Andy Black
Born on July 20, 1965 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Andy Black – nicknamed “The Monk” – is a famous poker player with a long and interesting career. He currently resides in Dublin, Ireland and his total tournament winnings are in excess of $4 million.
Andy Black began playing poker seriously in 1986 while he was studying law at Trinity College in Dublin. He would make frequent trips to the Griffin Casino, although there are rumors that he did this just for the free food and coffee.
Andy Black played in the 1997 World Series of Poker Main Event, where he became friends with Stu Ungar. However, Stu Ungar was never serious about the friendship and he used Black’s trust against him, driving the knife into his back at the perfect moment to take Andy Black’s chips. Stu Ungar went on to win the 1997 WSOP and Andy Black was left to walk away in defeat.
The next year, 1998, a documentary team decided to follow Andy Black on his return to the WSOP. However, the documentary, Million Dollar Deal, was only able to chronicle another crushing defeat.
After the 1998 WSOP Main Event, Andy Black gave away everything he had to live as a semi-monastic Buddhist. He returned to the poker scene five years later in peak physical, mental, and emotional condition, and went on to became a force to be reckoned with. Andy Black played poker extremely well in European poker tournaments and placed 5th in the 2005 WSOP Main Event. In this Main Event, Andy Black was a final table chip leader with more than a 1/3 of the chips. However, bad beats were dealt left and right by his opponents, and he only finished in 5th place taking home nearly $2 million.
Andy Black’s power surge has continued since then, having nearly 20 money finishes in major poker tournaments in 2006 and the first four months of 2007. Andy Black is now one of the most dangerous professional poker players in the world.
Andy Black had his own website, andyblackpoker.com, but it has since been taken offline.
