Daniel “Dan” Shak is known for playing in events with the biggest buyins one can find. Not only does he play in these events, but he has won a mind-blowing amount of money in them since his first recorded cash in 2004, just shy of four million dollars. Daniel is a retired commodities trader who insists that poker is just a hobby of his.

In 2006 Daniel finished in 4^th place at the No Limit Hold’em $9,700 Championship Event in Atlantic City for an impressive $151,902. Some people may have put Dan’s 6 figure win as a stroke of luck, but he would soon prove that it was anything but luck. One year later in 2007, he not only cashed for another 6 figure win of $243,893, but also won that money through a first place finish at the $5,000 Ante Up for Africa Charity Event.

Events with 5 figure buyins were not enough for Dan, who cashed $142,074 for a 4^th place finish in 2009 Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge Event. It was in 2010 though that Dan’s fame in the poker world shot up to the sky when he cashed $1,107,553 for a first place finish at the 2010 Aussie Millions Poker Championship $100,000 Event. Daniel had the rare pleasure of being able to say that he beat Phil Ivey heads-up in the last phase of this tournament, who ended up settling for second place. ”I am one of the very few people willing to sit down and make a market in any spread transaction. It’s a niche market, but it’s my niche”, Daniel revealed to a reporter. He also said, ”Never try to pick the price of gold. History shows it takes a year to go up, and three days to go down,” when the reporter asked him for tips.

Since then Dan has made many 5 figure and 6 figure cashes, the most notable of which was a 2^nd place finish at the 2012 PCA $100,000 Super High Roller Event on Paradise Island, where he cashed $846,700.

Through a long series of further impressive wins in 2012, Daniel managed to get 14^th place under the 2012 Player of the Year rankings. All in all, Daniel can proudly say that he has $3,882,758 in total cashes from all of his tournaments as of January the 6^th 2013.

Daniel currently lives in Las Vegas where he has resided over the past 4 years, but he also has second homes in LA and NY.