maybe if you can't see your cards you'll play better. Has this donk ever won anything?!!