Capt. Tom Franklin
This poker senior hails from Fresno in California, where he was born in 1950. He currently lives on the Atlantic Ocean’s banks in a place called Gulfport. He is ‘Capt.’ Tom Franklin – a poker lover and pro who is happy to be living in a part of the US linked with poker history, as Mississippi was famous for the riverboat crew who popularized the game in the 19th century throughout America.
He has been playing his favorite card game for over 2 decades and his first cash win came during the 1990 World Series of Poker tournament, though he didn’t have the honor of winning a bracelet till another 9 years. His hobbies of golfing, singing and drumming kept his spirits up and Capt. Tom Franklin continued improving his poker game with regular practice and tips from more experienced players.
Captain is Tom Franklin’s nickname and stuck with him from the initial days he started playing poker in; the time was 1970 and since then, Tom has won more than 50 major events in competitive poker that have contributed to prizes valued at $50,000 plus.
Coming to his first cash win (during the 1990 WSOP main event), Tom had placed at the 24th position but it was only in 1999 that he played skillfully and had Lady Luck supporting him too, so he was able to clinch his one and only WSOP bracelet. This Tom earned for his strategic play in the $2500 Limit Omaha category, a thrilling version of the game Tom still enjoys playing in private games today.
He has notched up a total of 27 money-finishes in various WSOP event and reached the final tables of 4 consecutive Main Events among these appearances, making his luck stretch to 5 cash wins at various World Poker Tour events as well. His general cash wins amount to 114 in number with total poker earnings estimated at $2,710,723; the 6 first place finishes Tom has won so far must have contributed to a considerable part of this amount!
He is married with 5 children and loves playing No Limit poker, though he is yet to achieve his ambition (of winning 3 majors the same year).
However, with his favorite movie being ‘Walking Tall’ poker fans are sure this poker senior with a love for fifties and sixties music is sure to achieve his dream soon and his poker idol – Scotty Nugen – may inspire his game to another level in order to make the Captain’s ship stay afloat for a long, long time on the pro poker circuit despite turbulent waves of newcomers and his own self-admitted conning of various players through the years!
Perhaps he’s kidding, perhaps its partly true, but whatever else one knows of Capt. Tom Franklin, this much is sure that as the Chairman of the WPA (World Poker Association), he is unlikely cheat professionals out of the health care plan designed exclusively for poker veterans and pros – or for that matter, be slack about poker players following stricter rules and regulations the association plans on following through with soon. Though he does admit that the occasional play interpretation by players will be given an ear, Capt. Tom Franklin is confident about clearing any gray area in poker to make it a straightforward and respectable card game. We doff our hats to that thought!