| Steve Brecher | |
|---|---|
| Residence | Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. |
| Born | 1945 (age 77–78) |
| World Series of Poker | |
| Bracelet(s) | None |
| Money finish(es) | 20 |
| Highest ITM Main Event finish | 31st, 2011 |
| World Poker Tour | |
| Title(s) | 1 |
| Final table(s) | 3 |
| Money finish(es) | 17 |
Steve Brecher (born 1945) is an American professional poker player.
Poker career
In 1999, Brecher placed 8th in the World Series of Poker $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em event for $15,000.[1] In 2004, he reached the final table of the World Poker Tour $25,000 No Limit Championship, finishing in 6th place and winning $232,000.[2] In 2005, he finished 3rd in the $9,700 No Limit Hold'em event at the United States Poker Championship, pocketing $218,250.[3]
In 2009, Brecher took his first major tournament title by winning the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament. He beat over 300 other players to win more than $1 million, defeating Kathy Liebert heads up after the longest final table in WPT history.[4] He finished 31st in the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event, winning $242,636.[5] In the Season 11 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship Event, Brecher finished in the 5th place and won $206,821.[6]
As of 2023, his live tournament winnings exceeded $3 million.[7]
Computer programming career
Before turning his hand to professional poker, Brecher was a computer programmer and writer who was instrumental in creating some of the earliest popular programs (and their product categories) for the Macintosh platform. He wrote Suitcase,[8] the font management program for the Mac, which was originally self-published under the brand Software Supply, later distributed by Fifth Generation Systems, and eventually acquired by Extensis, which still publishes a (greatly improved and rewritten) version of the program more than 20 years after Brecher's original release. He also, together with Billy Steinberg, wrote Pyro, the original Mac screen saver application. In addition to application software, Brecher was a contributor to the FreePPP project, which brought Macintosh computers onto the Internet, and developed low-level driver software for some of the earliest Macintosh hard disk drives.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Brecher was regarded in technology circles as a "programmer's programmer", and was a Contributing Editor of MacTech magazine, for which he wrote the Ask Professor Mac column, and answered technical questions from readers.[9] His later interest in professional gambling was foreshadowed by his 1980 book, Beating the Races with a Computer.[10]
Miscellaneous
Brecher holds an FAA Airline Transport Pilot certificate, and during 2009–2012 flew himself to poker tournaments around the country from his plane's bases in Reno, Nevada and Carson City, Nevada.
References
- ↑ "30th World Series of Poker - WSOP 1999, No Limit Hold'em". The Hendon Mob. Retrieved December 2, 2023.
- ↑ "World Poker Tour - WPT Championship, WPT No Limit Hold'em Championship Final Day". The Hendon Mob. Retrieved December 2, 2023.
- ↑ "2005 United States Poker Championship, Main Event - No Limit Hold'em". The Hendon Mob. Retrieved December 2, 2023.
- ↑ "World Poker Tour - WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star, No Limit Hold'em". The Hendon Mob. Retrieved December 2, 2023.
- ↑ Ryan, Rich (July 21, 2011). "2011 World Series of Poker Main Event: Lights, Camera, Action". PokerNews. Retrieved November 29, 2023.
- ↑ "World Poker Tour - WPT Borgata Poker Open, No Limit Hold'em - Championship Event (Re-Entry)". The Hendon Mob. Retrieved December 2, 2023.
- ↑ "Steve Brecher's profile on The Hendon Mob". The Hendon Mob Poker Database. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
- ↑ Neuburg, Matt (April 22, 2002). "TidBITS: A Quick Trip with Suitcase 10". Tidbits.com. Archived from the original on June 8, 2011. Retrieved November 13, 2012.
- ↑ Snively, Paul F. "The journal of Apple technology". MacTech. Retrieved November 29, 2023.
- ↑ Brecher, Steven L. (1980). Beating the Races With a Computer. Software Supply. ISBN 0-9603792-0-7.
External links
- Steve Brecher at the Hendon Mob