Ylon Schwartz

Ylon Schwartz was born and raised in New York City, and still calls the borough of Brookyln home. He’s the first to admit that he was not much of a student, and hustling chess in the parks and on the street corners of Manhattan provided his route into the world of the professional gambler. Schwartz became so good at chess that he earned the rating of Master from the World Chess Federation, and also played the game semi-professionally.

Ylon’s chess expertise led him to find success at poker, a sport he describes as a game of ‘incomplete information’ (in comparison to chess, a game of ‘complete information’). Backgammon, pool, and horse racing have all figured on Ylon’s list of gaming interests, but he settled in poker and began to grind out a living in New York and Atlantic City in the 90s. That life of grind was to come to end however, with his breakthrough performance at the 2008 World Series of Poker*.

After seven days of play, Ylon found himself as the most experienced player at the 2008 World Series of Poker* final table, with a 15-year career and 11 previous WSOP* cashes stretching back to 2005. A look at his resume shows that Schwartz is a consistent performer in No Limit Hold’em at the World Series with four cashes in 2005, another four in 2006, and two in 2007. Ylon’s biggest cash prior to 2008 was for $28,187 in a $2,500 No Limit Hold'em event in 2006. The 2008 World Series saw Schwartz cash for $10,046 in Event 20, the $2,000 No Limit Hold’em, before his run in the Main Event eclipsed everything that had gone before.

Schwartz went into the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event final table fifth in chips, and was able to parlay this into fourth place, and a payday of $3,794,974. Schwartz has gone on record as saying he was more than satisfied with fourth place – he received a big chunk of cash, but avoided the media glare.

Schwartz is also a fierce online player, illustrated by his performance one weekend in April 2007, when he not only won and came second in two $109 Rebuy tournaments, but also won the Sunday Second Chance, netting a grand total of $85,000 for one weekend’s action online.

Ylon is an enigmatic character, and is proud to join the ranks of Team PokerStars Pro. Away from the tables he practices yoga, plays the drums and enjoys fine tequila in his spare time. He plays online at PokerStars as 'YlonSchwartz'.

Career Highlights