Player Profile: Andy Bloch

Some people can just blow you away with their achievements and Andrew (Andy) Bloch is one such fellow. Andy could give anyone an inferiority complex by just reading about him. Firstly, Andy has not one, but two electrical engineering degrees from MIT. He has participated in advanced designing of computer chips, has a law degree from Harvard no less, and is a successful stock trader.

And no one can top Andy when it comes to multi-tasking. Poker is just one of his myriad interests, a BIG interest, mind you, but not enough of an interest to cause him to neglect his other pursuits. In fact, he participated in his very first World Series of Poker event while still in law school and undergoing vigorous study sessions.

This guy is so amazing, that within just a year of his poker beginnings in 1992, he had already developed the skills and confidence to enter a $100 entry fee no-limit Texas Hold em tournament. And lets not stop there. Andy is an accomplished Blackjack player as well, and was even featured in a documentary about card-counting called The Hot Shoe.

Andy lives in Las Vegas and has thus far finished in the money ten times in World Series of Poker tournaments. Although he has not as yet won a WSOP bracelet, he twice finished in third place in two World Poker Tour final tables in the WPTs first season, and has seven money finishes thus far in overall WPT competition.At Foxwoods Andy finished first in a seven-card stud meet.

Andy was the winner in the Ultimate Poker Challenges second season. The Ultimate Poker Challenge being a series of weekly poker tournaments which act as super-satellites into the series semi-finals.

Bloch participated in the longest heads-up battle in WSOP history, when, in the 2006 H.O.R.S.E. Event he fell to second place behind David Chip Reese after the competitors had played a grueling 286 hands.

Never one for idle time, Andy has recently been recruited as one of a team of professionals that have joined Full Tilt Poker, an online poker cardroom that debuted in 2004. Andy now plays regularly on the site, joined by such top-notch players as Erik Seidel, Phil Gordon and Mike Matusow among others.

Andy hails from Orange, Connecticut, and developed an interest in card playing when just a youngster while playing with family and friends. That interest has developed into a lucrative profession, as Andy has thus far earned over a million dollars without once having to revert to his law degree.

Kenneth Bateman writes numerous articles on the subject of poker and its players. To read more player profiles, visit http://www.xlpoker.com.Becka Blog80028
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