Poker Rising Star: DANIEL COLMAN

Daniel Colman (1990) American poker player from Massachusetts is primarily an online player under the names "mrGR33N13" and "riyyc225". In 2013 he became the first player in history to win $1,000,000 in hyper-turbo tournaments before rakeback in a calendar year, accomplishing the feat in only 9 months.

Right before reaching $1 Million on PokerStars he was making plans to go back to college and give up poker, but he messed up his applications and then ultimately decided to give it a one last go. At the same time he doesn’t see poker as being a sustainable source of income a few years down the road. His personal views about poker are that poker is a very dark game and that it has such a negative effect on a people playing it, both financially and emotionally.

His personal view about poker was the main reason he refused to talk much to media after winning The Big One for One Drop bracelet and $15.3 million in Las Vegas in July of 2014. His only comment about One Drop event was that it was really great event because players are able to raise money for charity, and it fully went to a worthwhile cause, giving water to parts of the world that just don’t have it.

He is for sure on the sickest heater of a lifetime and now he’s sixth on the All-Time Money List. Colman’s biggest previous tournament win was $ 2.2 million at EPT Monte Carlo in April 2014 where he won the €100,000 Super High Roller. At the 2014 WSOP, he finished in 3rd place in the $10,000 Heads-Up event, before winning The Big One for One Drop for $15,306,668.

Colman added two more seven-figure cashes this summer. First, he finished in 2nd place in the €50,000 Super High Roller at EPT Barcelona for €843,066 ($1,120,186), then in September he won the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open, prevailing over a field of 1,499 players and winning $1,446,710.

His total live winnings exceed $21,500,000 and he still thinks that he doesn’t owe a single thing to poker and that it is not a game where the pros are always happy and living a fulfilling life. He has very interesting approach to the game, and he would never in a million years recommend for someone to try and make it as poker pro because he sees his job as very stressful. Colman totally agrees when someone wants to go and play poker on his own will, but doesn’t agree with gambling being advertised and has no any interest in promoting poker.

Poker experts said in their books that poker is a game of a high variance and it is a game of both, skill and luck. In short-term luck is king, and in long-term skill is king. For sure it’s not only gambling. Would you take Daniel Colman for your poker hero or would you rather choose another poker star?