When Ari Engel dons his kippah, he does it with a dose of cunning.
According to Mr Engel, who at only 31 is ranked among the top 25 poker players in the world by a well-known poker magazine, his yarmulke is a signal to others around the gaming table that his poker skills are not top-notch.
But the kippah is no bluff in terms of his religiosity.
Born in Toronto, Mr Engel grew up in an observant household, keeps kosher, and once attended a Jerusalem yeshivah. His father is an Orthodox rabbi.
He sees no ethical problem with gambling for a living since he considers poker to be a game mostly of skill, not chance.
“Poker definitely has a lot of things that are beyond one’s control,” Mr Engel is quoted as saying in a recent interview, “but it has plenty of things within your control.
“I don’t gamble at all. I’m trying to get an edge when I play poker, and I try to make a living out of it.”
And he has indeed, with his approach paying off handsomely in the decade since he quit New York University – where he studied finance – in order to enter his first professional tournament.
Over that period, according to news reports, Mr Engel has amassed about $5 million in winnings, including almost $200,000 in an online tournament last May.
His favourite version of poker is Texas Hold’em, which involves players constructing their best five-card hand out of two face-down cards dealt to each player and five common face-up cards.
Mr Engel now spends most of his time inside hotels around the world, travelling from tournament to tournament, something he and other pro online players who were living in the US in 2011 had to consider doing after tax officials went after domestic online poker sites.
In Mr Engel’s case, he was able to continue playing competitive poker online by returning to his native Toronto, even though he, his two siblings and parents left Canada for good when he was a baby.
It was Toronto’s harsh winters, though, that prompted Mr Engel to leave in January, 2013, and compete at casinos in more temperate climes.
However, he still returns to Toronto occasionally when he wants to play online.
