Born in 1937 in New York City, Charlie Shoten is a famous poker player who believes that one becomes a better poker player through self-mastery.  Charlie said “It’s a Zen kind of thing.”

Charlie Shoten has been playing poker since he was five, and has seen a lot of different games.  However, very few people played against Charlie Shoten. For most of his playing career, Charlie used an alias of “Scotty Warbucks.”  He doesn’t remember how he developed an alias, but he formed it so that nobody would know that he was winning a lot of money.

Charlie Shoten graduated from the University of Alabama, and spent a long portion of his life as an insurance salesman. He retired in 1990 and moved to California to play poker. He had to learn No Limit Holdem, a game he wasn’t familiar with, fairly quickly. His first game of No Limit Holdem was a $3000 satellite event at the Hustler Casino in Los Angeles, which he won. Speaking about this victory, Charlie said, “All of a sudden I just sat at the table and knew how to play.”

In 2001, the Scotty Warbucks alias began to fade away, helped by televised poker tournaments and Charlie’s revelations of his true identity.  In 2003, Charlie Shoten made it to 19 different final tables in major tournaments, which is an impressive feat.

Charlie Shoten is the author of the book, “No Limit Life,” which is a poker book but could also be considered a guidebook for life, as it talks a lot about how to live a better life.  Charlie currently lives in Glendale, California.