Poker Player - Paul Darden
 |
Paul Darden was born and raised in New Haven, Connecticut in 1968; he still lives there with his wife and four children. Paul's father owned a poker club in New Haven and taught his son how to play poker when he was only eight. Growing up in the ghettos, Paul found that he would become mixed up with the wrong crowd, hanging around with drug dealers and robbers, at the age of 15 he was accused of murder but was later acquitted on the grounds that there had been a case of mistaken identity. At this point in his life Paul decided to take his experiences and use them as an incentive to turn his life around he also credits poker as being one of the moderating forces in his life. As Paul had dropped out of High School there wasn't much opportunity for him to earn a steady legitimate income then he saw an opportunity when Foxwoods casino opened up nearby he began to play poker at the local games and earned a steady stream of money. As his game progressed he travelled to Atlantic City to play in the $75 to $150 stud games, this is where he met friend and mentor Phil Ivey. Ivey encouraged Paul to broaden his game play introduced him to the World Series of Poker.
During the 1990's Seven Card Stud was the game of choice for many players in the Northwest and Paul was no exception, Ivey suggested to Paul that his aggressive style would be suited to No Limit Hold'em and gave him some pointers that allowed him to be more successful. Super aggressive playing for some tournaments players have been successful however for most of these players the success they experienced was only on a short-term basis. Paul however believes that while playing aggressively there is also another characteristic that a poker player should adopt and that is patience, he also pays close attention to the other players and waits for the most opportune moment to strike.
Ivey gave Paul the money and the confidence to compete in his first World Series of Poker tournament, to this day they are still good friends and Ivey still remains Paul's poker coach.
Paul has earned one World Series of Poker bracelet, he also has achieved first place at the Lucky Chances No Limit World Poker Tour Event in 2002, first place at the $1,500 No Limit Championship event at Foxwoods in 2002. Paul finished fifth place at the World Poker Tour party poker million season 3 Limit Hold'em event, first place at the $2,500 Mirage Poker Showdown No Limit event and first again at the $1,500 Mirage Poker Showdown Omaha Hi/Lo event all in 2005.
When it comes to tournament poker Paul has cashed in at 45 major tournaments, his achievements at this level include, first place in the World Series of Poker 2001 Seven Card Stud event winning $147,440 and a gold bracelet, first place in the 2002 World Poker Tour Gold Rush No Limit Hold'em event worth $146,000 and in march 2005 he finished fifth place in the $10,000 World Poker Tour Limit Hold'em event were he took home a cool $300,000.
|