Kane Kalas (born May 11, 1989) is an American investor, poker player, recording artist, and broadcaster.

Early life and education

Kane Kalas was born on May 11, 1989 in

Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania Bryn Mawr (, from Welsh language, Welsh for 'big hill') is a census-designated place (CDP) located in Pennsylvania, United States. It is located just west of Philadelphia along Lancaster Avenue, also known as U.S. Route 30 in Pennsylvania, U.S. ...

and was raised in

Media, Pennsylvania Media is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough in and the county seat of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located about west of Philadelphia. It is part of the Delaware Valley, also known as the Philadelphia metropolitan area. ...

. He is the son of the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...

play-by-play commentator and

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by a private foundation. It serves as the central collection and gathering space for the history of baseball in the United S ...

member

Harry Kalas Harold Norbert Kalas (March 26, 1936 – April 13, 2009) was an American Sports commentator, sportscaster, best known for his Ford C. Frick Award, Ford C. Frick Award-winning role as lead Sports commentator, play-by-play announcer for the Phila ...

and brother of Todd Kalas, the play-by-play commentator for the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

. Kalas attended

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

Career

Music

Kalas is known for performing "

The Star-Spangled Banner "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written by American lawyer Francis Scott Key on September 14, 1814, after he witnessed the bombardment of Fort ...

", "

God Bless America "God Bless America" is an American patriotic song written by Irving Berlin during World War I in 1918 and revised by him in the run-up to World War II in 1938. The later version was recorded by Kate Smith, becoming her signature song. "Go ...

", and "

Take Me Out to the Ball Game "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" is a 1908 waltz song by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer which has become the unofficial anthem of North American baseball, although neither of its authors had attended a game before writing the song. The song' ...

" at

Citizens Bank Park Citizens Bank Park is a baseball stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the city's South Philadelphia Sports Complex. Home to Major League Baseball's Philadelphia Phillies, the stadium opened April 3, 2004. It is named after Citizens Financi ...

. It is a

tradition for Kalas to perform the national anthem at each year’s home opener and when the Phillies are in the playoffs. In 2008, Kalas performed "America, the Dream Goes On" at

Independence Hall Independence Hall is a historic civic building in Philadelphia, where both the United States Declaration of Independence, Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States were debated and adopted by the Founding Fathers of ...

in Philadelphia. In 2009, Kalas sang "

America the Beautiful "America the Beautiful" is an American patriotic song. Its lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates and its music was composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward at Grace Church (Newark), Grace Episcopal Church in Newark, New ...

" at the Media Memorial Day parade. In 2022 he performed at the Media Eagles Pep Rally celebrating the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

Super Bowl appearance that year. He has performed in the professional operas ''

Fidelio ''Fidelio'' (; ), originally titled ' (''Leonore, or The Triumph of Marital Love''), Opus number, Op. 72, is the sole opera by German composer Ludwig van Beethoven. The libretto was originally prepared by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of ...

'' and ''Agostino and the Puchinni Clarinet''. In 2023, Kalas released an album titled ''High Hopes'', dedicated to his father, Harry Kalas, and the city of Philadelphia. The cover album includes original compositions of 18 classic American Standards.

Poker

Kalas starting playing online poker professionally under the handle "NASCAR_1949" during his freshman year of college in 2008. Between then and Poker Black Friday, Kalas competed in the largest cash games that have ever run online. He was a regular in Full Tilt Poker's Rail Heaven $500/$1000 No-limit Hold 'em games. During this time, Kalas made poker training videos for Pokernews Strategy, which later changed its name to Poker Phenoms. Kalas' debut in televised poker occurred on the

Fox Sports Network Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, was the collective name for a group of regional sports channels in the United States. Formed in 1996 by News Corporation, the networks were acquired by the Walt Disney Company on Mar ...

in September 2014, when he placed second in the WPT Borgata Poker Open for a total prize of over $500,000. Kalas was featured in

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

's coverage of the 2015 World Series of Poker Main Event. Kalas is the winner of the biggest pot in televised poker history. In May 2018, he won a $2,178,770 pot in the Triton Cash Game from the Triton Super High Roller series held in Montenegro. In 2019, Upswing Poker released a Six-plus hold'em training course featuring Kalas as the instructor.

Broadcasting

Kalas is a regular broadcaster of the World Series of Poker for PokerGo, PokerCentral, and

CBS All Access Paramount+ (formerly known as CBS All Access in the United States and 10 All Access in Australia) is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Paramount Global. The service's content is drawn primarily ...

. He has called play-by-play for a number of

World Poker Tour The World Poker Tour (WPT) is an internationally televised gaming and entertainment brand. Since 2002, the World Poker Tour has operated a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting playdown and the ...

events including PartyPoker's WPT Montreal, WPT Thunder Valley, WPT Deepstacks Parx, and WPT Borgata. He called play-by-play for the first broadcast of the Triton Super High Roller Series in Montenegro in May 2018. When the Patrick Antonius Poker Challenge tournament and cash game series debuted in 2019, in Tallinn, Estonia, Kalas commentated the event. Kalas also commentated the “High Stakes Feud” grudge match between

Daniel Negreanu Daniel Negreanu (; born July 26, 1974) is a Canadian professional poker player who has won seven World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets and two World Poker Tour (WPT) championship titles. In 2014, independent poker ranking service Global Poker ...

and

Doug Polk Douglas K. Polk (born December 16, 1988) is an American professional poker player. Polk played under the alias WCGRider, specializing in heads-up No Limit hold'em (HUNL). Early life Polk was born in Pasadena, California, and has loved strategy ...

in 2020. Kalas has also broadcast events for the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open, Live at the Bike, and the Borgata Poker Open.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''High Hopes'' (2023)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kalas, Kane 1989 births Living people American poker players 21st-century American singers 21st-century American male singers University of Miami alumni American broadcasters