Jared Hamby was born in Elkhart, Indiana but raised in Waco, Texas. That explains why this 26 year old loves basketball but goes by the moniker “Waco Kidd.” He started playing poker at thirteen with his friends in Texas, where he attended Baylor University for a year, and has been playing hold’em professionally for the last three years. He’s never read a poker book, and taught himself by playing online about 12 hours a day and reading poker forums. Jared has indicated that he prefers online tournaments to live ones because he likes the freedom to move around.

Hamby is not intimidated by playing with seasoned pros but he does enjoy being the chip leader at a tournament because of the power a big stack holds. Jared knows that you have to have an aggressive instinct, keen observation skills and the ability to problem solve with incomplete information to succeed in live tournament play. He is fiercely competitive and enjoys playing with two red tens in his hand. He also enjoys playing with Barry Greenstein who he says is a fantastic poker player and a great poker ambassador.

Jared takes care of business, owning his own home in Henderson, Nevada and investing in the market. With his current success rate he considers himself to be financially correct and is actively pursuing a World Poker Tour title, maintaining it’s helpful to a career tournament player. Hamby must know what he’s talking about. In 2007 alone he’s cashed in the World Poker Tour’s LA Poker Classic, three events at the WPT’s Five-Star World Poker Classic and two events at the WPT’s Mirage Poker Showdown. His lifetime winnings already exceed $1.3 million and it looks like doubling up will be a slam dunk for this kid!