Sunny Mehta (born April 7, 1978, in Grand Rapids, Michigan) is an American hockey executive, data scientist, and former professional poker player, writer, options trader, and musician. Currently the Assistant General Manager and Head of Analytics for the Florida Panthers, he pioneered the first full-time analytics department in the National Hockey League as Director of Hockey Analytics for the New Jersey Devils. He is co-author of two bestselling poker strategy books. [1]
Mehta grew up in Wyckoff, New Jersey, and graduated from Ramapo High School, where he played varsity ice hockey. [2] He studied Jazz Guitar and Studio Music at the University of Miami Frost School of Music, and then moved to New Orleans, Louisiana to perform and record with various local acts. [3] He later worked as a derivatives trader at the Chicago Board of Trade, and received a Master's in Data Science from the City University of New York. [4]
Mehta began playing poker as a hobby in 2003, and by 2004 was playing professionally in high-stakes no-limit Texas hold 'em games. After moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2005 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, he met poker author Ed Miller and publisher Mason Malmuth. Mehta and Miller, along with poker player Matt Flynn, co-authored "Professional No-Limit Hold 'em: Volume I", which was released by Malmuth's Two Plus Two Publishing in 2007. [5] The book immediately became the #1 gambling and poker book on Amazon's bestseller list. [6]
The author team of Mehta, Miller, and Flynn left Two Plus Two to self-publish their highly anticipated second book, "Small Stakes No-Limit Hold'em", which was released in 2009. [7]
Mehta went on to do statistical analysis of National Hockey League hockey games, and he published articles about it. He was hired by the New Jersey Devils in 2014 to serve as Director of Hockey Analytics [8] and start the first full-time analytics department in the NHL. He has additionally consulted for the Phoenix Coyotes and Washington Capitals, as well as six Major League Baseball teams. [9]
Mehta was hired by the Florida Panthers in 2020 as Vice President of Hockey Strategy and Intelligence, and he was promoted to Assistant General Manager and Head of Analytics in 2023. [10]
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: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)Texas hold 'em is one of the most popular variants of the card game of poker. Two cards, known as hole cards, are dealt face down to each player, and then five community cards are dealt face up in three stages. The stages consist of a series of three cards, later an additional single card, and a final card. Each player seeks the best five-card poker hand from any combination of the seven cards: the five community cards and their two hole cards. Players have betting options to check, call, raise, or fold. Rounds of betting take place before the flop is dealt and after each subsequent deal. The player who has the best hand and has not folded by the end of all betting rounds wins all of the money bet for the hand, known as the pot. In certain situations, a "split pot" or "tie" can occur when two players have hands of equivalent value. This is also called "chop the pot". Texas hold 'em is also the H game featured in HORSE and HOSE.
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.
David Sklansky is an American professional poker player and author. An early writer on poker strategy, he is known for his mathematical approach to the game. His key work The Theory of Poker presents fundamental principles on which much later analysis is based.
Dan Harrington 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 tournament cashes in his poker career. He is also a member of the Poker Hall of Fame.
Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari, is a professional poker player and former professional magician, known for his elaborate chip tricks. Esfandiari was the face of the now-defunct poker site, UltimatePoker.com.
Philip Courtney Laak is an Irish–American professional poker player and a poker commentator, now residing in Los Angeles, California. Laak holds a World Poker Tour (WPT) title, a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet, and has appeared on numerous nationally aired television shows.
Michael Matusow is an American professional poker player residing in Henderson, Nevada. Matusow's nickname of "The Mouth" reflects his reputation for trash-talking at the poker table.
Martin de Knijff is a professional sports bettor and live tournament high-stakes poker player from Gothenburg, Sweden.
Ivo Donev is a Bulgarian, with Austrian passport, who is a professional chess and poker player.
Minh Hoang Ly is a Vietnamese-American professional poker player based in Temple City, California. He is a regular in "The Big Game" and is married to Lu Binh.
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.
Massimiliano Pescatori is an Italian professional poker player.
Todd Witteles is an American professional poker player.
Ram "Crazy Horse" Vaswani a former professional poker player and the youngest member of The Hendon Mob, a group of professional poker players. He resides in Finchley with his wife Jackie and daughter Hollie.
Edward Raymond Miller is an American professional poker player and an author of books about poker. He wrote Small Stakes Hold 'em: Winning Big With Expert Play with David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth in 2004. In 2005, he completed Getting Started in Hold 'em, a beginner's book.
Russell Aaron Boyd, commonly known as Dutch Boyd, is an American professional poker player from Culver City, California.
Blair Rodman is an American professional poker player, based in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Brian Townsend is an American professional poker player. He graduated from the UC Santa Barbara and played Lock for UCSB's 2005 league championship rugby team.
Matthew "Matt" Matros is a professional poker player and author from Brooklyn, New York, who has won three World Series of Poker events.
Peter Jetten is a Canadian poker player. Jetten is known for playing online poker under the screen name "Apathy". He has over $9,300,000 in live poker tournament winnings.