Eli Elezra
Eliahu Ilan Elezra (; born November 24, 1960 in Jerusalem) is an Israeli professional poker player and businessman, now living in Las Vegas, Nevada. Since moving to America, Elezra has had numerous money finishes in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Omaha, Texas Hold 'em and Draw events. In July 2004, Elezra won the World Poker Tour $10,000 no-limit hold'em event at the 2004 Mirage Poker Showdown, where he won $1,024,574. Elezra has played in "The Big Game" in Vegas for many years. He appeared in the second and third seasons of the Poker Superstars  Invitational Tournament. He played in seasons 1–6 of GSN series "High Stakes Poker" and has appeared on several episodes of "Poker After Dark". Elezra won his first bracelet by winning the World Championship Seven Card Stud Hi-Low in the 2007 World Series of Poker after defeating Scotty Nguyen heads-up. Before the event, Elezra had made a side bet with Barry Greenstein laying 10:1 odds that he would win a World Series bracelet in 2007. He bet $25,000 and collected $250,000, resulting in more money than the first place prize in the event that he won. As  of 2021, his total live tournament winnings exceed $4,950,000. His 72 cashes at the WSOP account for over $2,500,000 of those winnings. He was a Full Tilt Pro. Elezra released a biography about his life and career in poker in March 2017 entitled "Poker Legend". The book was co-written by professional Israeli poker players Matan Krakow and Yoav Ronal. The book was translated into English by Robbie Strazynski and published by Two Plus Two Publishing under the title "Pulling the Trigger" in January 2019. Elezra was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2021. Personal life . Eli Elezra served in one of the Israeli Defense Force's Golani Brigades. During his time in the army, he served time in an Israeli prison for disobeying military orders. He was discharged after he sustained a leg injury in the 1982 Lebanon War. Later, he moved to the USA where he first began to work in the fish industry in Alaska, before making his way to Las Vegas to become the owner of a successful film-developing business in 1988. It was thanks to this venture that he started to enter the poker scene.