Robert Varkonyi was born on October 7, 1961 in New York. His parents were Hungarian immigrants who fled their homeland in 1956 after a communist regime having taken over that country. Their escape was quite daring and they did not even get married until they made it to New York.

After graduating with 2 college degrees Robert Varkonyi worked on Wall Street for several years developing systems for trading sales and money management. He then quit to become an Investor Banker in Brooklyn, New York. After a few years there he went on to take his chances in the professional poker world in 2000. However, this is not something that he did not plan out carefully. In fact he had been saving up his money for 15 years in order to be able to do this.

Robert Varkonyi began playing poker a lot more frequently in 2002. He also began entering Satellite tournaments. Only a year later, in 2001, he entered the $3,000 No Limit Hold’em event. While Robert Varkonyi enjoyed playing this game, he did not do all that well in it. Nevertheless, luck was on his side because he did not give up after this first experience.

In 2002 Robert Varkonyi won the $2 million prize at the World Series Of Poker main event. The odds of him doing this were stacked so high against him that commentator and fellow poker player, Phil Hallmuth, agreed to have his hair shaved off for charity if Robert Varkonyi actually did win. In the final round, Robert Varkonyi's full hand beat Julian "The Kid" Gardener's flush. So, Hellmuth made good on his promise and even allowed Robert Varkonyi to shave some of the hair off. The very next month after this tournament Robert Varkonyi won first place in a poker tournament that took place in Costa Rica.

Robert Varkonyi is married to Olga Varkonyi. Two weeks before he won the main event in the 2002 World Series Of Poker main event he taught his wife Olga how to play poker. She was actually leading in chips on the second day of the 2005 World Series Of Poker event. Unfortunately she ended up finishing in 238th place though. Nevertheless, she is still playing poker and Robert wants to continue watching her play until she is able to win some tournaments of her own.

In 2003 Robert Varkonyi was unable to win a repeat championship. However, he has been doing some very interesting things of his own ever since he won the World Poker Championship in 2003. He is enjoying living with his wife and their 2 daughters in Great Neck, New York.

Today Robert Varkonyi is a columnist for Card Player Magazine. He has also made an instructional poker video which is entitled, "Wise Guys On Texas Hold 'Em." This video feature some of the cast from the television series, "The Sopranos." Robert Varkonyi is also a representative of the online poker room, "InterPoker."

Robert Varkonyi has also been involved in some less than popular excursions as well. For instance, he appeared in a poker documentary which was entitled "Poker Kings." This video also featured such great poker players as Phil Hellmuth, who currently holds the all-time world record for the most bracelets won at the World Series of Poker. Robert Varkonyi also worked with a partner to develop a new casino gae but in the it it actually failed to become anything close to successful.

Today, Robert Varkonyi is still trying to play as much poker as he possibly can. Since 2002 he has actually played in 4 or 5 different professional poker tours. Robert Varkonyi has also played in a wide variety of charity poker events as well. He also enjoys going to both Foxwoods and Atlantic City to play poker on occasion.

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