Andrew Black

Who is Andrew Black?

Andrew Black is a poker player from Belfast, Northern Ireland, who presently resides in Dublin.

Black played cards with his mother when he was younger, and began playing more seriously in 1986, whilst he was studying for a law degree at Trinity College, Dublin. He also began playing in the Griffin Casino in Dublin, reportedly because of the free food and coffee.

He was knocked out of the 1997 World Series of Poker main event by the eventual winner, Stu Ungar. There were rumors that Ungar got lucky and defeated Black's AK while holding AQ. Black dispelled this rumor and candidly affirmed that Ungar "just outplayed me" and that the AK vs. AQ story was nothing more than journalistic spice.

The following year a documentary titled Million Dollar Deal was made of his visit to the same tournament. When he lost that too, he discarded all his possessions, travelled to England and lived in a semi-monastic Buddhist environment for 5 years.

Black successfully returned to poker in 2004, dominating in Irish tournaments and placing fifth in the 2005 WSOP main event. He led the final table of the main event at one stage holding over 1/3 of the chips in play, however he was unable to maintain this lead and finished 5th, winning $1.75m.