Eli Elezra, an Israeli professional poker player, was born on November 24, 1960 in Jerusalem, Israel. He was brought up in Jerusalem and currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada, with his wife Hila and their five children, Jonathan, Guy, Sean, Ryan, and Maya.
He learnt to play cards by engaging in card games with his friends in Jerusalem. After graduating from high school, Eli Elezra joined the Israeli army and wanted to become a member of Israel’s elite commando unit, the Golani Brigade, and succeeded in doing so. During the 1982 Lebanon War, Eli Elezra was hospitalized after sustaining a leg injury, and it was there that he began to work on his poker skills. He was eventually discharged from the military after recovery. With his four-year military career over, Eli Elezra moved to Alaska in search of greener pastures, and he made his living by driving a cab and later owned a convenience store.
During that time, his brother, Moshe “Shiko” Elezra, an internet poker player, went to Las Vegas for a vacation and told Eli Elezra about the huge business opportunities there. Following this, he moved to Las Vegas in 1988 and bought a small film-processing business, near the Stardust Casino, where he played Hold’em and Omaha. Eli Elezra continued to invest in properties and new businesses in the city and is now the owner of more than 20 retail shops and the popular night club Seven. But all this time, he had also been perfecting his poker game.
Eli Elezra was a wealthy man by the late 1990s, and this period marked his transition from being a $10 game-player at the Stardust casino to competing against professional players at the Big Game in Bobby’s room at the Bellagio.
The 30th Annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) was his maiden WSOP tournament, and he participated in the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event that saw 111 entries along with 62 re-buys. This event, held at the Binion's Gambling Hall on April 30, 1999, had a prize pool of $432,500, out of which Eli Elezra took away $5,190 for his eleventh-place finish. On April 21, 2001, he had a sixth-place finish in the $2,000 Limit Hold’em event at the 32nd Annual World Series of Poker that gave him $41,760.
The first victory of his career came at the 2003 Bellagio Special Poker Events, where Eli Elezra walked away with $14,550 for his first-place finish in the Limit Deuce to Seven Lowball event on July 31. Eli Elezra had to wait for more than a year for his next victory, which came on August 1, 2004 at the Mirage Poker Showdown – World Poker Tour (WPT) Season 3. But the wait was worth it, as it was by far the biggest victory in his poker career. Eli Elezra played brilliantly and went on to win the event and a staggering $1,024,574 in prize money. At the 2006 edition of the Mirage Poker Showdown/WPT Event Season 5, he reached the final table, ended the game as the runner-up, and took home $83,808.
In 2007, Eli Elezra emerged victorious in the $3,000 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo World Championship event, which was part of the 38th Annual World Series of Poker. The Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino witnessed 236 players competing for the bracelet, which eventually went to Eli Elezra. He also earned $198,984 for his impressive performance at the final table. His next six-digit cash-in came at the 39th World Series of Poker 2008, where he bagged $108,288 on June 4, 2008 for his fifth place in the World Championship Mixed Event.
Recent statistics show that Eli Elezra has 21 cashes, three first-place finishes and over $1,800,000 from his total tournament winnings.
Eli Elezra has been playing at Full Tilt Poker for many years, and he even has his own H.O.R.S.E table. Known as “Mr. Vegas” in the poker world, Eli Elezra likes playing the Seven Card Stud High/Low game and his favorite event is H.O.R.S.E.