Roy Winston grew up in New York City and was competitive in sports, mainly swimming, in high school and college. His higher education included a degree from the University of Pennsylvania, then a Doctor of Medicine degree from the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York. He went on to complete his internship in surgery at the Beth Israel Medical Center and his residency at the University of Florida College of Medicine. His specialty was anesthesiology, which turned into a lucrative career that involved working with numerous clinics. He also well-known in the field of laser tattoo removal and founded the company LaserAway LLC.

Poker came into Roy’s life at the age of 11. His great grandmother ran a speakeasy in the 1920’s in Manhattan and was reputed to be the best gin player of her time. Her son, who was Roy’s father, taught him to play gin in the family tradition, and he learned poker from there. He played at home, and as he progressed through life, there were opportunities to play more in home games and casinos. After 20 years of practicing medicine, poker would begin to play a larger role in his life when he began playing tournaments in 2006. Almost immediately, he found success and cashed in the WPT L.A. Poker Classic that year in 23rd place. He became somewhat immersed in poker, began playing high limit cash games and experimenting with mixed games that soon became one of his greatest strengths.

In less than two years on the tournament circuit – on a part-time basis at that – Roy blazed a path through the field at the 2007 WPT Borgata Poker Open and won the tournament for over $1.5 million. Later that year, he won a preliminary event at the Five Diamond World Poker Classic, and in early 2008, he came in fourth place in two major events at the Aussie Millions. Now, with the exception of running the laser company and doing some medical consulting work, Roy is now a full-time professional poker player. He is also the no-limit high stakes poker host at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles, where he attracts good players to the high limit games.