About Frankie O'Dell

Name	Frankie O'Dell
Current Residence	Long Beach Calif.
Birth Place	Denver Colo., US

Omaha is Frankie O'Dell's game, but he's no slouch in the Hold'em department. Though the Long Beach, Calif., native is known as one of the world's best Omaha players, he's cashed more than $1 million in tournament winnings thanks to his Texas Hold'em skills.

O'Dell became accustomed to the gambling life as a youngster in Denver, Colo. His father - a Mexican American who was adopted by an Irish American family - was a traveling casino employee.

His first brush with poker came at the age of 11, when his dad took him to watch the WSOP. As a young O'Dell peered at the card play over the spectator's rail, he caught the eye of poker legend Johnny Moss, who winked at him.

O'Dell took it as a sign and, in due course, convinced his dad to teach him the game. His father saw innate poker skills in his son and would let Frankie try his hand at dealing some of his card games. Eventually, the elder O'Dell took his son aside and told him he was 10 times the player that he was at the same age.

What it came down to, he said, was O'Dell's ability to wait for good cards, read the competition and know when to move in. The strategy applies to O'Dell's current game, which is a mix of patience and aggression.

The style was developed early when a 19-year-old O'Dell started sneaking into casino games and found he could play all he wanted undetected as long as he didn't win too much money. But as his skill grew, so did his attitude. Aggression wasn't only characteristic of his poker style, but also of his demeanor on and off the table.

Players found his attitude unpleasant, especially when they beat him at a hand. O'Dell admits to previously flying off the handle when his competitors played poorly or when he suffered a bad beat. Now, however, he focuses on maintaining his cool.

His shift in personality is due in part to his religious beliefs. He is a deeply spiritual person who, when he won his gold bracelet in the 2003 WSOP $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo Split, publicly thanked God for the victory. He also dedicated the win to the man who taught him poker - his father, who had died in 2000.

Leading up to his crowning Omaha victory, O'Dell had been working the poker tables for years. His first notable tournament was the 1997 Hall of Fame Poker Classic in Las Vegas, where he won first in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em event. Two years later, he made his first WSOP appearance as a player, placing 23rd in the $1,500 Limit Hold'em event.

The following years were uneventful, with O'Dell seeing only inconsequential finishes and minor cashes in U.S. tournaments. That is until 2003, when he took down the $1,000 Omaha Hi-Lo at the Jack Binion World Poker Open in Tunica, Miss., earning $45,397. Three months later, he scored his aforementioned WSOP gold bracelet.

O'Dell's biggest lifetime cash came in 2006, however, when he competed in the World Poker Tour $9,700 No-Limit Hold'em championship event. He met with a string of pros at the final table before being knocked out in second place by Joe Pelton for a $776,385 payday.

The coups had come after years of practice and, by O'Dell's own admission, coaching from one of the world's best Omaha players - pro Mike Matusow. Though he has played a substantial amount of Hold'em since the win, O'Dell has been quoted many times as saying that Omaha is the only form of poker he really enjoys playing because Limit and No-Limit Hold'em are too stressful.

And if you didn't know that O'Dell was a good Omaha player, he's likely to tell you. He's often seen sporting his gold bracelet to tournaments and likes to regale people with stories of his success in the game.

Trivia

• Was a spectator at the World Series of Poker as a child
• Holds a gold bracelet from the 2003 WSOP $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo Split