Director -
CaptainZeebo -
Greg Lavery (bio)
Producer -
Jay Rosenkrantz (bio)
Exec. Producer -
Dan Morris (bio)
Exec. Producer -
Dean Strachan (bio)
Ryan Firpo is an independent filmmaker and amateur poker player from Oakland, CA. He is the founder and director of 918 FILMS, a Bay Area-based film company dedicated to the production of real fine picture stories. "I've always been interested in characters who succeed on wit alone," he says. "I'm fascinated by people who can prosper outside the traditional framework of society using only talent and intelligence - the classic self-made man. To me, this is an incredibly romantic, American ideal that's becoming increasingly difficult to realize nowadays. These young poker professionals are proving that it's still possible...that the American Dream is still alive."
Greg Lavery was born and raised in a small suburb outside Chicago, IL. He describes his upbringing as 'typical Mid-western', attending church every Sunday and a Christian elementary school during the week. As a teenager, Greg became obsessed with video games, often playing eight hours a day for weeks on end trying to improve his high-score. He currently holds multiple fastest-time records for N64's Goldeneye, his all-time favorite video game. Greg discovered poker while studying mathematics at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. Inspired by Moneymaker's unlikely victory at the 2003 WSOP Main Event and the poker-film Rounders, Greg deposited $50 on Party Poker and started playing the smallest stakes available. He quickly fell in love with the game, devoting the same obsessive energy he had once devoted to video games to learning and improving at poker. His competitive spirit, mathematical background, and aptitude for computer-baseed games proved to be the perfect combination for excelling at online poker. Along with school, he held a part-time job working as a cashier at the local McDonald's, and it wasn't long before he was earning more money playing poker than he was from his paycheck. Always the pragmatic one, Greg held on to his job until he could be sure his success at poker was more than just beginner's luck. Within six months, he turned his $50 deposit into just over $100K and finally made the decision to go pro.
Since then, Greg has made over $2M playing online poker, often at the highest stakes possible. He is known online as 'The Riparian' and 'captZEEbo' which were, at one time, two of the most feared names on the internet. In late 2007, however, Greg's online poker career took an unexpected turn. After years spent struggling with the isolating nature of the online poker lifestyle, he suffered a mental breakdown and spent two weeks in a locked psychiatric ward undergoing treatment for bipolar disorder. Since then, he has retired from high-stakes online poker, planning to retire completely some time in the next five years. He currently lives in Madison, WI where he bought a house with his fiance, Erin, and two dogs, Cali and Angus. In 'From Busto to Robusto', Greg relates the impact online poker has had on his life.
Jay Rosenkrantz is a professional poker player and the Founder and Creative Director of DeucesCracked.com, a poker training community. He was once a waiter, mouse-pad cutter, tent cleaner, toy maker, freelance writer, legal assistant, gas pumper and bubble artist. Then he found poker, and everything changed.
After graduating from Duke University in 2006, where he doubled majored in mathematics and mechanical engineering, Dan Morris moved to San Francisco, CA to pursue a career as a professional poker player. His screename, DJ Sensei, was given in response to his dominant performance in high school math competitions - a skill that helped him quickly rise to the some of the highest stakes on the internet. In 2007, he was named an Executive Producer for DeucesCracked and began contributing some of the most-watched content on the site. These days, Dan spends most of his time coaching MSNL, playing ultimate frisbee, winning flips and living the dream.
