Russell ‘Dutch’ Boyd

Russell – more commonly referred to as Dutch Boyd – got into poker through the 1998 poker-film Rounders. Funnily, his poker journey actually begun in a very similar way to Matt Damon’s character in the film, Mike McDermott. Like Mike, Dutch Boyd was in law school when he got into poker – but unlike in the film’s story, he actually graduated. Never using this law qualification to get a job in the profession, Boyd moved to California to play online poker. After a failed attempt to set up an online cardroom once known as PokerSpot, he focused all of his attention on playing poker.

It didn’t take long for Boyd to get some notable live cashes under his belt. A couple of years into his career, he finished 12th in the 2003 WSOP Main Event – the year that satellite entrant Chris Moneymaker won $2,500,000 and inspired a generation of online poker players with his story. Though Dutch narrowly missed out on a final table, he did take home $80,000 as a consolation prize. Three years and six WSOP cashes later, he won his first bracelet in 2006, taking down the $2,500 Short-Handed No-Limit Hold’em event for $475,712. Exemplifying his ability to succeed in short-handed poker, Dutch won another bracelet four years later at the 2010 WSOP – this time in the $2,500 Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event for $234,065. Starting a four-yearly trend of winning bracelets, Dutch more recently won the 2014 WSOP $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em event for $288,744. With over 40 WSOP cashes in total, he is a player that thrives in this environment.

Now living in Las Vegas, Dutch Boyd has built up a popular following on Twitch streaming poker, playing the majority of the time at WSOP.com. He has over 13,000 followers and more than 300,000 views on his channel.

As well as coaching poker over at his site (rates and contact details can be found there), he dedicated a year to writing his own book called ‘Poker Tilt’. It chronicles the rollercoaster lifestyle of a poker player and gives you an intimate insight into his mindset.