Hossein Ensan (born 22 May 1964) is an Iranian-German professional poker player from Greven, Germany. In 2019, he won the

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at the

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for $10,000,000. Ensan was born in Iran and moved to Germany in 1989 at the age of 25. There, he studied civil engineering at the University of Munster. He was unable to pay his bills, especially at the time when he was beginning a family. He has a daughter named Minusch Greshake and a wife named Alexa Greshake. He started working small jobs, such as a taxi driver, waiter, and painter. He then managed to start a taxi business in 2002, buying three cars, and had enough time to start his poker career. This was a late start, being 39 at that time. However, he stated that he knew the rules of poker since he played five-card draw when he was a kid. In August 2014, Ensan won the seniors event at the

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's Barcelona festival, then a week later he finished third out of 1,496 players in the Main Event for €652,000. He also made the final table at EPT Malta in March 2015, finishing in sixth. Finally, he made his third EPT final table in Prague that December and won the tournament for €754,000. Ensan won a WSOP circuit ring in Rozvadov,

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in 2017. He had just one WSOP cash prior to the 2019 Main Event, in the Colossus event at the WSOP Europe in 2017. At the 2019 Main Event in

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, Ensan entered the final table with the chip lead, having more than a third of the chips in play. On the 301st hand of the final table, he defeated Italian professional poker player Dario Sammartino heads-up, with against Sammartino's . His opponent check-raised all in on a board and Ensan quickly called, with the river card coming up a blank. At age 55, Ensan became the oldest Main Event champion since Noel Furlong in

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

and the second German champion after Pius Heinz in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

. As of January 2020, Ensan's total live earnings exceed $13,000,000.

World Series of Poker bracelets

Biggest scores

References

External links

Card Player profileHendon Mob profilePokerNews profileWPT profileWSOP profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ensan, Hossein 1964 births Living people German poker players Iranian poker players World Series of Poker Main Event winners World Series of Poker bracelet winners World Series of Poker Circuit event winners European Poker Tour winners Sportspeople from Münster Iranian emigrants to Germany German taxi drivers