Poker Profiles: Duane Tomko
Duane Tomko, Dewey to many Poker aficionados, has been active in the gambling circuit way before he reached 18. He frequented the pool halls of Pittsburgh when he was 16, which more than paid up for his college education. After college, Dewey took a job as a kindergarten teacher. When he is not holding a lesson plan, Dewey is mostly found holding cards. A couple of year later, he decided to quit teaching and invested his money to play Poker.
Dewey is definitely not a daring risk taker even when he was young. He did not put all of his money to Poker and instead invested a good sum of it in businesses. That is intended to back him up in case his Poker career did not click. In some stroke of luck, both his businesses and Poker brought him enough money to live a comfortable life in years afterwards.
Dewey's most memorable World Series of Poker appearances, aside from the three bracelet wins, happened in 1982 and 2001 respectively. In both cases, the Poker great finished second place at the Main Event. Although Dewey is yet to win a WSOP Main Event, he interestingly holds an amazing record of being the player with the longest active streak. He appeared in every WSOP Main Event since 1974. By the way, Dewey's three WSOP bracelets are won in 1979's $1,000 No Limit Hold'em and in 1984's $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha and $10,000 Deuce to Seven Draw events.
Aside from the WSOP, Dewey also holds an impressive record at the World Poker Tournament. He has made two final table finishes in the recent years, one in Five Diamond World Poker Classic and another in the Costa Rica Classic. He did not managed to steal the first place in both events (he was only a runner-up in the former and a fourth placer in the latter) but he sure took home a good sum out of it.
Dewey's son, Derek, is also getting more and more interested in Poker. He is even persistent that the older Tomko continue to join Poker tournaments. Dewey insists that Derek is a better player than he was at his age but that is yet to be judged.
Outside Poker, Dewey is also in love with golf. In fact, he has made an appearance at Rick Reilly's book titled Who's Your Caddy. The author followed Dewey on his golf exploits and concluded that the Poker professional is as good at gambling at the golf course as he is at the Poker table.
