Andy Black is a poker player from Belfast, Northern Ireland, who presently resides in Dublin.
Andy Black's story is an interesting one. Born in 1965 in Northern Ireland, He started playing poker with his mother when he was young. He began playing more seriously in 1986, while he was studying for a law degree at Trinity College in Dublin.
Black was a young, talented, up-and-coming Irish poker player when he went to the 1997 WSOP determined to win the main event. Andy made it to the final two tables of the main event in good shape - until Stu Ungar came along. Despite all the warnings to not go up against Ungar, Black decided to take him on and got beaten up and and went out in 14th place.
The next year, in 1998, the documentary Million Dollar Deal filmed Black's experience at the World Series. The documentary ended with Black having an epic meltdown. Black said that the pain of that loss caused him to go on a spiritual journey. He withdrew from poker and mainstream society. He packed all his belongings into a plastic bag, gave up all his possessions, and checked himself into a Buddhist monastery. He then spent the next few years deep in meditation and thought.
Black returned to poker in 2004 completely refreshed. He did really well in tournaments in Ireland and, then in 2005, he made it to the final table of the WSOP main event (the year Joseph Jachem won). He finished in 5th place and won $1.75 million after leading the table at one stage and holding over one-third of the chips in play.
In 2006 Black made the final table of the Tournament of Champions where he again had a huge chip lead only to blow his stack when he played AK against Daniel Negreanu's pocket Kings. Black was eliminated in 5th place earning $100,000.
In 2007 at the Aussie Millions in Melbourne, Australia, Black finished 2nd for $100,000 in the Pot-Limit Omaha event and 3rd in the No-Limit Main Event for $750,000.
Also in 2007, Black finished in 7th for $320,000 in the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo.
In 2007, Black won the Pot Limit Omaha side event at the Irish Open, earning €54,589. He also cashed 3 times at the 2007 WSOP, finishing in 5th, 7th and 11th places.
In 2008 Black won the Premier League Poker II for $250,000, had a 16th place in the WPT World Poker classic for $105,525, and 3 more cashes in the WSOP.
In 2009 Black had 5 more WSOP cashes.
Black has 17 WSOP cashes. After his WSOP cash in 1997, his next one didn't come until 2005, but then he notched 16 cashes in 5 years (2005-2009). As of 2009, his total live tournament winnings exceed $4,100,000. Black is an official pro at Full Tilt Poker.
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