Tony Bigcharles (go back »)

This post is about one of the most interesting characters in poker who has a large online following over the last few years from posting his crazy adventures on several poker forums.  Readers of Tony Bigcharles (aka SevenCard2003) rantings love him, hate him, root for him, bet when he will go busto,  feel sad for him, but they don't stop reading.  It is one of the most unusual circumstances in the poker world.  Tony mostly plays small NL cash games (.50/1, 1/2 sometimes 2/5) so he is not a huge player that people are following.

What makes Tony's story compelling is he is an autistic man of 40+ years old, who is a formerly homeless (several think he may be that way again) beggar who used the money he received on the street to play poker games across the United States.  He has attempted to get his life together by setting a home base in Government Housing in Lyons, Kansas.  Tony's autism was recently judged debilitating enough that he was awarded Government Assistance (SSI).  He has been using the original backpay awarded (Apx $7-9000) about 12 month ago, as his poker bankroll.

While he has had adventures that he has posted in Atlantic City (highlighted by sleeping in bathroom stall story), Los Angeles, and several other locations, his most recent adventures (and blog) have played out in Las Vegas.  His dream is to become a successful Professional Poker Player and remove himself from US Assistance.  His current drawback is that he tilts when he has a losing poker session, and he can not keep himself off Black Jack and Video Poker Machines.  Making things worse is that he is a "martingale" type bettor, meaning he increases his bets even larger when he is on a losing streak.

If you want to get hooked on this character, you can read his current exploits at All Vegas Poker where his blog is at 354 pages and counting.  If you find him interesting enough, you can google some of his best historic postings at 2+2 and PartTimePoker.

In Poker Characters