Player Profile: Paul Darden

Summary: After an inauspicious adolescence, Paul "The Truth" Darden, Jr. has come a long way. Born October 27, 1968 in New Haven, Connecticut and raised in a ghetto, in his teen years he hung out with thieves and drug dealers. In fact, at the tender age of 15, Darden was accused of murder but was lucky enough to be acquitted due to mistaken identity. As a high school dropout, there were not many career options open to him and he says that the game of Poker helped him turn his life ...

After an inauspicious adolescence, Paul "The Truth" Darden, Jr. has come a long way. Born October 27, 1968 in New Haven, Connecticut and raised in a ghetto, in his teen years he hung out with thieves and drug dealers. In fact, at the tender age of 15, Darden was accused of murder but was lucky enough to be acquitted due to mistaken identity. As a high school dropout, there were not many career options open to him and he says that the game of Poker helped him turn his life around. Darden states that one of his goals is to bring poker to the African American community and commented in one of his interviews "There is going to be salt and pepper all over the casinos when they see me win a big event." Paul Darden began playing and winning at the local Foxwoods Casino as well as in the Stud Games at Atlantic City where they were very popular. He tells us that his father had a small poker club many years ago and taught Paul to play. A positive event in his life was meeting up with Phil Ivey who became his friend and mentor. Although Paul's favorite games were Five Card and Seven Card Stud, Phil encouraged him to branch out into other games, especially Texas Hold'em No Limit - due to his aggressive style of playing. Paul has learned to be patient when playing and has become a master at reading "tells"- the movement and body language of other players. Different players react in different ways when playing a winning or losing hand and learning to recognize these actions is very helpful to his game. Paul also has one World Series of Poker bracelet. As of this writing, his total live tournament winnings are in excess of $1,700,000. Paul is married to Vicky and they have one child. He also has three children from different relationships. One of his important goals is to provide for his family so that his children will have a better life than he did while growing up. He appears to be on a winning streak in Poker as well as in his life and we wish him well.