Todd ‘tbt4653’ Terry

Formerly a criminal defense lawyer involved in a number of high-profile and extremely lengthy trials, Todd Terry turned to professional tournament poker full-time in 2007. The long hours and stresses of the legal battles he fought turned him away from the field, and playing cards for a living was understandably more appealing for him. After winning a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament on the WSOP circuit in 2006 – for a prize just shy of $100,000 – Terry was given the encouragement he needed to play the game full-time. With an academic background in applied mathematics at Harvard, the Philadelphian native clearly had the smarts to compete with the very best.

His first year as a pro went extremely well, with Terry making a very deep run in his first ever WSOP cash. Playing the $2,000 No Limit Hold’em event in a field of more than 1,500 players, Terry made the final table and was just inches away from winning a WSOP bracelet. Unfortunately, he fell just short of this accolade, finishing as a runner-up and taking home $353,875. Getting so far in a tournament with notable pros like Justin Bonomo and Shaun Deeb was all the confirmation that Todd needed to prove that he wasn’t out of his depth in the big leagues. Just a couple of months later in September of 2007, Terry got his hands on his first notable title – A WPT trophy at the $500 No Limit Hold’em event in Atlantic City for $87,233. With one more cash under his belt before the year closed out, Terry had won almost $500,000 in his first professional year as a pro.

Showing that he wasn’t just experiencing a lengthy period of beginner’s luck, Terry had another series of impressive scores in 2009. He kicked off the year with his biggest tournament cash to date by finishing second in the $3,000 No Limit Hold’em Championship Event at the Borgata in Atlantic City for $434,767. Another six-figure score at the $10,000 WPT Championship Event at the Bicycle Casino in LA made 2009 his most successful year as a pro with his winnings exceeding more than $700,000 in 12 months.

Terry has also earned close to $1,000,000 in online tournament earnings, with the bulk of this money coming from MTTs at PokerStars under the screenname ‘tbt4653’.