Dewey Tomko
Dewey Tomko is currently residing in Winterhaven, Florida with his wife and their three children: Derek, David and Drew. Derek was the one who had encouraged his father to go back to playing poker a few years back. Tomko says his son is a better poker player than he was at Derek's age. Duane 'Dewey' Tomko (born December 31, 1946 in Glassport, Pennsylvania) 1 is an American former kindergarten teacher turned professional poker player, based in Winter Haven, Florida. Tomko is chiefly noted as the runner-up in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) $10,000 no limit Texas hold'em main event in both 1982 (to Jack Straus ) and 2001 (to.
// Industry, News, Op-edThe fringe efforts of anti-online-poker crusader James Thackston received a boost this week in the form of an unexpected joining into his cause by Poker Hall of Famer Dewey Tomko. Thackston, whose bizarre claims that online poker is a wide-open channel for money laundering, presumably by drug cartels, formerly operated a strange site called “Politics of Poker,” and, with a small handful of like-minded, anti-gambling conspiracy theorists, has renewed the same claims on a newer site, UndetectableLaundering.com.
While Thackston’s money-laundering examples — as well as his understanding of no-limit hold’em poker — were thoroughly debunked here a few weeks ago at FlushDraw (“Sheldon Adelson’s Minions: The Bad Poker of James Thackston”), he’s like most conspiracy theorists in that he seems unable to comprehend the meaning of evidence that runs counter to his beliefs. And that’s what’s bizarre about this latest development, the joining in to Thackston’s cause of Tomko, a skilled poker player.
Dewey Tomko in his Doyle’s Room-pimping days. (Photo source: Wikipedia)On Wednesday, Tomko and Bill Byers, the other “pro” who had previously joined forces with Thackston, appeared as co-authors of an editorial published by the Press of Atlantic City, “Dewey Tomko and Bill Byers / Poker pros: Test gambling sites for cheating“. The call to test the new New Jersey sites’ anti-collusion and anti-money-laundering systems is a fine idea, taken in a vacuum, but it’s the premises claimed by Thackston in his collusion scenarios that become fantasy.
Tomko and Byers claim to support the legalization of Internet poker, which is odd, considering that Byers’ affirmation appears as part of Thackston’s previous collusion scenarios, and Thackston is stridently against online poker. As we’ve previously shown in that earlier debunking, Byers probably shouldn’t be let anywhere near a high-stakes no-limit hold’em table; his poker resume was built entirely on old fixed-limit games and strategies and if he’s behind the poker strategies employed in the scenarios on Thackston’s site, he’s an embarrassment to himself and to poker.
It’s Tomko’s addition to the team that’s a more puzzling development. This is the same Dewey Tomko, after all, who’s a poker Hall of Famer, with three WSOP bracelets and $4.9 million in tournament winnings alone, plus countless more winnings in cash games.
This new editorial touches on those credits, but skips over the other side of Dewey Tomko. That’s the Dewey Tomko who for years served as paid spokesman for Doyle’s Room, which was one of those very same “unregulated offshore poker sites” that Tomko now seeks to pillory by way of enhancing his own reputation, and maybe try to get the inside line on a new paid gig, perhaps as a games-integrity consultant.
The thing is, if the powers that be understood how much of an inveterate hustler Dewey Tomko was, they’d look six or seven times at his possible motivations for getting involved in this debate… in this way. Tomko is one of the two or three most legendary hustlers the combined poker-and-golf worlds have ever known; Tomko quit his one-time teaching career and took to hustling the games full time, way back in the ’70s, because it was such an immensely profitable opportunity.
One of Tomko’s long-time friends in the industry, and in that world of poker- and sports-hustling? That would be Russ Hamilton, the man who ripped off players of the site he partly owned, UltimateBet, for tens of millions of dollars.
It’s probably not fair to call Tomko guilty by association, even if those associations ran deep behind the corrupt UB facade. But what is fair is to show that those ties ran deep. In my own years of research into the UB and Absolute Poker scandals, I’ve received hundreds of documents and files. Among those is the tale of a special little group of UB players called the FOUBs, or the “Friends Of UB”.
The FOUBs were a special little group of players, set up with extra accounts, each with the same special affiliate code. The players themselves were personal friends of Hamilton and Hamilton’s one-time sportsbetting runner, another guy the poker world might’ve heard of, named Mansour Matloubi. And these players’s accounts? They were all rakeback-free, a friendship gift from Hamilton, often for various business favors.
I’ve never released the complete contents of the FOUBs list, other than to note that there are plenty of casino-owning folks on the list. Several of the names on the list are also prominent members of the Costa Rican gambling scene .
Costa Rica, you ask? Where does that come in? Well, Dewey Tomko owns a casino in Costa Rica, the Horseshoe. Now, the loop is almost complete — but Dewey Tomko was not on the FOUBs list. But his son Derek was.
Such are the nature of poker’s internal, often sordid relationships.
It’s highly unlikely that the Press of Atlantic City realized that the editorial they published was co-authored by someone who was quite a bit more than just a poker champion. Tomko’s also a casino owner, has historic connections to perhaps the game’s biggest all-time cheater, and he was a paid spokesman himself for a prominent unregulated, US-facing site.
An editorial by Steve Ruddock at 4Flush published earlier today flatly calls Dewey Tomko a sell-out. I think that’s accurate. What’s probably understated and less understood is how deep that sellout really is.
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Dewey Tomko Birthday
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Wikipedia
| Dewey Tomko | |
|---|---|
Dewey Tomko at the 2006 World Poker Tour Bellagio Five Star Tournament | |
| Nickname(s) | Dewey |
| Residence | Winter Haven, Florida |
| Born | December 31, 1946 (age 65) |
| World Series of Poker | |
| Bracelet(s) | 3 |
| Money finish(es) | 43 |
| Highest ITM Main Event finish | 2nd |
| World Poker Tour | |
| Title(s) | None |
| Final table(s) | 2 |
| Money finish(es) | 5 |
| Information accurate as of 12 September 2010. | |
Duane 'Dewey' Tomko (born December 31, 1946 in Glassport, Pennsylvania)[1] is an American former kindergartenteacher turned professional poker player, based in Winter Haven, Florida.
Tomko is chiefly noted as the runner-up in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) $10,000 no limitTexas hold'em main event in both 1982 (to Jack Straus) and 2001 (to Carlos Mortensen.) Besides his success in the main event, Tomko has won three WSOP bracelets, all in different variations of poker, in addition to various other tournament wins throughout his career.
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Early Life
Tomko was born and raised in Glassport, PA., a suburb of Pittsburgh. He began playing poker profitably as a 16-year-old in Pittsburgh pool halls which allowed him to finance his education.
He worked as a kindergarten teacher for several years, but often played poker through the night. After Tomko realised that poker was more profitable than his job, he invested a sum of his winnings into businesses while choosing to play poker full-time and leaving his full time job.
Poker Career
Dewey Tomko Net Worth
Tomko won his first WSOP bracelet in 1979 in the $1,000 No Limit Hold'em event. He defeated Duanne Hammrich heads-up to win the title and $48,000 cash prize.
At the 1984 WSOP, Dewey won two bracelets. First he won the $10,000 Deuce to Seven Draw event. The next day he went back-to-back, winning the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha with re-buys event.
In addition to his WSOP success, Tomko has made two World Poker Tour (WPT) final tables. He finished runner-up in the 2003 Five Diamond World Poker Classic ($552,853) and in fourth place in the Costa Rica Classic ($14,650.)
Tomko has played every WSOP Main Event since 1974 which is currently the longest active streak.
Tomko took third place in the 2005 WSOPDeuce-to-seven lowball event worth $138,160. He also made the final table of the first WSOP $50,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. tournament in 2006 which featured some of the best tournament and cash game poker players in the world. He finished in 7th place earning a $343,200 payday.
As of 2010, his total live tournament winnings exceed $4,960,000.[2] Just over half of his tournament winnings, $2,641,573, have come at the WSOP.[3] He is a 2008 inductee into the Poker Hall of Fame.[4]
World Series of Poker Bracelets
| Year | Tournament | Prize (US$) |
|---|---|---|
| 1979 | $1,000 No Limit Hold'em | $48,000 |
| 1984 | $10,000 Deuce to Seven Draw | $105,000 |
| 1984 | $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha | $135,000 |
Family
Tomko is married with three children. His son Derek encouraged him to return to playing poker tournaments. (Tomko claims his son is a better player than he was at his age.)
Dewey Tomko Marianella
Golf
Tomko is an excellent golfer, spending much of his time on the golf course when he is not playing poker. He has played with many of his fellow high stakes poker players like Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, and many others. One of his most frequent golf partners is poker player Hilbert Shirey who also lives in Tomko's hometown of Winter Haven, Florida.
Rick Reilly chronicles a day with Dewey on a golf course in his book Who's Your Caddy. In it, he contends that Tomko is not interested in competition if there is not a wager riding on it. Dewey is just as good a gambler on the golf course as he is sitting at a poker table. He notes that many PGA professionals will refuse to play him for money.
On NBC's Poker After Dark, Greg Raymer noted that pro golfer Rocco Mediate has said that if he had one person to putt for his life, it would be Tomko.
Notes
- ^Tourney.com profile
- ^Hendon Mob tournament results
- ^World Series of Poker Earnings, www.worldseriesofpoker.com
- ^Pokernews.com: Poker Hall of Fame 2008 Inductees Announced
Dewey Tomko Poker
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Dewey Tomko Golf
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)