Henry Orenstein at the Final Table of $10k Stud Championship

02:33
04 Jul

The name of Henry Orenstein may not sound too familiar to an average poker fan, as he is not one of the guys who made millions playing or came up with super advanced plays to incorporate in your game. However, this 90-year old is the man who incorporated one thing in poker that fans across the globe most certainly appreciate very much – the hole cards camera!

The holocaust survivor from Poland migrated to America in 1947 and despite everything he’s been through, Orenstein managed to live a successful and fulfilled life in the States. Most of his professional work revolved around toys and he has over 100 successful toy patents to his name. He’s also contributed to the creation of the hugely popular Transformers brand.

Henry discovered the world of poker quite late, close to his seventies. Fascinated by the game but finding its televised coverage rather boring for the everyday audience, the inventor that he was, Orenstein came up with the solution. Invention and introduction of the hole-cards came, which enabled viewers at home to see the players’ holdings, became the huge success and contributed to a great extent to the poker boom.

For his contributions, Orenstein was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2008, an honor well deserved considering how much bigger TV presence helped the poker grow and develop. As for his personal results, Orenstein does own a WSOP bracelet, which came in 1996, from his victory in the $5,000 Seven-Card Stud Event.

It was thus understandable that if Orenstein was going to play anything during the Series it would be the $10k Stud Championship. His very presence in the room was inspiring, as very few of his age would have enough energy and desire to sit through a three-day tournament, but Orenstein is still full of energy. And although he sat down with some of the best tournament players, he was able to find his way to the final table, together with Phil Hellmuth, Todd Brunson and Ben Yu.

Please let me play as good as Henry Orenstein when I'm 90 yrs old! Legend: Invented Transformers and hole card Cam and Holocaust Survivor Phil Hellmuth;
He was not able to repeat his success from 1996 sadly, as he was eliminated in 8th place, but he has certainly proven that he still has it. He probably couldn’t compete with all the young guns, especially not in Hold’em, but as far as Seven Card Stud goes, his strategy is clearly still quite healthy.
Apart from his clearly great mind for inventions and love for poker, those who know Orenstein also describe him as the great philanthropist, always ready to help those less fortunate. They say that when he was younger, he even went to check on those he was helping to see how they were doing, but his age no longer permits him such excursions.
Henry Orenstein belongs to that group of poker players who have always been fascinated with the game and believed in it. That kind of conviction combined with a great mind cannot fail to produce great results.
And if you were wondering who won, Todd Brunson and Matt Grapenthien are currently battling it out heads-up.

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