Ron Rose is best-known for winning the inaugural WPT Battle of
Champions, besting poker greats Gus Hansen, Howard Lederer, Alan Goehring,
Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott, Juha Helppi, Paul Darden, Layne Flack, Chris Karaguylleyan,
Christer Johansson, and Jose Rosencranz, as well as for winning a World Series
of Poker gold bracelet in 2003. In addition Ron also won the 2003 WPT World Poker
Challenge, leaving champion T.J. Cloutier in his wake.
Ron had aspirations to play professional poker since he played in family games
as a young boy. But before he entered the world of professional poker, Ron was
the owner of several successful computer businesses the last of which was EriNet
(ISP) which had its corporate offices in Dayton, Ohio. Ron was one of the first to
recognize the importance of the internet as a business and educational tool.
As a result, he turned his computer business into one of the largest independent
Internet Service Providers in the country – the largest regional provider in Ohio and
surrounding states. It was only when he sold this successful company that thoughts
of poker returned. He decided to venture into the world of professional poker and
he did so with a bang.
It wasn’t long until Ron had made his mark on the poker world. He became known
as a solid player, always a gentleman at the table and a person who projected a
good image for an industry that for a long time suffered from a less than stellar
reputation. Poker began to explode as a televised sport and tournament poker
became almost a household word. Ron played at first in the United States, but
then branched out into the European arena. In 2001 he won three tournaments
within the space of a week — Pot Limit Hold’em, Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo and
Pot Limit Omaha — at the Summer Tournament hosted by the Aviation Club in
Paris. As a result of these wins, he was named Best All-Around Player for the
Tournament. Ron had only been playing professional poker for a year when he
won this award but it was only the beginning.
He returned to the Aviation Club in 2002 where he came in first in both the spring
and summer No Limit Hold’em tournaments. When the World Poker Tour began,
Ron was there to play in almost every tournament. He made the final table at the
first tournament in Foxwoods, placing sixth in the tournament and vowing to come
back to another WPT final table to win. And he did return to win the World Poker
Challenge in Reno. This win enabled him to play with all of the other winners in the
Battle of Champions, which was televised on Super Bowl Sunday 2004. Ron routed
all of the other champions to win the title of WPT Champion of Champions. Ron also
won a gold bracelet in the 2003 World Series of Poker by placing first in the Seniors
No Limit Hold’em event. Ron continued to play and win, amassing a career-winning
total of well over $1,000,000 in just a short time.
Some people out there become so obsessed with what they do that they lose track
of what really matters in life. Ron Rose, up until 2004, was one of those people.
For a time, he was obsessed with poker and perhaps saw the card game as the
pinnacle of his life. A heart operation after the WSOP in June 2003 changed his
mind, granting him the clarity to see that poker was not the core of his life. To the
dismay of those he plays against, however, he has yet to completely abandon the
game.In his short tournament career Ron Rose has accomplished more then some
players have in a decade. Today he has also branched out into both the literary
world, authoring a successful poker book and writing articles on the game; and
the teaching realm by participating in poker seminars and mentoring individual
players.
