John Bonetti
John Bonetti was a professional poker player who was born in 1928 in Brooklyn. When he moved to Houston, Texas he began playing tournament poker because of encouragement from one of his colleagues. In his very first tournament he picked up $30,000 and it was then that he decided to try his hand at professional poker. He was already fifty five years of age at this time.
John Bonetti
The first time Bonetti cashed at the World Series of Poker was in 1987 and this was in the $10,000 No Limit Hold’em World Championship Main Event. He finished in 23rd position and picked up prize money of $10,000. Over the years he cashed another five times in this event including 2 third place finishes picking up total prize money in the Main Event of $617,250.
Not only did John Bonetti have such a good record in the WSOP Main Event but he also went on to win three WSOP gold bracelets. His first bracelet was won in the $5000 Deuce to Seven Draw in 1990 and saw him pick up winnings of $83,250. He won another bracelet in 1995 for the same event which this time saw him earn $101,250. His other bracelet was won in 1993 in the $1500 Pot Limit Hold’em event and prize money this time was $122,400.
Bonetti’s total earnings in all tournaments were over $4 million. His 32 cashes at the World Series of Poker netted him almost one and three quarter million dollars.
Although he was a great player and was well respected by fellow professionals, he did earn a reputation for having a bad temper at the table for which he incurred a lot of penalty minutes during tournaments.
After fighting spinal and prostate cancer for years, John Bonetti finally passed away in 2008 at the age of 80 years old.
