Russ Hamilton (born 1948 or 1949) is an American poker player. He was the 1994 World Series of Poker main event champion, defeating Hugh Vincent in heads-up play to win $1 million in first-prize money as well as his body weight in silver. Following his World Series win, Hamilton served as a consultant for Ultimate Bet, an online poker server. In 2008, the

Kahnawake Gaming Commission The Kahnawake Gaming Commission is a gaming regulatory body that licenses and regulates a large number of online casinos, online poker rooms and online sportsbook sites, as well as three land-based poker rooms that are situated within the Mohawk Ter ...

found Hamilton largely responsible for cheating players on Ultimate Bet out of $6.1 million through software that allowed access to opponents' hole cards. In 2009, Kahnawake increased the $6.1 million estimate to $22,100,000. Hamilton initially attended college in

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

and pursued a degree in electrical engineering, before a conversation with a professor led him to decide that playing

poker Poker is a family of Card game#Comparing games, comparing card games in which Card player, players betting (poker), wager over which poker hand, hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, with varying rules i ...

for a living would be more profitable. After playing in underground games in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, he moved to Las Vegas at the age of 36. He joined a tournament blackjack team and enjoyed a successful run; however, when tournaments started barring blackjack pros, he turned back to poker. In 1994, he won the

World Series of Poker The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada, and since 2004, sponsored by Eldorado Resorts, Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best ...

main event

bracelet A bracelet is an article of jewellery that is worn around the wrist. Bracelets may serve different uses, such as being worn as an ornament. When worn as ornaments, bracelets may have a supportive function to hold other items of decoration, ...

. He also invented Elimination Blackjack, a tournament

Blackjack Blackjack (formerly black jack or ''vingt-un'') is a casino banking game. It is the most widely played casino banking game in the world. It uses decks of 52 cards and descends from a global family of casino banking games known as " twenty-one ...

derivative that was used as the format for the televised Ultimate Blackjack Tour. Hamilton's last major cash came in the 2009

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 ...

PCA Main Event. As of 2014, his total live tournament winnings exceed $1,525,000. His eight cashes at the WSOP account for $1,261,940 of those winnings.

UltimateBet fraud

Since winning his World Series bracelet, Hamilton has served as a gaming industry expert, including as a consultant for the

online poker Online poker is the game of poker played over the Internet. It has been partly responsible for a huge increase in the number of poker players worldwide. Christiansen Capital Advisors stated online poker revenues grew from $82.7 million in 2001 t ...

cardroom UltimateBet, where he was involved in recruiting some prominent poker players, including

Phil Hellmuth Phillip Jerome Hellmuth Jr. (born July 16, 1964) is an American professional poker player who has won a record seventeen World Series of Poker bracelets, the majority in no-limit hold'em. He is the winner of the Main Event of the 1989 World Se ...

, to promote the site. He has won World Championships in several types of casino games and founded the Ultimate Blackjack Tour in 2005. On September 29, 2008, the

stated it had found clear and convincing evidence that, between the approximate dates of May 2004 and January 2008, Russ Hamilton was the main person responsible for, and benefiting from, multiple sophisticated cheating incidents at UltimateBet. UltimateBet eventually refunded a total of $22,100,000 to the defrauded players. In October 2008, ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who distinguished it from other news programs by using a unique style o ...

'' aired a report profiling Hamilton and called the fraud the biggest scandal in the history of online gambling. ''60 Minutes'' partnered with the ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' in their investigation.

World Series of Poker Bracelet

References

External links

Card Player profileHendon Mob profileWSOP profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Russ 1940s births Living people American poker players World Series of Poker bracelet winners World Series of Poker Main Event winners American fraudsters Year of birth missing (living people)