Hamid Dastmalchi
Hamid Dastmalchi is a professional poker player who was born in Iran and it was here that he first started playing poker. When he moved to the United States he began playing again and began entering poker tournaments.
Hamid Dastmalchi
His first cash at the World Series of Poker was in the $10,000 No Limit Hold’em World Championship Main Event where his fifth place finished earned him $70,000. The next time he cashed at this tournament was in 1986 when he picked up the first of his three World Series of Poker gold bracelets. His win in the $1500 No Limit Hold’em event saw him not only pick up his first bracelet but it also netted him $165,000.
Dastmalchi had to wait until 1992 for his second bracelet but this time he hit the big one when he came first in the $10,000 No Limit Hold’em World Championship Main Event for which he also picked up a cool million dollars. His third bracelet was won the following year in the $2500 Pot Limit Hold’em event for which he also earned $114,000.
As well as winning three WSOP gold bracelets, Dastmalchi also cashed another 7 times at the WSOP and his total of ten cashes saw him earn prize money of over $1,600,000. His total earnings from all tournaments total just over $1,800,000. He prefers to play fewer tournaments these days and instead concentrates on cash games.
Not only is Dastmalchi known for his achievements at the World Series of Poker but many will know him for a legal battle he was involved with in 1999. The Horseshoe casino where he had won $800,000 in chips while Jack Binion was in charge would not allow him to cash these chips when the casino was taken over by new manager Becky Binion Behnen. However a gaming commission in Nevada intervened and ruled that the casino had a duty to cash the chips.
