There seems to have been two major influences in John Guth's childhood. First, he listened to a lot of Sir Mix-a-Lot, and second, gambling for candy.
These two habits combined to lead to a career as a professional poker player for the Vancouver, Wash., native, and a nickname of "Sir Scoopalot."
John Guth is an Omaha specialist who mainly plays online. He told PokerListings.com he's a pretty successful online player, with the help of Full Tilt Poker.
"Full Tilt Poker has really facilitated that lately, offering $25/$50 Pot-Limit, $50/$100 and $100/200," Guth said.
While online play has been lucrative for Guth, he also started to take on live tournaments and saw his first cash in a $200 buy-in Omaha Hi-Lo event in 2005. In 2006 he saw two more smaller buy-in tournament cashes as well.
John Guth, an Omaha specialist
Then the World Series of Poker rolled around in 2007, and John Guth was on top of his game.
With the backing of his friend and Omaha mentor Jeremy Harkin, Guth entered the $5,000 Omaha Hi-Lo World Championship event. He made it through Day 1, flying under the radar somewhat, but on Day 2, bystanders couldn't help but notice as he took out Mike Matusow, Todd Brunson and Annie Duke in succession.
John Guth went into the final table on the third day of the tournament third in the chip count, and it took him nine hours to defeat the rest of the table and strap on his first World Series of Poker bracelet.
The bracelet win was also his largest live tournament cash to date, bringing in $363,216. Of course, some of that will be taken out for taxes, plus half goes to his trusty backer.
But that won't dampen John Guth's winning spirit. He bought a set of diamond earrings and a diamond ring, and the rest will go towards his bankroll.
You'll probably see him testing out the higher levels in Omaha at Full Tilt Poker now as well as heading to a few more prominent live tournaments.
