Haralabos Voulgaris is a popular Greek-Canadian professional gambler, sports bettor, and poker player. He was born in Winnipeg, Canada, on April 7, 1975. Haralabos is a popular and successful gambler who has built a massive fortune from gambling.
Not many people know him by his real name; however, his popular name is Bob. Mysterious,y, he has the ability to read his opponents’ eyes. Haralabos is a poker enthusiast who switched to sports betting. He is widely regarded as the most successful gambler and sports bettor in the world.
He contested in the 2012 WSOP One Drop event but finished in fourth place. His biggest tournament win came in the 2017 WSOP One Drop event, where he won over $1,880,000 as earnings from a live tournament.
Haralabos Voulgaris is the owner of the Spanish football side CD Castellón. He acquired his wealth by betting on NBA games. At 25, he was an expert in betting on NBA matches as he made millions on the basketball league games and could stake as high as 7 figures on any game day.
The league itself finally recognized his gambling prowess, and a basketball team, the Dallas Mavericks, made him Director of Quantitative Research and Development but he no longer holds the position at the moment.
Haralabos Voulgaris started as a poker player in the early 2000s by staking high in buy-in events in a sporadic fashion. He has earned more than $3 million in live tournament earnings as a poker player and gambler.
Haralabos Voulgaris has a net worth of 5 million dollars. This post looks into the life of Haralabos Voulgaris, and we will share details of his age, career, origin, income, games, earnings, biography, and net worth.
Haralabos Voulgaris Biography
| Full Name | Haralabos Voulgaris |
| Nickname | Bob |
| Date of Birth | July 4, 1975 |
| Age | 47 Years |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Place of Birth | Winnipeg, Canada |
| Gender | Male |
| Height | 1.82 m |
| Weight | 88 kg |
| Profession | Professional Gambler, Bettor, Poker Player, Soccer club Owner |
| Sexual Orientation | Straight |
| Relationship Status | Unknown |
| Marital Status | Unmarried/Single |
| Wife/Spouse | N/A |
| Children/Kids | N/A |
| Net Worth | $5 million |
Early Life
Haralabos ‘Bob’ Voulgaris is a professional Canadian poker player, bettor, and gambler. He was born on July 4, 1975, in Winnipeg but is of Greek descent. His parents were Greeks but later immigrated to Canada in their 20s. His father was a successful Winnipeg businessman, who owned a Greek restaurant, Hermes, and developed real estate properties.
Later on, his father became a gambling enthusiast, and he began betting on horses and other sports games, including penny stock, dice games, and card games.
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Career
When Voulgaris was 18, he traveled to Greece to visit the hardscrabble villages of Tripoli and Argos. Haralabos’ father took him to Las Vegas for a two-month vacation, and they spent two months at Caesars sportsbook (Caesars Palace).
While Haralabos’ father was at the blackjack table, Haralabos was at the sportsbook area, analyzing and betting on NBA games. When he returned to Canada, where the legal gambling age is 19 years above in contrast to the U.S gambling age of 21 years, the young Haralabos Voulgaris continued his passion for gambling. He was underage and couldn’t bet on games, so he used that time to watch a lot of NBA games. He took notes of his observations and watched the flow of the game.
When he completed his education, he became an avid gambler just like his father and started betting on sports games. He discovered that the odds offered by sportsbooks were too high for the over in the 2nd half in the total points scored under/over market.
Typically, more points are scored in the second half of most NBA games, yet, sportsbooks still offer the same odds for the over on half the total points scored in the two halves. Voulgaris capitalized on this, and in 2000, he placed a bet of $70,000 on the Los Angeles Lakers to win the NBA championship at 6.50 odds, and guess what? He won.
In 2007, Haralabos was hired by an undisclosed math prodigy to design a statistical model that would make accurate predictions of NBA games. After two years of testing and design, Ewing was created.
He made his debut as a gambler in 1990. By the late 1990s, he was already a skilled bettor. He was super confident in his games and could frequently stake as high as $1 million on NBA bets. In the early 2000s, he decided to explore other gambling areas, picking an interest in poker. He began playing high buy-in live tournaments, and this is a summary of how he made his wealth.
Haralabos disclosed how he used to stake a million dollars in every NBA matchday. He would navigate his way from Vegas to Macau, and became a specialist in predicting the outcome of NBA games. He could watch basketball games on the television for extended periods to see what system works best. Haralabos started losing big after losing a third of his bankroll in the final month of the 2002-03 league season.
His experience as a gambler wasn’t rosy at first, as he had limited success, but later, he received global recognition. As a teen, he had learned the strategies and best ways to gamble; by the time he clocked 25, he had made millions from gambling.
Apart from betting, Voulgaris doubles as an excellent poker player. He has participated in several poker championships, including the European Poker Tour, the World Series of Poker, and the World Poker Tour.
According to his Hendon page, Voulgaris claimed to have won more than $3.090 million in live tournaments. He made such massive money from gambling in 19 different events over 14 years. Due to his high success rate, he could place bets at high stakes. The first victory seen as a poker player is from a $2,500 NLHE event held in December 2003 at the Bellagio Five-Diamond World Poker Classic. He came in the 17th position and settled for $5,540.
His biggest score as a poker player arrived in February 2005 when he came at second place in the $10K Main Event at the LA Poker Classic tournament, earning over $904,122 but eventually lost out to four-time WSOP gold bracelet winner, Michael Mizrachi.
In December 2006, Voulgaris came in eighth place in the $15,000 WPT Doyle Brunson North American Poker Classic tournament game at the Bellagio for $133,315. In September 2007, he came in third place in the $10K NLHE Championship event at the WPT Borgata Open for around $434,560. In April 2012, Haralabos cashed in the €25,000 Super High Roller at EPT Monte Carlo and finished at 13th position for €60,000.
In August 2019, he featured in the £1.050 million buy-in Triton Million, which was the biggest tournament in poker history. The event was held in London, it was the biggest moment of his professional poker career, but he failed to win the top prize.
One of the biggest moments in his gambling career came in September 2007 when he finished in third place in the $10K NLHE Championship event, held at the WPT Borgata Open for $434,560. He also finished in fourth place in the 2017 WSOP One Drop event. He received $1,158,883 from the tournament. In October 2017, he came on PokerGO’s revived version of Poker After Dark. In the event, he played extremely high stakes, including a $300/$600 NLHE cash game session against the likes of Bill Perkins and Phil Galfond.
Haralabos is yet to win his first World Series Of Poker (WSOP) gold bracelet. As a matter of fact, he has only cashed in two World Series events, where he received $1.184 million combined. In 2011, he won a cash prize in the $5,000 No Limited Hold’em 6-Handed event, winning $24,942 after finishing in 24th place.
At the 2017 World Series of Poker games, he made it to the final table in the $111,111 Big One for One Drop high roller event. The final table featured other poker gurus such as the 2014 WSOP Main Event Winner, Martin Jacobson, Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, Dario Sammartino, and the eventual winner of the 2017 event, Doug Polk. Nevertheless, he finished in fourth place in this star-studded final game. This was when he won $1.159 million, the biggest single live tournament score of his professional career to date.
In October 2018, Haralabos Voulgaris received recognition for his ability to forecast and make a tactical analysis of basketball games. They made him the Director of Quantitative Research and Development of the Dallas-based professional basketball team, Dallas Mavericks. However, he reportedly parted ways with the Mavs in June 2021.
In July 2022, Haralabos Voulgaris purchased the Spanish football side, CD Castellón. The team plays in the Premiera Division RFEF, the Spanish football third division. The club is yet to make it to La Liga, the top-flight of Spanish football, in over three decades, but as an owner, Haralabos will be looking to invest in the club and get them into top-flight football.
Controversy
In October 2015, Haralabos Voulgaris appeared on Joe Ingram’s podcast show, Poker Life. In the talk show, he claimed a “former NVG superhero” poker owed him seven figures after agreeing to place bets for him with an undisclosed bookmaker.
NVG is an acronym for ‘News, Views, and Gossip’, which is the tabloid area on the Two Plus Two, the #1 poker forum on the internet. After his revelation, many rumors were circulated about who the unnamed debtor could be. Based on the internet, Doug Polk concluded that it was likely to be the online poker icon, Tom Dwan.
Shockingly, Voulgaris reached out to Tom Dwan in a now-deleted tweet, requesting his contact information while claiming to be unsuccessful in his attempts to contact him. The identity of the superhero poker player Voulgaris talked about was confirmed to be Tom Dwan. He also revealed that Tom had repaid the money he owed him.
Haralabos Voulgaris Awards
Undoubtedly, Haralabos Voulgaris is an expert gambler and sports bettor who has made millions from staking on sports games. No one in the betting and gambling industry can claim not to know who Haralabos “Bob” is he is acknowledged as an icon.
However, he is yet to receive any laurels, awards, accolades, or special recognition. He competed in three of four poker championship tournaments but failed to win any of them.
Height and Weight
Haralabos stands at a height of 180 cm and weighs 88kg.
Personal Life
Haralabos Voulgaris has kept his relationship affairs private. No one knows the ladies he dated. It appears he is still unmarried at this time, but there is no evidence to back up such claims.
Haralabos Voulgaris Net Worth
Haralabos Voulgaris is one of the richest poker players in the world. At the age of 25, he had built millions by placing bets on NBA games. He developed his gambling strategy after analyzing the tactics of three coaches, Byron Scott, Eddie Jordan, and Jerry Sloan. He earned a vast amount by participating in many poker tournaments, championships, and Live Cash games.
Between 1999 and 2000, Haralabos earned his first big check of $1 million while placing $80,000in two bets for the Los Angeles Lakers to win the championship title. Haralabos Volgaris’ net worth is estimated to be between $2 to $5 million. As a gambler, you can be sure he makes a lot of money and loses some.
The wealthy gambler is the owner of a football club in Spain. He lives a luxurious lifestyle as he spends heavily on exotic cars such as Aston Martin, Mustang, and many others. He lives in Canada and America and enjoys traveling.
Despite having a net worth of more than $2 million, Haralabos doesn’t flaunt his wealth. He loves a modest life and keeps his personal life away from the eyes of the public.