Houston Poker Pros — Local Players on the Hendon Mob

Quick answer: A living list of Houston-connected tournament poker professionals with significant earnings and verified Houston-area residency. Sourced from The Hendon Mob (the authoritative public database of live tournament results) and cross-referenced with Houston-specific reporting. We only list players with a real Houston connection — living here, raised here, or clearly calling Houston a home base. If you know a Houston pro we’re missing, email tips@houstonpoker.com.

Last reviewed: April 2026. Earnings figures are live-tournament totals per The Hendon Mob and may not reflect cash game winnings. Rankings on this page are not reordered by earnings — each pro has a distinct poker story worth knowing on its own.

Jonathan Tamayo “The Wizard”

Houston connection: Humble, TX♠Career live earnings: $12.6M+ (Hendon Mob)♥Titles: 1 WSOP bracelet♦4 WSOP Circuit rings♣Hendon Mob profile

The biggest-ever Houston-area poker story. Tamayo won the 2024 WSOP Main Event — the largest in tournament history — for a record $10,000,000 top prize. Hendon Mob has him at over $12.6 million in career live earnings. A Humble, TX native, Tamayo is a four-time WSOP Circuit ring winner with deep cashes dating back to the late 2000s (including a 21st-place finish in the 2009 WSOP Main Event). His 2024 title puts him on the very short list of Texas-raised world champions.

Bill Perkins

Houston connection: Houston, TX♠Career live earnings: $5.4M+ (Hendon Mob)♥Titles: No WSOP bracelet♦High-stakes cash game regular♣Hendon Mob profile

Houston-based hedge fund manager (Skylar Capital, energy trading) turned notable high-stakes tournament and cash game player. Perkins is a Rice Business alum and one of the most recognizable recreational-turned-serious players in the game. His Hendon Mob profile shows $5.4M+ in career live earnings, anchored by a sixth-place finish in the 2019 Triton Super High Roller charity event (~$2.7M) and a third place in the 2013 WSOP $111,111 One Drop High Roller. Regular on Triton, PokerGO high-roller events, and PokerStars Caribbean Adventure fields.

Michael Dyer

Houston connection: Houston, TX♠Career live earnings: $4.9M+ (Hendon Mob)♥Titles: No WSOP bracelet♦1 WSOP Circuit ring♣Hendon Mob profile

Houston, TX native with a serious live tournament résumé built primarily on deep WSOP cashes. Dyer’s headline result is a sixth-place finish at the 2018 WSOP Main Event final table for $3.75 million; that single cash represents the bulk of his ~$4.9M in career live earnings (Hendon Mob). Earlier deep runs include a 2009 WSOP cash. Dyer cut his teeth online before transitioning to live high-volume play.

Sam Farha “Sammy”

Houston connection: Houston, TX♠Career live earnings: $3.0M+ (Hendon Mob)♥Titles: 3 WSOP bracelets♦Hendon Mob profile

Houston resident, three-time WSOP bracelet winner, and one of the most recognizable poker personalities of the boom era. Farha is best known as the runner-up to Chris Moneymaker at the 2003 WSOP Main Event — the cash game legend moment that helped define live poker on television. His Hendon Mob profile lists approximately $3.0M in career live tournament earnings, not counting decades of high-stakes cash game action. Moved to Houston after graduating from the University of Kansas; Houston has been home base ever since.

Johnny Chan “Orient Express”

Houston connection: Houston, TX (1973-1978), now Las Vegas♣Career live earnings: $8.6M+ (Hendon Mob)♠Titles: 10 WSOP bracelets (including back-to-back 1987 and 1988 Main Events)♥Hendon Mob

The first poker legend with a Houston origin story. Chan’s family moved to Houston in 1973 when he was a child; he honed his poker game in Houston card rooms and home games before leaving for Las Vegas in 1978 at age 21. He went on to win back-to-back WSOP Main Events in 1987 and 1988 — a feat immortalized in the closing scene of the movie Rounders, using archival footage of his 1988 victory over Erik Seidel. Ten total WSOP bracelets, one of the most decorated tournament careers in poker history. In 2021, Chan briefly returned to Houston as the owner of Johnny Chan’s 88 Social Poker Club; the room rebranded to 101 Poker Club after Chan exited in late 2021.

Scott Dulaney “Fireman Scott”

Houston connection: Houston, TX♦Career live earnings: $500K+ (Hendon Mob)♣Titles: 1 WSOP bracelet♠Hendon Mob

Houston-area firefighter and poker player who captured his first WSOP bracelet at the 2023 WSOP in a mixed-game event. Dulaney’s breakthrough set off a small Houston-bracelet streak — his best friend William Leffingwell won his own bracelet the week after. A weekly presence in the Houston PLO community and a reminder that a regular day-job Houston player can take down a WSOP event.

William Leffingwell

Houston connection: Houston, TX♥Career live earnings: $500K+ (Hendon Mob)♦Titles: 1 WSOP bracelet♣Hendon Mob

Houston native who won his first WSOP bracelet at the 2023 WSOP Event #45: $1,500 Mixed Omaha Hi-Lo 8-or-Better for $253,651, defeating a final table that included bracelet winners Shaun Deeb, Joey Couden, Raj Vohra, and 2019 WSOP Main Event finalist Zhen Cai. Notably, Leffingwell hadn’t planned to come to the WSOP until the Main Event — until his best friend Scott Dulaney won a bracelet the week before and told him to fly out. A member of the Houston PLO regular circle.

Pete Vilandos “Pete the Greek” (d. 2022)

Houston connection: Houston, TX♠Career live earnings: $2.5M+ (WSOP career earnings alone)♥Titles: 3 WSOP bracelets (1995, 2009, 2012)♦Hendon Mob

The late Pete “The Greek” Vilandos: Greek-American Houston resident, three-decade poker veteran, and University of Houston electrical engineering graduate who worked full-time as an engineer for decades while playing high-stakes poker on the side. His first WSOP bracelet came in 1995 at the $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em event ($148,500). His second came 14 years later in 2009 at a $1,500 NLH event ($607,256). His third and final bracelet came at a $5,000 NLH event for a career-high $952,694 score. Vilandos passed away in July 2022 at age 82, shortly after his final WSOP cash — a career spanning 40+ WSOP cashes and $2.5M+ in WSOP earnings alone. A genuine Houston poker legend.

Brad Ruben

Houston connection: Houston, TX (originally Hernando, FL)♣Career live earnings: $2.25M+ (Hendon Mob)♠Titles: 5 WSOP bracelets in 5 years (2020-2025)♥Hendon Mob

One of the most decorated mixed-game players in recent WSOP history. Ruben won his first WSOP bracelet in 2020 and added four more over the next five years — 2021 ($600 PLO 6-Max Online, $1,500 Razz), 2022 ($1,500 Dealer’s Choice Mixed Games), and 2025 ($1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw). He joined an elite list of only eleven players in history to win five bracelets within a five-year span, alongside Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, and Doyle Brunson. Originally from Hernando, Florida, Ruben now calls Houston home and is a fixture in the high-stakes mixed-game circles across Houston card rooms.

Lance “Cord” Garcia

Houston connection: Houston, TX♦Career live earnings: $700K+ (Hendon Mob)♣Titles: 1 WSOP bracelet (2015 Colossus)♠Hendon Mob

Houston-born poker player who won the 2015 WSOP Colossus for $638,880, outlasting 22,374 entrants — the largest live poker tournament in history at the time. Garcia (full name Lance Cordell Garcia) started playing in Houston’s underground games at 15 and turned pro after his breakout WSOP win at age 25. The three-bullet Colossus run is the kind of Cinderella story that typifies the open-field WSOP events — a Houston kid from the local scene topping a global field.

Upeshka De Silva

Houston connection: Katy, TX♥Career live earnings: $4.7M+ (live + online per Card Player)♦Titles: 3 WSOP bracelets♣Hendon Mob

Sri Lankan-American pro from Katy, TX who won three WSOP bracelets across live and online formats. His first came in a 2015 $1,500 NLH event for $424,577; his second at a 2017 $3,000 NLH Shootout; and his third at a 2019 online event. De Silva made the final table of the 2020 WSOP Main Event but was famously disqualified the day before the finals after testing positive for COVID-19 and was awarded 9th place — one of the most unusual WSOP Main Event stories in the tournament’s history. A University of Houston graduate.

Ray Qartomy

Houston connection: Sugar Land, TX♠Career live earnings: $5.37M+ (Hendon Mob)♥Titles: 6 WPT final tables♦2 PGT Texas Poker Open High Roller wins (2025)♣Hendon Mob

Sugar Land-based high-stakes tournament fixture with over $5.37 million in career live earnings per the Hendon Mob, including six career WPT final tables. Originally from Florida, Qartomy is now a mainstay of the Houston-metro tournament scene, with back-to-back wins in the 2025 Texas Poker Open $5,000 High Roller events at Champions Club Houston earning him consecutive PGT Tour titles. Qartomy is a consistent presence at major tournament series across the country and anchors the southwest-Houston submarket’s tournament contingent alongside players based in Richmond and Missouri City.

Ray Henson

Houston connection: Houston, TX (Houston-born)♠Career live earnings: $3.48M+ (Hendon Mob)♥Titles: 5 WSOP Circuit gold rings (≈$2.25M in WSOPC earnings)♦12th at the 2007 WSOP Main Event ($476K)♣Hendon Mob page

Henson built his career on the WSOP Circuit grind, racking up 5 gold rings and more than $2.2M in WSOPC earnings. His most public deep run came in 2007, when he finished 12th in the WSOP Main Event for $476,000 at age 23. He continues to play tournaments full-time, with cashes spanning the WSOPC, WPT, and PGT Texas Poker Open series.

Local leaderboard leaders

A tier below the major-bracelet and high-stakes pros — but still critical to the texture of live poker in Houston — are the regulars who consistently top local venue leaderboards. These are the players who put in the volume at Houston rooms week in and week out:

David Shaw — ranked #1 on the all-time money list for Champions Club Houston. A Champions regular and the name most often at the top of Winter Poker Open leaderboards.

Gabriel Andrade — top-5 on the Texas Card House Houston all-time money list. A fixture in TCH Houston’s tournament fields and a name that routinely surfaces in deep runs at the annual Trailblazer Houston Stop.

David Mzareulov — a consistent Houston-area tournament grinder with significant scores in major regional series. Often in the top of local leaderboards across multiple Houston venues.

About this list

Houston has produced and attracted more serious poker talent than its poker-room count would suggest. This list focuses on players with verifiable Houston residency or roots plus $2M+ in career live tournament earnings per The Hendon Mob. It’s intentionally short — we’d rather list only players we can vouch for than pad the list with players whose only Houston connection is a single cash at a Houston event.

We plan to expand this page as Houston-based players put up new results, as we verify additional names (Texas Card House Houston, Champions Club, and the WSOPC Houston stop feed a deep local grinder pool), and as readers point us to Houston pros we’ve missed. The 2024 Jonathan Tamayo WSOP Main Event win is the tip of the iceberg — Houston’s poker bench runs deeper than the national conversation often captures.

How to get listed here

If you’re a Houston-area tournament pro (or know one) whose career Hendon Mob profile is above $1M and we haven’t listed you, email tips@houstonpoker.com with the Hendon Mob URL and we’ll review. We don’t take paid placements — this is editorial.

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