Toby Lewis

One of the most successful tournament poker players, Toby “The Jester” Lewis was born in 1989 in Hampshire, United Kingdom. He has dominated both live and online felt for several years now. His first poker experiences came, like for so many others, during his college days, when he used to play micro stakes sit and goes with his buddies. When the success came in these games, he was inspired to start learning more about poker and building his bankroll. As the offering of the games around where he lived was very limited, he started travelling to find higher games, following the tours, and eventually ended up moving to London, where the game selection was much better. Coming from the modest background, he says that he appreciates the opportunities that were created for him through poker. Even though he spent a lot of time watching poker on TV and talking about the game with his friends, he believes that the best way to learn the game is through the play and dealing with situations as they arise. His online success came mostly under the aliases “810ofclubs”, which was his favorite hand, and “sexystuff1989”. As of today, Pocketfives.com lists his online cashes as being in excess of $3.7 million, with his biggest score coming from the 2013 FTOPS 2-day event. He came on top in the field of 400 players, winning $253k in the process. He is also one victory away from winning a title in all currently existing COOP series – that in a SCOOP event. His live achievements started coming about during 2010. This is when he made his biggest live score, taking down the EPT Vilamoura Main Event for just shy of $600,000. The 2012 saw him finish runner up in the EPT Monte Carlo 6-max event for $170k and in early 2013 he came 6th in the WPT L.A. Poker Classic $10k Championship, banking more than $190k. His overall live tournament winnings are in the vicinity of $2 million. Although he has no bracelets or WPT titles, two first-place EPT finishes are nothing to be ashamed of. Lewis believes that the time away from poker is very important for the overall poker success but also for maintaining a good lifestyle. Another thing he finds important is preparation for the sessions, including breakfast, reading the news and going for the workout. One advice that he really finds useful is to keep it simple and think methodically about the hands, and not to blame yourself when the cards don’t come your way. With all this in mind, he also says that he is very motivated person, always looking to better himself and never settling for the second best.