Dewey Tomko: the great contender

Dewey Tomko is one player who has more than thirty five years of exposure to poker playing. He has not won any major title in any tournament he has participated in, but his opponents know that he is one strong and experienced contender. Tomko has two runner-up positions in the World Series of Poker; one in the 1982 main event next to Jack Straus and the other in the 2001 WSOP next to Carlos Mortensen.

Tomko's World Poker Tour events also led him to the final tables and got runner-up places; the 2003 Five Diamond World Poker Classic and the Costa Rica Classic where he got fourth place. In the 2005 World Series of Poker Tomko got third place at the Deuce to Seven Draw Lowball event with a take home pay of $ 138,160. To date, he already has three bracelets from the World Series of Poker and a total of more than $ 2.7 million in tournament earnings.

In 2005, Tomko was a guest at the October Bounty Poker Tournament of DoylesRoom.com. His presence at the tournament surely set the pace and the ambiance of a true poker competition. However, Tomko did not win the first place and lost it to a player under a code name of RYANMW21.

Dewey Tomko is originally from Glassport, Pennsylvania and he was born in 1946. He played poker at some pool halls and was already earning some cash at the age of 16. He used his poker winnings in helping him get through four years of college at Salem. After graduation, he worked a kindergarten school while playing poker during the nights. He had little or no sleep at all, and fortunately for his students he was a good teacher and did not forget about his responsibilities to them even with a schedule as hectic as his.

As Tomko continued with his nightly poker escapades, he realized that he is earning more in one night than teaching kindergarten for a year. So he pursued his poker playing full time and quit teaching. He invested his poker earnings in some business ventures and continued on playing through the 70's and 80's. Tomko believes that his son Derek is a better player than he was at his age. His life-long dream is to play poker with Derek and compete with him at the final table. Dewey Tomko is living with his wife and three children in Winterhaven, Florida.