Steve Zolotow (born March 30, 1945) is an American businessman and professional

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

player from

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...

. He has won two bracelets at the World Series of Poker. He was one of the regulars at the famed

Mayfair Club The Mayfair Club was a cardroom in New York City. Originally starting as a bridge and backgammon club, it eventually became "the most touted card club in New York" until its abrupt closing by authorities in 2000. Eolis, Wendeen"Documentary Film Shi ...

while he lived in New York City.

New York Years

Zolotow was born on March 30, 1945, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. He lived in New York City for many years before becoming a professional poker player and moving to Las Vegas. He worked as a businessman, and owns several bars and restaurants in New York City. He also discovered poker while living in New York and became a regular player at the Mayfair club along with now well-known poker professionals like

Howard Lederer Howard Henry Lederer (born October 30, 1964) is an American professional poker player. He has won two World Series of Poker bracelets and holds two World Poker Tour titles. Lederer has also contributed to several books on poker strategy and ha ...

Dan Harrington Dan Harrington (born December 6, 1945) is a professional poker player, best known for winning the Main Event at the 1995 World Series of Poker. He has earned one World Poker Tour title, two WSOP bracelets, and over six million dollars in tourna ...

Jay Heimowitz Jay B. Heimowitz (born December 26, 1937) is an American poker player from Bethel, New York. Heimowitz was one of the original players to help establish the Mayfair Club as a premier poker house. Heimowitz started playing poker for baseball ca ...

, and

Erik Seidel Erik Seidel (born November 6, 1959) is an American professional poker player from Las Vegas, Nevada, who has won nine World Series of Poker bracelets and a World Poker Tour title. In 2010, he was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. Early li ...

, among others.

Poker career

Zolotow has been on the poker circuit since 1988, when he finished in 5th place in that year's

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 Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker p ...

$2500 Pot Limit Omaha tournament. In the years to come, he would earn

bracelets 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, suc ...

for winning the 1995

Chinese Poker Chinese poker is a card game based on poker hand rankings. It is intended as a beginner-friendly game, with only a basic knowledge of poker hand rankings needed to get started. The format allows for frequent unexpected outcomes due to the large ...

tournament (which also featured

Doyle Brunson Doyle F. Brunson (born August 10, 1933) is a retired American poker player who played professionally for over 50 years. He is a two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion, a Poker Hall of Fame inductee, and the author of several ...

and

), and for winning the 2001 $3000 Pot Limit Hold'em tournament (which also featured

John Juanda Johnson "John" Juanda (born July 8, 1971) is an Indonesian professional poker player of Chinese descent based in Tokyo, Japan. He has won five World Series of Poker bracelets. Personal life Juanda was born into a Hoklo family in Medan, N ...

Tom McEvoy Thomas K. McEvoy (born November 14, 1944, in Grand Rapids, Michigan) is a professional poker player, author and member of the Poker Hall of Fame, 2013 inductee. He is best known for winning the 1983 World Series of Poker Main Event. Early lif ...

, Kathy Liebert,

Chris Ferguson Christopher Philip Ferguson (born April 11, 1963) is an American professional poker player. He has won six World Series of Poker events, including the 2000 WSOP Main Event, and the 2008 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Ferguson is a ...

and

Scotty Nguyen Thuận B. "Scotty" Nguyễn (born October 28, 1962) is a Vietnamese-American professional poker player who is a five-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, most notably as the winner of the 1998 World Series of Poker Main Event and ...

.) Apart from his successes at the World Series, his biggest cash win to date came for a 4th place on the

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 ...

's Season 2 PartyPoker.com Million Cruise, which saw him sharing a final table with Scotty Nguyen,

Barry Greenstein Barry Greenstein (born December 30, 1954, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American professional poker player. He has won a number of major events, including three at the World Series of Poker and two on the World Poker Tour. Greenstein donates his p ...

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

and eventual winner

Erick Lindgren Erick A. Lindgren (born August 11, 1976, in Burney, California) is an American professional poker player. He has won two World Poker Tour (WPT) titles, two World Series of Poker bracelets, and more than $10,500,000 in tournament earnings during ...

. Zolotow won $259,684 from the tournament's prize pool. In 2008, Zolotow competed on NBC's

Poker After Dark ''Poker After Dark'' is an hour-long poker television program that originally aired on NBC, premiering on January 1, 2007.

show which reunited six players from the Mayfair Club. The tournament included Zolotow and fellow professional poker players Howard Lederer, Mickey Appleman,

, and former Mayfair club owner, Mike Shichtman. Zolotow finished in fourth place, and Heimowitz won the tournament and winner-take-all prize of $120,000. As of 2013, his total live tournament winnings exceed $2,200,000. His 49 cashes at the WSOP account for over $1,100,000 of those winnings.World Series of Poker Earnings
, worldseriesofpoker.com

World Series of Poker bracelets

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zolotow, Steve 1945 births Living people Businesspeople from New York City People from the Las Vegas Valley American restaurateurs American gambling writers American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American Jews American poker players World Series of Poker bracelet winners 21st-century American Jews