About Rafi Amit

Name	Rafi Amit
Current Residence	Holon, IL
Birth Place	, IL

It’s not every day that a relatively unknown poker player makes headlines in USA Today, but that’s exactly what Rafi Amit did on his way to his first World Series of Poker bracelet in 2005.

The Israeli player was the first and so far the only player to incur a penalty while heads-up at a WSOP final table because of swearing. The semi-pro player dropped the f-bomb and was given an automatic 10 minute penalty in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha championship.

All Amit could do was stand by and watch as nearly $200,000 of his chips made their way over to Vinny Vinh during the match until the penalty was up. Luckily, he was able to come back and still work his way to a bracelet win.

It was such a big deal at the time that USA Today picked up the story, highlighting the incident in an article which discussed the rock star quality poker players have attained since the boom in poker popularity and the WSOP.

Despite the outburst that could have cost him a bracelet and a more than $500,000 top prize, Amit doesn’t quite fit the rock star mold. He grew up in a tight-knit family in Israel and eventually started traveling to the United States to play poker in cash games.

His family didn’t approve at first.

"In Israel, if you're a poker player, it's like you're a drug dealer,” Amit said in USA Today. “My family was like, 'You're losing your money, you're losing your mind.'”

They’ve since come around as he’s become successful, and now his dad asks “How’s business?” when he calls.

And business is good for Amit. His WSOP win in 2005 was his first cash and win in a major tournament, and he kept coming back to the World Series afterward, looking to capture that glory again.

In 2006 he cashed in six events, final tabling two of them. One of those final tables was once again in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event where he went out in fourth, but not before whispers of a repeat win floated around the tournament room at the Rio.

Another year would pass before Amit would get another chance at a gold bracelet. Even though Omaha is his game, it was a completely different event that proved to be the winner for him.

He took on the $1,000 2-7 Triple-Draw Lowball event and brought it all the way home for a victory. Amit and second-place finisher Lenny Martin actually made a deal to chop the pot once play got to heads-up between them. In the end, they were just playing for the bracelet win.

All the while, Amit was having to play his final table and his favorite event, the Pot-Limit Omaha championship, simultaneously because of a scheduling conflict. Despite splitting his attention between games, he still pulled off the win – and then immediately went to his Omaha table to continue that tournament.

That’s dedication, that’s poker and that’s a sure sign we’ll see Rafi Amit back for more in future years.

Trivia

• Two-time WSOP bracelet winner
• Omaha specialist