Chad "m8kingmoves" Batista is anything but a typical poker player. For starters, he's got grills for his teeth and looks like a teenager. Also, his speech is a unique mixture of profanity and sincere politeness. He'll sling around profanity when talking about innocuous subjects... more

Chad “m8kingmoves” Batista is anything but a typical poker player. For starters, he’s got grills for his teeth and looks like a teenager. Also, his speech is a unique mixture of profanity and sincere politeness. He’ll sling around profanity when talking about innocuous subjects but turn genuinely ultra-polite when it matters. Oh, and he’s also incredibly good at poker. In short, he’s ESPN’s dream player.

Batista is very open about the fact that he’s been to jail and has had experiences in his life that he’s less than proud of. Regardless of his past, he’s cited poker as one of the influences that have helped him become a better person. Some other things he’s not ashamed to admit are that he hasn’t had schooling past the seventh grade and that he’s never read a poker book in his life. He says that everything he does in poker is based upon instinct, not odds.

And it seems to be working for him. In the month of July 2007 alone, he won around $400,000 online. The largest chunk of this came from his first-place finish in the first-ever monthly $1 million guarantee on Full Tilt, for which he earned $213,000. He is easily one of the top-earning tournament players online right now.

As far as live tournament winnings, Batista has earned over $400,000. His two biggest cashes were for a first-place finish ($262,000) in the 2006 WSOP Tournament Circuit event at Caesars Indiana and a fifth-place finish ($129,000) in a $1,000 (with rebuys) no-limit hold’em event at the 2007 World Series of Poker.

Check out Batista's interview for CardPlayer TV by clicking here. close bio