John Racener Bio

When John Racener was 16 years old, he asked his mom to put $50 onto an online poker site for him using her credit card. To his surprise, she agreed. Within a year or two, the young Racener took that $50 and ran it up to over $30,000.

“My family has always been supportive,” said Racener. “And I’ve always been competitive at everything I do. It’s in my blood.”

Not only was Racener self-taught, but he was a quick learner and admittedly on an incredible hot streak when he first started playing the game.

“I had a very good bankroll right off the bat because I killed the cash games right away, and the first time I ever played what is now the Sunday Million — it used to be the Sunday $500,000 tournament — I won it for $130,000 against 3,300 people. I was maybe 18 or 19,” said Racener.

After getting his associate of arts degree from Florida Southern, Racener has been a regular on the tournament trail, highlighted by a win in a WSOP Circuit event in Atlantic City in 2007.

2010 was his fourth year at the World Series of Poker. He has made a final table every single one of those four years, including the final table of the main event in 2010.