Limit Holdem players –yes they still exist—will immediately recognize the name Paul “GiantBuddha” Hoppe as one of the top mid-stakes players in the world in the discipline, not to mention Hoppe’s reputation as one of the best Limit Holdem instructors in the world.

For those of you that don’t know, Hoppe started playing poker before the boom in 2003, at live poker clubs around New York City, and after leaving poker to pursue his martial arts training, and taking over a successful dojo, he came back to the game around 2006, this time playing both live poker and online poker. Hoppe quickly fell into a rut playing online poker and spent nearly two years bouncing around from game to game before he settled on Limit Holdem. As Hoppe puts it: “It was at the start of 2008 that I discovered a better way to approach the game: play fewer tables, spend more time studying, and watch lots of videos. I dedicated myself exclusively to shorthanded Limit Hold’em and quickly went from grinding small stakes to thriving in the mid-stakes games.”

Hoppe’s bread and butter game nowadays are $10/$20 and $15/$30, with a mix of Heads Up, Short Handed, and Full Ring games in his arsenal, and he can mainly be found playing at PokerStars –where he is gunning for Supernova Elite status.

Hoppe’s role with Drag the Bar was initially meant to provide some Limit Holdem content for the site, but after talking with DragtheBar owner Hunter “BeachJustice” Bick the two decided to let Hoppe take control of the Limit Holdem content on the site, and under Hoppe’s guidance the site has evolved into the best Limit Holdem training ground on the Internet. Hoppe not only develops the Limit Holdem content but also oversees the new Limit Holdem Team at the site including new additions to the site Dustin Cook and James Davis.

Hoppe was born in New York City, and still lives there, and in addition to being a professional poker player he also plays guitar in a rock band and is a black belt in Tae Kwan Do –a very well-rounded individual to say the least!

Hoppe has authored his own poker book Way of the Poker Warrior, which focuses on the psychological journey you take in the poker world –and of course some hardcore strategy– and he is also a co-author along with his fellow Drag the Bar coach Dusty Schmidt of the new poker strategy book Don’t Listen to Phil Hellmuth, which is a straight-up strategy book dedicated to debunking some of poker’s top myths.
Hoppe has produced 68 videos for Drag the Bar, most dealing with Limit Holdem of course; although he now aspires to branch out into not only No Limit Holdem, but also into tournaments, both live and online.
Hoppe was able to cash in the 2010 WSOP Main Event for $21,000, which he says has got his tournament juices flowing!