Aaron Kanter
Aaron Kanter is a professional poker player from Lodi, California, who began playing poker while in college. His favorite game is No Limit Hold’em.
In the 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event, Aaron Kanter finished fourth place to earn a cool $2 million. He got himself the nickname “The Giant Killer” for taking down poker pro after poker pro at this Main Event, often after having the worst hand and lucking out on the river. He knocked out Phil Ivey in this fashion and also severely crippled Greg Raymer.
There is a theory that Aaron Kanter’s remarkable success in the game stems from a family history of mathematics and science studies. However, he has also garnered much on the game from reading and watching poker videos. This luck has been double-edged because it has also brought upon him a reputation for being a bad poker player in some circles.
Like many competitors in the WSOP today, Aaron Kanter made his way into the 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event by playing online WSOP satellites. This further contributed to his bad reputation. He made it to 4th place out of 5,617 players that year, winning a cool $2 million in the process. He was 27 years old at the time.
Aaron Kanter’s 4th place finish might have been considered a fluke was it not for the fact that he has finished in the money in ten major tournaments. After his WSOP performance, the largest tournament in which he has placed in the money is the 2007 WPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, where he won $17,787 for his 48th place finish.
One time while talking with his father, Mitch Kanter, Aaron Kanter revealed one of his poker philosophies – if the pot is huge, he feels that he can’t afford not to be involved. This may not be a wise poker strategy and it probably contributes to his bad reputation, but it seems to work for him.
