Paul Darden Jr Profil
Darden is an aggressive player whose interest in poker was sparked early. His father owned a pool hall with a poker room in the back. But he had a career as a successful hip hop music promoter and nightclub owner before becoming a full-fledged poker professional. Like many successful pros, Darden’s genius is his ability to read his opponents’ cards. 
“My strength is to try to play my opponent’s hand, not mine,” says Darden. “I try to put myself in their hand and play at me.” Darden calls himself “a student watching the teacher” and credits fellow pro Phil Ivey with getting him into poker. Darden has built a successful career as a journeyman poker pro, taking firsts in a number of different games at such prestige events as the Mirage Poker Showdown and Atlantic City’s US Poker Championships. Darden is now taking on the role of poker mentor, teaching his wife to play, and fantasizing about facing off with her at a WORLD POKER TOUR Final Table. “If I’ve taught her anything at all, she’ll really go after me,” he says. Paul Darden of New Haven, CT was the 2001 Seven Card Stud World Series Champion ($147,440) and won the WORLD POKER TOUR Lucky Chances tournament in Season One for nearly the same amount–$146,000. He also claimed a $300,000 payday by taking third in the Season Three PartyPoker.com Million, as prize purses had begun to escalate on the WPT. (He’s teaching his wife to play and hopes to one day meet her on a World Poker Tour final table.)