Rhynie Campbell is a professional poker player from Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean. He played a significant role in making the island a World Poker Tour (WPT) stop. He was nicknamed “Kojak” when he was forced to shave his head in order to fix a bad haircut, while working in the Police Department. It was also during this time that Rhynie Campbell got acquainted with poker. He came across a group of people playing the game and they invited him in and taught him the game. Rhynie Campbell was completely hooked and for thirteen years, he hosted poker games at his house and learned all variations of the game. Later, Rhynie Campbell approached the government of Turks and Caicos Islands and helped legalize poker in the island. Soon he opened The Players Club, where live poker games take place every night.
His success story began in July 2005, when he played online and won an entry into an event at the Poker Den in East London. In a span of 48 hours, Rhynie Campbell flew from his hometown to London to take part in the game and finished first in the Party Poker, taking home prize money of $91,134.
On September 15, 2006, Rhynie Campbell made it to the final table and secured a respectable sixth-place finish in the No-Limit Hold’em event at the Johnny Chan Invitational Tournament, which was held at the Palms. This tournament attracted a field of 82 players and a prize pool of $410,000 from which Rhynie Campbell earned $23,862. Later that year, in December 2006, he won $25,370 by finishing sixty-third in the No-Limit Hold’em Championship Doyle Brunson North American Classic at the Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic – WPT Event Season 5.
The No-Limit Hold’em event at the Turks & Caicos Poker Classic – WPT Season 6 on September 30, 2007, marked a landmark in his career when Rhynie Campbell outlasted an original field of 137 players to emerge as the winner. He bagged a whopping $436,675 in prize money in this event, which was held at the Players Club. The following year, on April 26, 2008, Rhynie Campbell secured sixty-eighth place in Event 15 No-Limit Hold’em Championship at the Five Star World Poker Classic – WPT World Championship and took home $39,570. This event was held at the Bellagio and had a prize pool of $13,216,250.
With four cashes and one first-place finish to his credit, Rhynie Campbell has total tournament winnings that add up to $525,477. His Player of the Year (POY) rank in 2007 was 839, while his POY winnings were $436,675.