Poker Player - Jim Meehan
Jim Meehan is a former attorney who gave up his legal career to become a full time poker player. He has been travelling within the tournament circuit for many years now and has been playing poker for over forty years. He originally started playing poker in the 1960's (which means he started playing poker while he was still in grade school) and his vast experience and knowledge of the game makes Jim Meehan a force to be reckoned with and a master at the poker table.
Born March 19th in Saint Paul, Minneapolis, Minnesota (hence the reason why he is affectionately nicknamed 'Minneapolis' Jim Meehan), Jim's original vocation in life was in the field of law. Jim was and still is a lawyer although now, he claims, semi retired but like many others who have come before him, realised that the world of professional poker could offer him more. And as for many other professionals turned professional poker players, this has turned out to be a wise move for Minneapolis Jim - anyone doubting his decision need only look at his tournament success. As of 2005, Jim's total live tournament winnings exceed $1,100,000. he has made over half a million dollars at the World series of Poker (WSOP) since 1993 but has had enough experience in the game to know that the real money can only be made in the main event.
Jim began playing poker tournaments regularly in 1997 and also made his first appearance at the WSOP in the same year. It proved to be a tremendous start to his professional poker career as he finished 2nd place in the 1997 $3,000 Limit Hold 'em event at the WSOP and also netted himself a 3rd place finish in the 1997 $2,500 Limit Omaha event. He is the only poker pro to win a WSOP event and a World Championship of Online Poker event in the same year. His success doesn't stop there, Jim has made several final table appearances in a variety of games including No Limit hold 'em, Omaha High, Limit Hold 'em and Omaha high Low, proving to the world he is a very versatile tournament player and hence a very dangerous opponent. He won his first WSOP bracelet in 2003 in the $2,000 No Limit Hold 'em event during which he defeated a final table that included many distinguished players such as Kathy Liebert and Mike Sexton. The same year he won the 2003 $2,000 Limit Hold 'em event at the PokerStars World Championship online. In 2004 he faced a final table that included Scotty Nguven. Lee Watkinson and Eli Elezra and eventually took 6th place at the World Poker Tour event at the Mirage casino.
Jim is considered to be one of the greatest poker personalities around today. He is a very colourful character with a great deal of style and heart and can often be found wearing a crocodile Dundee style hat, usually with an unlit cigarette in his mouth and a Heineken or a shot of whiskey in hand (although you'll never see him drunk at the table). He is opinionated and sticks to his beliefs but is also a very unique character, and charming in an eccentric kind of way. His eccentric personality has contributed greatly to his tournament success - people just don't understand him or his play and so he has an outstanding ability to confuse his opponents. Jim likes nothing more than to make everyone at the table think he's got a terrible hand when he's holding a straight flush but is equally talented at convincing others that he's ready to pounce when in fact he knows he has nothing. This confusion only adds up to one thing - no one at the table he's playing has any idea what he's doing, which is of course part of the game and is a huge continuator to his success and appeal.
Jim Meehan is a very entertaining man to play against. In live games, Jim Meehan relies on disarming, non-stop chatter to render his opponents helpless, or at least more vulnerable to his highly aggressive style of play. As well as his nickname 'Minneapolis Jim Meehan', he is also known as 'silent' Jim Meehan for the ironic reason that sometime he simply won't shut up! He is a man of many words and someone once said that if no one talked at a poker table with Jim Meehan, it wouldn't be all that quiet - Meehan keeps a conversation going even when nobody else is talking. One of his most famous quotes came about after he took 6th place in the 2005 WSOP Omaha High Low event. After stuffing $48 thousand in his pocket, Jim simply said "I'm so good I send chills down my spine".
Jim has four children and can usually be found playing poker online at PokerStars or ParadisePoker under the alias 'Actionmonkey'.
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