Top Hispanics not Plentiful in Poker

Written by:
Thomas Somach
Published on:
Apr/19/2011

Gambling911.comrecently examined the issue of minorities in professional poker and revealed that there are few top black players.

But what about other minorities?

How many Hispanic or Latino players, for example, are there at the top levels of the game?

Gambling911.com looked into the issue and learned, not surpisingly, that there aren't many more top Hispanic or Latino poker players than there are top black ones.

So who is No. 1?

The top-earning Hispanic or Latino poker player is Juan Carlos "El Matador" Mortensen, who according to official tournament records has earned a total of $10,518,489 in his career playing live tournament poker.

The runnerup on the list is Humberto Brenes, who according to official tournament records has earned a total of $5,440,098 in his career playing live tournament poker.

Next on the list is Jose Barbero, who according to official tournament records has earned a total of $3,002,542 in his career playing live tournament poker.

After that the list gets pretty short.

The only other Hispanic or Latino players, according to official tournament records, who have earned at least $1 million in their careers playing live tournament poker are Alex Manzano ($1,113,635), Alex Brenes ($1,106,006), Angel Guillen ($1,074,949) and Eric Brenes ($1,050,986).

Juan Carlos Alvarado is almost there--he's won a total of $882,131 in his career playing live tournament poker, according to official tournament records.

Officials in the world of professional poker would like to see more Hispanic/Latino players reach the top levels of the game--it would increase TV viewership among that demographic and perhaps even get poker on to Spanish-language television, where so far (in the USA) it does not appear.

By Tom Somach

Gambling911.com Staff Writer

tomsomach@yahoo.com

 

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