Things you might not know:
- Benyamine learned poker at the age of 12.
- Benyamine was a professional tennis player but retired early due to shoulder and back pain.
- Benyamine was also a top ten billiards player in France.
- Benyamine was deported from the U.S. in 2004 because his name was very similar to one on the terrorist "watch list" but later adjusted to say he was deported for not having a work permit.
- Benyamine has a reputation for having great stamina playing poker. Barry Greenstein recounts him once playing for over 2 and 1/2 days straight in the Big Game. 60 hours into his session he was down over a million but went on a rush and ended up breaking even.
- Benyamine had a long time relationship with Erica Schoenberg but their opposite schedules and lack of care for his own health and weight led to an eventual breakup.
- Benyamine for years changed his ID's regularly online, but nonetheless racked up wins of over $5 million on Full Tilt before becoming a red pro.
- Benyamine is rumored to have suffered a $8 million downswing in 2007.
- Benyamine received the nickname "degenyamine" from his penchant to not drop down in stakes despite having large downswings, jeopardizing his bankroll. He claims if he didn't occasionally check HSDB, he wouldn't even know if he were up or down in a particular month.
- Benyamine claims to have never read a poker book or poker magazine.
- Benyamine has said if none of his other interests had worked out he would have liked to have been an archeologist.
David Benyamine continues to excel at both tournaments and high stakes cash games around the world with a stamina that few others can claim.
Benyamine interview after winning WSOP bracelet, and two big hands on High Stake Poker:
Other famous poker player profiles:
Phil Ivey
Gus Hansen
Daniel Negreanu
Doyle Brunson
Phil Hellmuth
Scotty Nguyen
Johnny Chan
Barry Greenstein
Jennifer Harman-Traniello
Eric Seidel
Patrik Antonius
Viktor Blom
Chris Ferguson
Chris Moneymaker
Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier
Tom Dwan
Greg Raymer
Ashton "theASHMAN103" Griffin
John Juanda
Chau Giang
Kathy Liebert
Dan Harrington
Dario Minieri
Allen Cunningham
Phil Galfond
Carlos Mortensen
Annie Duke
Erick Lindgren
Mike Matusow
Michael Mizrachi
Howard Lederer
Antonio Esfandiari
J.C. Tran
David Pham
Annette Obrestad
Vanessa Selbst
Huck Seed
Men Nguyen
David Benyamine
Jason Mercier
Phil Laak
Layne Flack
Lex Veldhuis
Ted Forrest
Joe Hachem
Dan “jungleman12” Cates
