Lee Markholt – Poker Player Profile
Hailing from Tacoma, Washington, Lee Markholt was an avid bull rider until he decided to call it quits at age 25. It was actually during recovery from a bull riding injury that Lee discovered a few of his father’s poker books and started reading them. After falling in love with poker, he developed his game in local card rooms while working for his father’s meat cutting business during the week. When he realized he was a consistent winner and that there was more money for him in poker, he decided to go pro.
Markholt’s decision showed the first signs of paying off in 1996 when he finished third in the $5K No Limit Hold’em Championship Event at the L.A. Poker Classic for $31K. In 2002, he won a $1K tournament in Las Vegas for $66K. He made his first World Poker Tour final table in 2004, taking seventh for $75.5K in the Borgata Open. In 2005, he recorded his first major tournament win by shipping the Professional Poker Tour Five Star World Poker Classic for $225K. To this day, Lee still claims the PPT title is his biggest poker accomplishment due to the fact that it was an invitation only event filled with professionals.
In 2005, Lee booked another impressive finishing, nabbing third in the $5K World Poker Finals for $112K. His largest score to date came in 2008’s World Poker Tour World Poker Challenge, which he won for $494K. A year later, he followed it up with another WPT final table, this time taking sixth in the $9700 World Poker Finals for $166K. All told, Markholt has over $2.5 million in live tournament earnings.
Even with all his success, Lee Markholt has stayed incredibly grounded, and unlike most poker players who move to Vegas, he still calls Washington State home. For all aspiring poker players out there, Lee had this to say in a previous interview: “Treat it like a business. It’s like anything else in life in that you get out of it what you put into it. Work hard at it and study. Stay away from all of the other pitfalls that are associated with the gambling world: the casino games, the nightlife, and the glitz. You have to stay focused on the game.”
Related Poker News:
- Lee Markholt Wins World Poker Tour 2008
- WPT Event Won by Lee Markholt
- Lee Markholt Interview with Poker News Daily
- Ryan Hughes Leads WPT Southern Poker Championship After Day 3
- Kevin Elias Leads WPT Southern Poker Championship After Day 2
- Columnist Jeff Haney: On LV’s Negreanu plays ’small ball’ to earn big win on World Series of Poker circuit in Tunica
- Victory Poker Leaves U.S. Market
- Vanessa Selbst Leads Final 24 in NAPT Mohegan Sun Main Event
- Dan Fleyshman Interview with Poker News Daily
- Foxwoods World Poker Finals Tournament Ends in 23-Way Chop
- Victory Poker May Move to the Cake Poker Network
- Soheil Shamseddin Atop WPT Foxwoods Leaderboard After Day 3
Poker glossary:
- FOUR OF A KIND - A hand containing all four cards of the same rank.
- TABLE STAKES - A standard rule whereby during a hand players can only bet the money they have on the table. If the bet to a player is more than the player's stack, that player may call with all his chips and be eligible to win only that portion of the pot he contributed to equally. A side pot is created, for which only the remaining players may compete.
- BLANK - Used in describing stud and Hold'em games. Refers to a dealt card that does not offer any value; stating the actual rank and suit would detract from a description of the hand. "The last card was a blank.".
- MANIAC - A player who bets, raises and reraises without regard to the quality of his hand. Most often found in flop games.
- LITTLE SLICK - In Hold'em, hole cards of A-2, suited or not.
- RUNNER-RUNNER - A hand made using both of the last two cards dealt.
RSS feed
