Paul Darden's upbringing exposed him to poker early on. As he says: "My father had a little poker club in New Haven when I was a little kid. So I've been around that all my life, and my dad taught me to play." In those years, Paul was most often playing Five- and Seven-Card Stud.

Before becoming a professional poker player, Paul was a partner in a nightclub in New Haven and promoted rap shows, hip-hop, R&B and some jazz. As a tournament player, apart from his great game he is known for wearing stylish hip-hop clothing and jewelry, which have helped make him tremendously popular amongst younger poker enthusiasts.

Paul started his more serious poker playing as an adult at Foxwoods, the large casino owned by the Mashantucket Pequot tribe of southeastern Connecticut. He later went to Atlantic City where he had a significant and divining encounter with Phil Ivey. Phil saw Paul's natural talent and took it upon himself to mentor him. Up until that point, Paul had mainly been playing Seven-Card Stud; Phil tried to steer him in the direction of No-Limit Hold'em.

Unsure of how wise it would be to play a game in which he could lose everything in one bum hand, Paul first tried Limit Hold'em. Shortly after, he took his first trip to Las Vegas. As he remembers it: "I wasn't doing very well on the first trip to Vegas. Phil told me again that I ought to play No-Limit, but I told him I couldn't afford it; I didn't have the money, so he loaned it to me! He told me I had to take the $10,000 shot at a million. I entered the big tournament and survived the first day."

For a time, Paul seemed destined to come in second when he played tournaments. Phil kept feeding him pointers on how to improve his game and by 2001 at the World Series of Poker he took first place and won $147,440 in the $2,500 Seven-Card Stud event.

Ivey continued to encourage Darden to switch his focus to No-Limit Hold'em. Of Phil's influence, Darden has said: "My buddy Phil Ivey, he's got ESP. He saw the future before I did, before a lot of us did. He told me this is the game of the future... wow, look at us today! You know what I mean?"

Paul's success in televised tournaments has made him a celebrity, particularly among those of the younger generation. He says: "Young college guys always recognize me, and always ask questions. I've always been a people person, so you know I'm always like 'What's up?' It's unbelievable the way that people look at me and say 'I know you!' 'cause of TV. TV is something else, you know? I never knew TV would make a person so popular. I mean, it's incredible. I love it. 'Cause I'm just doing this for a living, but I really don't consider myself a star or a celebrity. I'm just me, Paul Darden, you know?"

Phil Ivey is far from being Paul's only friend among the pros. He's also tight with Men the Master, Scotty Nguyen, Layne Flack and many more. However, he generally doesn't spend nights out with the boys. As he says: "I hang out occasionally with all of them. A lot of them like to party. I'm married, so I ain't too much into the party scene, 'cause they like to go to the strip clubs. Then it's hard to come home, 'cause my wife's like 'Where ya been?' But, at times, I hang out. My wife is understanding. I love her too much to mess up that." Paul is a devoted family man. One of his motivations to succeed is his desire to see his four children prosper in the future.

Paul's approach to poker is certainly working very well for him: "My strength is to try to play my opponent's hand, not mine, because I have my cards; my cards are easy to play. I try to put myself in their hand and play at me."

Lately, Darden has appeared rather frequently on television; he is featured in a WPT commercial and is scheduled to appear in upcoming episodes of Hollywood Home Game and Bad Boys of Poker.

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