Paul Darden

Paul Darden Jr., born on 27 October 1968, is an American professional poker player, rap music promoter and night club owner from New Haven, Connecticut. He was accused of murder at the age of 15 because of mistaken identity but was acquitted, and poker became his way of turning his life around, helped by his mentor Phil Ivey. He was best known as a seven-card stud player and won a World Series of Poker bracelet in 2001 in the 2,500 dollar seven-card stud event, defeating Tom Franklin heads-up. In 2002 he won a World Poker Tour title at the 3,000 dollar Gold Rush main event, later finished second behind Gus Hansen in the WPT Bad Boys of Poker invitational, and in 2003 made his first money finish in the WSOP Main Event, in 45th place. He mentors professional Amnon Filippi, and by 2017 his total live tournament winnings exceeded 2,200,000 dollars.