John Cernuto | |
---|---|
Nickname(s) | Miami John |
Residence | Las Vegas, Nevada |
Born | January 10, 1944 |
World Series of Poker | |
Bracelet(s) | 3 |
Money finish(es) | 65 |
Highest ITM Main Event finish | 345th, 2011 |
World Poker Tour | |
Title(s) | None |
Final table(s) | 3 |
Money finish(es) | 9 |
European Poker Tour | |
Title(s) | None |
Final table(s) | 1 |
Money finish(es) | 3 |
John Anthony Cernuto (born January 10, 1944, in Jersey City, New Jersey) [1] also known as Miami, is an American professional poker player based in Las Vegas, Nevada, specialising in Omaha hi-lo events. Cernuto has won over $6,200,000 in live tournament winnings, his largest score was for $259,150 from his $2,000 No Limit Hold'em bracelet victory in the 1997 World Series of Poker. [2]
Before embarking on his poker career, Cernuto worked as an air traffic controller. When President Ronald Reagan fired the air traffic controllers during a 1981 strike, he turned to poker for his profession. [3]
Cernuto first cashed in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) after making the final table in the 1989 World Series of Poker in the $5,000 Seven-card stud event. He finished fourth in the final table, which featured David Sklansky, Humberto Brenes, Gabe Kaplan, and the tournament winner Don Holt. [4]
Five WSOP cashes followed before Cernuto won his first bracelet in the 1996 WSOP $1,500 seven card stud split tournament. [2] [5] He won the $2,000 no limit hold'em event in the 1997 World Series of Poker and the $1,500 limit Omaha event in the 2002 World Series of Poker. [6] [7]
Cernuto made an impressive three final tables in the 2006 World Series of Poker, two in Seven Card Stud and one in Razz. [8] [9] [10]
During the $2,500 Razz tournament of the 2009 WSOP, Cernuto collapsed and was taken to a hospital, where he spent the night after being diagnosed with internal bleeding. [11]
At the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event, Cernuto finished in 345th place for his best career placement in the World Championship. [12]
As of the 2023 World Series of Poker, Cernuto has finished in the money in at least one World Series of Poker tournament per year starting in 1992. [13] [14]
Year | Tournament | Prize (US$) |
---|---|---|
1996 | $1,500 Seven Card Stud Split | $147,000 |
1997 | $2,000 No Limit Hold'em | $259,150 |
2002 | $1,500 Limit Omaha | $73,320 |
In 1988, Cernuto won the $1,000 Seven Card Stud event at Amarillo Slim's Super Bowl of Poker tournament series, earning a cash prize of $58,000 in addition to the title. [15] The victory at the SBOP was Cernuto's first career victory in a major poker tournament. [2]
In 2003, he won the third World Heads-Up Poker Championship in Vienna, outlasting a field including fellow professionals Ivo Donev, Ram Vaswani, Dave Colclough, Scotty Nguyen, and Padraig Parkinson on the way to the €60,000 grand prize. [16]
Cernuto has also made one World Poker Tour (WPT) final table at the 2005 PokerStars Caribbean Poker Adventure event won by John Gale. [17]
As of 2023, his total live tournament winnings exceed $6,200,000. [2]
In 2019, actor James Woods, a close friend of John's coined him the “Ironman of Poker”, as John is the all-time leader in poker tournament cashes. [18]
At the 2020 Global Poker Awards, Cernuto was given the distinguished “Hendon Mob” award for his lifetime tournament cashes record. [19]
Cernuto has made appearances on the Ultimate Blackjack Tour , [20] making a final table in the Elimination Blackjack event where he played in a tournament format of the game of blackjack.
Phillip Jerome Hellmuth Jr. is an American professional poker player who has won a record seventeen World Series of Poker bracelets. He is the winner of the Main Event of the 1989 World Series of Poker (WSOP) and the Main Event of the 2012 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE), and he is a 2007 inductee of the WSOP's Poker Hall of Fame. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest tournament players of all time.
Juan Carlos Mortensen is an Ecuadorian professional poker player of Danish descent and the first South American Main Event winner of the World Series of Poker. Mortensen is known for his loose play, bluffing tactics, and interesting chip-stacking style.
Andrew Elliot Bloch is a professional poker player. He holds two electrical engineering degrees from MIT and a JD from Harvard Law School.
Kirill Gerasimov is a Russian professional poker player.
Bon "John" Phan is a Vietnamese-American professional poker player based in Stockton, California, who is a two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner and is a winner and four-time final tablist of World Poker Tour Championships.
Paul Darden, Jr. is an American professional poker player, rap music promoter, and night club owner from New Haven, Connecticut.
Gavin Smith was a Canadian professional poker player who won the World Poker Tour's Season IV Mirage Poker Showdown Championship event and the WPT Season IV Player of the Year award in 2005, then at the 2010 World Series of Poker, won the $2,500 Mixed Hold 'em event along with his first bracelet.
David Benyamine is a French professional poker player with a World Poker Tour title. Benyamine was a professional tennis player in his early career but had to retire because of shoulder pain. He was also a successful top ten billiards player in France. He learned poker at the age of 12 and plays high-stakes cash games on a regular basis. Benyamine is a Pot-Limit Omaha specialist.
Farzad "Freddy" Bonyadi is an Iranian professional poker player based in Aliso Viejo, California, who has won four World Series of Poker bracelets.
Jeffrey Lisandro is an Italo-Australian professional poker player, now residing in Salerno, Italy.
John Hennigan is an American professional poker player from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who, in his career, has won six World Series of Poker bracelets and a World Poker Tour (WPT) title.
Minh Van Nguyen, a Vietnamese American professional poker player, is a two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner residing in Bell Gardens, California.
O'Neil Longson is an American professional poker player from Las Vegas, Nevada, who has won three bracelets at the World Series of Poker.
Joe Awada is a professional poker player, based in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Don Williams was an American poker player.
Phuong "Kenny" Tran is a Vietnamese American professional poker player from Arcadia, California who won the 2008 World Series of Poker $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em World Championship. Tran was born in Vietnam and gives 10% of his winnings to his extended family there. He is married and has 3 children. He first began playing poker in 1992 at a bowling alley while working at McDonald's.
Ralph "Rep" Porter is an American professional poker player who won the 2008 World Series of Poker $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed event, the 2011 World Series of Poker $2,500 Seven Card Razz event, and the 2016 World Series of Poker $1,500 Seven Card Razz event.
Perry Friedman was an American professional poker player who won the 2002 World Series of Poker $1,500 Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better event and was a founding member of the Tiltboys.
Frank R. Kassela is an American professional poker player from Germantown, Tennessee now residing in Las Vegas, who is a three-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner. He won two bracelets at the 2010 World Series of Poker, first in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better Championship event and second in the $2,500 Razz event. and earned the 2010 WSOP Player of the Year Award. He won his third bracelet at the $1,500 No Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw.
Adam Friedman is a professional poker player from Gahanna, Ohio.