Poker Stories: Darren Elias

Darren Elias is just 32 years old, but he's already established himself as the end boss of the World Poker Tour. The New Jersey resident not only holds the tour record with four titles, but he's also the tour leader in cashes with 35, and final tables with 13. His first WPT title came at the 2014 Borgata Poker Open, where he won $843k. His second title came immediately after that at the WPT Carribbean stop. Elias' third win came in Canada at the 2017 Fallsview Poker Classic, and his latest victory was at Aria in the 2018 Bobby Baldwin Classic.

This year, Elias has already won a $25,000 high roller at the Gardens Poker Championship, and he nearly won his fifth WPT title, the LA Poker Classic, ultimately falling just short in third place for just under half a million dollars. In total, Elias has cashed for more than $7.1 million dollars during his live career, along with another $4 million won online.

Highlights from this interview include off days in Vegas, living all over with a football coach dad, a love for watersports, winning big in college, the dorm room fan club, the growing pains of live poker, unintentional intimidation, the one time he lost his cool at the table, $200-$400 2-7 games with Billy Baxter, running at expectation, his attitude towards the high rollers, being the top-ranked dad, revisiting a decade-old blog post, a healthy fear of mediocrity, using his internal solver, a scary situation at home, bluffing in six-figure pots, Nick Petrangelo's beer tips, online poker on the highway, the only other job he's ever had, a whiskey shot prop bet, big picture science, and the grinding ability of David Peters.