Poker Stories: Mark Newhouse

Mark Newhouse grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and found poker during a couple of unsuccessful stints in college. After a few $50 deposits online, he was able to run up a six-figure bankroll, winning $100,000 in consecutive months. He turned pro immediately after turning 21, and was quickly playing limit hold'em cash games against some of the top players in the world for stakes as high as $1,500-$3,000.

Despite having a preference for cash games, Newhouse has dabbled in tournaments over the years, most notably winning a World Poker Tour title in 2006 at the Borgata Poker Open for $1.52 million. In 2013, he made the final table of the World Series of Poker main event, ultimately finishing in ninth place for $733,000. A year later, Newhouse once again made the final table, and once again had to deal with the agony of ninth place, settling for $730,000. The 35-year-old has $3.52 million in career tournament earnings.

Highlights from this interview include three strikes and two shots at college, from $50 to consecutive $100,000 months, heads-up grudge matches at Bellagio, reluctantly playing to a $1.5 million win, no splurging, brutal six-figure online sessions, "a mission to light it all on fire," from $1,500-$3,000 stakes to Bobby's Room at $20-$40, living at Commerce Casino for three years, the infamous Tweet, being the kill game fish, getting arrested for protesting, concert T-shirts, Brendan Fraser and Jeremy London, pushing pots to Tommy Hang, and getting the most out of swaps with Chino Rheem.