Barry Greenstein (The Robin Hood of Poker)

If you know anything about poker, you'll be familiar with Barry Greenstein, born in 1954 in Chicago, USA. After studying mathematics and computer science, Barry became a professional poker player. To date, he has 3 WSOP bracelets, 17 WSOP final tables, 2 WPT final tables, 5 WPT paid places and over $8 million in tournament winnings. In 2011, he was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. He is one of the few players to have won 3 WSOP bracelets in 3 different poker variants; No Limit Hold'em (2004), Pot Limit Omaha (2005) and Razz (2008). For several years, he was also a member of the PokerStars pro team.

The Robin Hood of poker

Barry Greenstein is also known as the Robin Hood of poker due to his immense generosity. In 2003, after large poker winnings, he donated $1000 to each of the 440 employees of the charity "Children Incorporated", and from 2006 he announced that he would donate the net profits from his tournament winnings. Barry is still active on the international circuit and we saw him play at the last World Series of Poker in 2023. At every tournament, he makes it a point to give a signed copy of his book to the person who eliminates him from the tournament.

What does the phrase, "getting Barry Greenstein" mean?

To learn more about Barry, you can read his autobiography, which is entitled "Ace on the River". It's both a strategy book and an autobiography. In poker jargon, "Barry Greenstein" means losing a hand on the river because the river brings an ace (think KK vs AK on XXX-X-A). This is obviously an important hand that Barry has lost because the river brought an ace. This hand left its mark on him and the expression has remained in the jargon.