Customers grab cheeseburgers and sodas at a bustling Carl’s Jr. in Torrance, California. A fast-food restaurant may seem like a strange place for a poker game, but for the group of teenagers gathered around one table, it’s a regular Friday night routine. Between bites and table chatter, the teenagers battle for quarters, including future poker pro Bryce Yockey.
The 16-year-old comes out ahead more times than not when battling this crew – a pile of shiny coins stacked in front of him along with his regular Western cheeseburger. The meal serves as fuel while cash comes his way.
Carl’s Jr. soon became the group’s de facto poker room. And while some might think a group of teens gambling in a fast-food restaurant might bring some heat from management, Yockey and friends had quite the opposite experience.
“They actually thought it was awesome,” he says. “We liked to play on Friday nights in more casual environments. We’d stay until they closed. One of the staff members started bringing 10 rolls of quarters for us because they knew that we were going to need them.”
His introduction to poker came after years of playing Magic: The Gathering, following a path taken by several successful poker pros.
“In 2004, my friend and I were hanging out on a Friday night and the World Series of Poker main event was on,” he says. “David Williams got second place to Greg Raymer heads up. David is also a Magic player. I’m like, ‘Oh, I know this guy. I played Magic against him in L.A. on the tournament circuit.’ We all started playing around that time.”
Betting between burgers and chicken strips became a proving ground for the teenage poker prodigy. Mixed with some of those Magic skills, Yockey has gone on to a career with almost $8 million in tournament winnings, including two World Series of Poker bracelets. His 2025 campaign included a runner-up showing at the WSOP along with four PokerGO Tour titles.
The 38-year-old poker pro has come a long way from battling for pots of a few dollars at the neighborhood burger joint and spoke with Card Player about the journey.
Net Worth On The Line
After his success at Carl’s Jr., Yockey began branching out into poker while attending Loyola Marymount University. He started at Hollywood Park, which he says didn’t ID players at the time. He also snuck into $1-$2 cash games at Hustler. His secret avoiding security? A jacket and tie helped.
“They wouldn’t card me if I wore a suit,” he says. “They would card me if I didn’t wear a suit. Security must have thought, ‘There’s no way he’d wear a suit if he was under 21.”
At age 19, Yockey began playing on PokerStars and quickly burned through $150 on the site. Down to his last 50 bucks, he hit the deposit button again – and that was gone almost immediately as well. After staying away from the online game for two weeks, a friend told him PartyPoker was offering a promo for a free $70. He gave it a shot and immediately lost another $50. He was eventually down to his last $10 and took a shot in one last tournament for what he had left – and won.
The $1,600 in prize money was big for a 19-year-old and enough to start building a bankroll. He cashed out and put $1,000 in the bank and then deposited $600 on Full Tilt and began playing at the micro stakes. After graduating with his finance degree in 2009, Yockey was greeted with a market crash. Those newfound skills at the table were a nice skillset to fall back on at the time.
“There was no job opportunity at all, and at that time, I accumulated like $5,000,” he says. “So, I just decided to take it all to the World Series of Poker and see what happened. I thought to myself, ‘Maybe I’ll never get another chance.’ I still planned to get a job even though I kind of had dreams of playing professionally. So I played a $1,000 buy-in and busted. The next day I played a $1,500 and busted. In about 20 hours, I had lost half my net worth. I considered leaving and just going home, but the next day was the $1,500 six-max. That’s what I played online. I got fourth for $115,000. That was what kind of started my career.”
Oracle Of Omaha
With a freshly minted bankroll in hand, Yockey bypassed the job search and instead began clocking in at poker rooms around the country. In 2011, he found another six-figure score, finishing third in a $5,000 Omaha eight-or-better event at the WSOP for $180,180. A year later, he notched his first major win in a $1,000 event at the World Poker Tour Bellagio stop for $77,720.
By 2017, the winnings were really ramping up. After grabbing a fifth-place finish in the WSOP Millionaire Maker for $317,544, Yockey grabbed his first bracelet in a $1,500 PLO eight-or-better event for $511,147. He continued the big run in the series with a fifth in a $25,000 PLO event for $270,242. In 2019, he showed off his all-around skills by taking fourth in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship for $325,989.
Another solid finish came in 2022 with Yockey finishing 12th in the WPT World Championship for $338,500. A year later, he added his first PokerGO Tour title, winning a $1,000 PLO event for $239,400. Throughout his career, Yockey’s PLO tournament results have been stellar, including another bracelet in the 2024 $5,000 event for $606,654. He added even more cash with another deep run in the PPC, this time finishing runner-up for $768,467.
Yockey continued finding success in the PokerGO Studio in 2025, taking a win in a $15,100 mystery bounty event for $218,400. In the same series, he also had a fifth, sixth, and two eighth-place finishes. In October, he scored two more PGT PLO titles and yet another in November for a total of $572,000.
“PLO is the main game I play and work on these days,” he says. “Sometimes you run good in the right places, but I think I’m one of the better players to play those tournaments right now. Other than that, I just like how the tournaments are run. I really like the staff and the studio. I feel like things kind of click for me when I’m there.”
Magic Man
Magic: The Gathering is a card game where players act as wizards – casting spells and battling opponents with the goal of reducing their life to zero. Hasbro, which owns the brand, estimates that there are 50 million players worldwide. It’s that world that Yockey found himself in growing up in California.
“It’s just a really complex game,” he says. “Every game is unique, and therefore every game has its own right solution or answer. It’s an extremely high skillset. I played in a lot of competitions, like in the U.S. Nationals, but I wasn’t even close to playing optimally. I wasn’t close to being a great player. And that’s part of what made the game so fulfilling.”
Yockey wasn’t always too concerned about wins, losses, and the money. The process of figuring out a solution or using his mind and reasoning to make a big play was always a central part of his love for all types of gaming.
“I’ve always been interested in solving the puzzle that a game represents,” he says. “I care and I want to win, but it’s more important to understand the game and find the right answer, even if there’s multiple right answers. That’s what the fun of the game is all about to me. So even today, when I play, I am very cerebral. I’m not super competitive in the sense that I need to beat someone. I like to be better with my answers.”
Over the last couple of years, Yockey certainly has had the answers at the poker table. The finance degree is nice to have, but the professional gambler hasn’t found a use for it yet.
“My mom hated it, but she’s also the kind of person who always said I can do anything,” says Yockey, who now calls Hollywood, California, home. “She believes I’m capable, but she doesn’t like gambling. My dad gambles small here and there for fun. I kind of had already proven that I could make money in the game before that. So even though I had a bad year and went broke one year, there wasn’t really as much of a doubt of whether I’m capable. But at this point I’m doing well enough that they are very comfortable with what’s going on.”
A Love For All The Games
Despite so much success in PLO, Yockey lists badugi as his favorite game.
“It’s one of the only poker games that isn’t decided by a real poker hand. I like it because it’s a real unique intersection of strategy.”
When not playing poker, Yockey loves hiking, traveling, and cooking. He also enjoys playing chess and other board games. Some of that strategic thinking can also be found in jiu-jitsu where he hits the mat about three times a week. What does he like about squaring off against opponents?
“It’s a martial art that’s very cerebral. It’s really fun, and it’s great exercise. It also gets the competitive nature of me going a bit, but it’s like a puzzle of the human body.”
Poker coaching has also been on his itinerary more of late, including launching his own Oracle of Omaha website, selling custom simulations for students. Yockey believes he has something to offer others looking to improve their skills. Another goal for the coming year is to stay consistent and produce solid results in the big events.
“I’m a pro, I’m here to make money,” he says. “I’ll do what is a good opportunity for me and right now, a lot of those high stakes buy-ins are a good opportunity for me. I hope they stay that way.”
Find Yockey on Twitter/X @SuddenlyBryce.
Photos by PokerGO/Antonio Abrego.
