Amir ‘AmirSF’ Lehavot

Israeli-born Lehavot was a relative latecomer to poker, finding the game at the age of 31. However, a decorated background in strategy games made him more than capable of picking it up quickly, as Amir played chess avidly as a child and throughout school. His professional life saw him train as an electrical engineer and work in Silicon Valley for a number of years before falling in love with poker.

After making a $50 deposit online, Amir span this bankroll into more than $40,000 in just three months and never looked back since. When he chopped PokerStars’ prestigious Sunday Millions tournament for $144,000 in 2009, his bankroll had grown so much that he was able to play some of the larger buy-in live events.

#1 on Israel’s all-time money list for live tournament earnings, Lehavot now has over $5,600,000 in winnings in less than nine years of live tournament cashes. In 2011, he won his first WSOP bracelet in the $10,000 Pot Limit Hold’em event – taking home $573,456 along with the accolade. Only a couple of years into his professional poker career, Amir demonstrated that he could compete with and beat the likes of Jason Somerville, Chris Moorman and Stephen Chidwick by emerging victorious in this competitive event.

In 2013, he turned the dream of many poker players into a reality – by making the final table of the WSOP Main Event. Although he fell just short of winning the biggest title in poker, he was awarded $3,727,823 for his efforts after finishing in third-place behind Jay Farber and eventual winner Ryan Riess.

Amir has also enjoyed a lot of success outside of the WSOP. In 2013, he won a WPT title in the $2,000 No Limit Hold’em Shooting Star Event and has earned seats at multiple other WPT final tables since.

Founder of the poker training site www.pokerwit.com, Amir now resides with his wife in North Miami Beach.