John Racener is a professional poker player from Tampa, Florida. He is best known for finishing runner-up in the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event when he lost heads-up to the eventual champion Jonathan Duhamel. However, despite losing the battle for the trophy, Racener still took home a whopping $5.5 million in cash. Racener is a two-time WSOP bracelet winner.
Intro
Racener was born in 1985 in Dunedin, Florida. His poker career began at the age of 18 when his mother loaned John $50, which he used to start playing poker online. After six weeks Racener already had $30,000 in his online account. When he turned 21, Racener immediately hit the live tournament circuit. His first event was a huge success as Racener final tabled the World Series of Poker Circuit $4,900 Championship event in Atlantic City. He ended up finishing the tournament in third place and taking home just over $100,000 in cash.
Background
Racener grew up in in Port Richey, Florida, where he graduated from Ridgewood High School. He did a number of sports while in school, including tennis, basketball, soccer, and baseball. Racener learned poker at home playing with his family. He enjoyed the game from the very beginning and later on was introduced to online poker by a friend. His success at the online tables encouraged Racener to pursue a career as a professional poker player, and by the age of 21, he was already off playing some of the major poker tournaments.
World Series of Poker
Racener first entered the World Series in 2007 and scored two minor money finishes. However, his next summer turned out to be much better as Racener reached his first WSOP final table and took home $37,000 for the sixth place finish at the $2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo event. Four more cashes came in 2009, but it was in 2010 when Racener really hit the spotlight. He scored two final tables that year, one in Vegas and one in London at the WSOPE. It was that summer that Racener collected the biggest cash prize of his career, the $5.5 million for the runner-up finish in the 2010 WSOP Main Event.
In total, Racener has more than 110 WSOP cashes to his name, including two bracelet wins. Racener won the $10,000 Dealer's Choice 6-Handed Championship in 2017 and added to his WSOP hardware collection in 2024, taking down the $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship.
John Racener's Top 5 Results
| Date | Event | Rank | Prize |
|---|
Jul 2010 | $10,000 WSOP Main Event | 2nd | $5,545,955
Jun 2015 | $111,111 WSOP High Roller | 10th | $390,875
Dec 2007 | $5,150 WSOPC Atlantic City Main Event | 1st | $379,392
Jun 2024 | $10,000 WSOP Limit Hold'em | 1st | $308,930
Jun 2017 | $10,000 WSOP Dealer's Choice | 1st | $273,962[/TABLE]
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