John Kabbaj
Encyclopedia
Jean-Michel Kabbaj (born 1973? in Birmingham
, West Midlands
) is an English
professional poker
player, referred to by The Hendon Mob
as their unofficial fifth member.
. He defeated a field including Dave Gardner (father of Julian Gardner) and Ram Vaswani
to take home the £14,750 first prize. He quit his job at Heathrow the next day.
Kabbaj made his first money finish in the World Series of Poker
(WSOP) in 1999
, finishing 9th in the $3,000 pot limit
hold'em event won by Layne Flack
. He finished above several notable players, including Eli Elezra
, Lucy Rokach
, John Bonetti
and Paul Phillips
.
In 2000, Kabbaj made his one and only appearance on the popular Late Night Poker
television series. He finished 7th in a competitive heat including Charalambos Xanthos
, Peter Evans
and Victoria Coren
. Kabbaj went on to win tournaments in London and Moscow
during 2001.
At the 2004 WSOP
, Kabbaj finished as the runner-up in the $3,000 no limit hold'em tournament. He won $260,520 for his finish, and was ahead of numerous players including Ram Vaswani, Paul Phillips, Amir Vahedi
, John Juanda
, Annie Duke
, Martin De Knijff
, Johnny Chan
and Surinder Sunar
.
In late 2004, Kabbaj also made the final table of the first European Poker Tour
event in Barcelona
.
During 2005 he made four money finishes in the WSOP.
He won his first bracelet at the 2009 WSOP, although the achievement was overshadowed by a row involving the bracelet ceremony. Instead of playing the British national anthem God Save The Queen
, the Sex Pistols
song of the same name
was played, much to Kabbaj's disgust.
As of 2009, his total live tournament winnings exceed $2,150,000. His 8 cashes at the WSOP account for $1,077,700 of those winnings.
). He has one son, named Jamie, from his first marriage.
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, West Midlands
West Midlands (county)
The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...
) is an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
professional poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
player, referred to by The Hendon Mob
The Hendon Mob
The Hendon Mob are a group of four professional poker players from London, England:* Joe Beevers* Barny Boatman* Ross Boatman* Ram VaswaniThe name of the group was first publicised by the Evening Standard newspaper in September 2000....
as their unofficial fifth member.
Before poker
Kabbaj quit school at the age of 16. He worked as a builder, and was later employed at Heathrow Airport.Tournaments
Kabbaj became a professional poker player in 1995, after winning his first major tournament at the Main Event of the 1995 Christmas Cracker tournament in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. He defeated a field including Dave Gardner (father of Julian Gardner) and Ram Vaswani
Ram Vaswani
Ram Vaswani is an English professional snooker player, turned professional poker player and the youngest member of The Hendon Mob...
to take home the £14,750 first prize. He quit his job at Heathrow the next day.
Kabbaj made his first money finish in the World Series of Poker
World Series of Poker
The World Series of Poker is a world-renowned series of poker tournaments held annually in Las Vegas and, since 2005, sponsored by Harrah's Entertainment...
(WSOP) in 1999
1999 World Series of Poker
-Preliminary events:-Final table:-Other High Finishes:NB: This list is restricted to top 30 finishers with an existing Wikipedia entry.-External Links:*...
, finishing 9th in the $3,000 pot limit
Betting (poker)
In the game of poker, the play largely centers on the act of betting, and as such, a protocol has been developed to speed up play, lessen confusion, and increase security while playing...
hold'em event won by Layne Flack
Layne Flack
Layne Flack is an American professional poker player, residing in Montana and Nevada.He met up with Johnny Chan who helped him improve his game and, following a big loss, encouraged Flack to ensure he had a lot of rest before a tournament...
. He finished above several notable players, including Eli Elezra
Eli Elezra
Eliahu Ilan Elezra is an Israeli professional poker player and a businessman, now living in Las Vegas, Nevada.While he was in Israel, Elezra was a lieutenant in the Golani Brigade. He was bedridden by a leg injury; during this time he began playing poker...
, Lucy Rokach
Lucy Rokach
Lucienne "Lucy" Rokach is an English professional poker player from Stoke-on-Trent. She was born in Cairo, Egypt and is now regarded as one of the top female players in Europe...
, John Bonetti
John Bonetti
John Joseph Bonetti was an American professional poker player from Houston, Texas.Born in Brooklyn, New York, Bonetti began playing at the age of 54, and won three bracelets at the World Series of Poker ....
and Paul Phillips
Paul Phillips (poker player)
Paul Phillips is an American entrepreneur and poker player.-Programming:Phillips wrote the Boa web server while attending the University of California, San Diego, but no longer maintains it...
.
In 2000, Kabbaj made his one and only appearance on the popular Late Night Poker
Late Night Poker
Late Night Poker is the pioneering television show that helped pave the way for the explosion of interest in poker in the 2000's. With it's ground breaking use of "under the table" cameras that enabled the viewer to see each player's cards, the show became a cult hit on Channel 4 UK when it first...
television series. He finished 7th in a competitive heat including Charalambos Xanthos
Charalambos Xanthos
Charalambos "Bambos" Xanthos is a Greek Cypriot hotel and restaurant owner based in London, England. Following on from being a backgammon player, he became a semi-professional poker player in 1993.Xanthos learnt poker from his father in 1960....
, Peter Evans
Peter Evans (poker player)
Peter Evans is an English retired scrap metal dealer and a poker player, who came to the limelight when finishing as runner-up in the first series of Late Night Poker. He currently lives in Birmingham, England....
and Victoria Coren
Victoria Coren
Victoria Elizabeth Coren is a British writer, presenter and champion poker player. Coren writes weekly columns for The Observer and The Guardian newspapers and hosts the BBC Four television quiz show Only Connect....
. Kabbaj went on to win tournaments in London and Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
during 2001.
At the 2004 WSOP
2004 World Series of Poker
The 2004 World Series of Poker was held at Binion's Horseshoe after Harrah's Entertainment purchased the casino and the rights to the tournament in January...
, Kabbaj finished as the runner-up in the $3,000 no limit hold'em tournament. He won $260,520 for his finish, and was ahead of numerous players including Ram Vaswani, Paul Phillips, Amir Vahedi
Amir Vahedi
Amir Vahedi was an Iranian professional poker player born in Tehran, Iran. who won a World Series of Poker bracelet at the 2003 World Series of Poker in the $1,500 No Limit Hold'em event....
, John Juanda
John Juanda
Johnson "John" Juanda is a Chinese Indonesian professional poker player based in Marina del Rey, California. Juanda lives in Los Angeles.-Personal life:...
, Annie Duke
Annie Duke
Annie Duke is a professional poker player and author who won a bracelet in the 2004 World Series of Poker $2,000 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better Event and was the winner of the 2004 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions, where she earned the Winner-Take-All prize of $2,000,000...
, Martin De Knijff
Martin De Knijff
Martin de Knijff is a professional sports bettor and high-stakes poker player from Gothenburg, Sweden.His last name is from his Dutch father. His mother is Swedish...
, Johnny Chan
Johnny Chan (poker player)
Johnny Chan rather than his Chinese birth name. born in Guangzhou, China in 1957) is a Chinese American professional poker player. He has won 10 World Series of Poker bracelets, including 1987 and 1988 World Series of Poker main events consecutively....
and Surinder Sunar
Surinder Sunar
Surinder Sunar is a British professional poker player based in Wolverhampton, who gained fame as a three-time finalist in the Late Night Poker television series....
.
In late 2004, Kabbaj also made the final table of the first European Poker Tour
European Poker Tour
The Pokerstars European Poker Tour is a series of poker tournaments similar to those in the World Poker Tour , created by John Duthie, winner of the inaugural Poker Million tournament. It began in 2004 as part of the worldwide explosion in Texas Hold 'em popularity...
event in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
.
During 2005 he made four money finishes in the WSOP.
He won his first bracelet at the 2009 WSOP, although the achievement was overshadowed by a row involving the bracelet ceremony. Instead of playing the British national anthem God Save The Queen
God Save the Queen
"God Save the Queen" is an anthem used in a number of Commonwealth realms and British Crown Dependencies. The words of the song, like its title, are adapted to the gender of the current monarch, with "King" replacing "Queen", "he" replacing "she", and so forth, when a king reigns...
, the Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
song of the same name
God Save the Queen (Sex Pistols song)
"God Save the Queen" is a song by the English punk rock band The Sex Pistols. It was released as the band's second single and was featured on their only album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. The song was released during Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee in 1977...
was played, much to Kabbaj's disgust.
As of 2009, his total live tournament winnings exceed $2,150,000. His 8 cashes at the WSOP account for $1,077,700 of those winnings.
Cash games
Kabbaj is a regular in the £10-£20 pot limit Omaha game at LittlewoodsPoker.com. He plays at levels up to £25-£50 online.Personal life
Kabbaj is in his second marriage, to Olesya Lopatko (born in St. Petersburg, RussiaRussia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
). He has one son, named Jamie, from his first marriage.