Seat 1: John Taramas, (50, Loutraki, Greece) – 1,755,000
![[user169505]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
Like many players, John Taramas kicked off his career in mind sports as a blackjack player. He has already written two books about blackjack theory and strategy, and is also highly rated as a teacher. He made the transition to poker in 2006-2007 after hearing from other blackjack pros that poker is a game of skill. He now claims to have read about a hundred books about poker and turned pro a year ago, basing himself in Loutraki. It’s said that he has a prodigious ability to memorize cards. The 50-year-old father-of-four prefers playing live to online and only plays deep-stack events. His biggest live cash was at a 2008 Greek Poker Tour tourney in Austria for €28,000.
Bio courtesy of PokerStars.