Daniel Colman burst onto the poker scene in 2014 with one of the best years in poker history winning an incredible $22,389,481.

After 2017, Colman stepped away from poker publicly. His last cash, which came of December of that year, brought his lifetime tournament earnings to $28,925,058 (as of October 2022) according to the Hendon Mob.

Background

Born July 11, 1990, Colman hails from Holden, Massachusetts. He began playing online poker under the names "mrGR33N13" and "riyyc225" and has had tremendous success on the virtual felt, primarily at the high-limit hyper-turbo sit-and-gos.

Colman notched his first live tournament cash – a fourth-place finish in the Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) $5,000 Verona Main Event for $23,275 – back in 2008, and through 2013 put up modest results including $229,344 in tournament winnings in 2011 and $194,000 in 2013.

Breaking Out in 2014

Prior to 2014, Colman had $504,699 in lifetime tournament earnings. In April of that year, he won the European Poker Tour (EPT) $100,000 Super High Roller for $2,127,398, the first of what would be four seven-figure cashes that year.

At that year’s WSOP, he finished third in Event #40: $10,000 Heads-Up Championship for $111,942 and 10 days later won the $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop for a career-high $15,306,668.

He then took third in an ARIA $100,000 Super High Roller for $796,821, finished runner-up to Olivier Busquet in the EPT Barcelona €50,000 Super High Roller for $1,118,479, and two weeks later won the high-profile Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Main Event for just shy of $1.5 million, besting a bevy of top pros at the final table including Joe Kuether, Shawn Cunix, John Dolan, and the eventual runner-up Mike Leah.

Colman's run of a lifetime would continue when he would win the WPT Alpha8 London event for his sixth score of greater than $750,000 in 2014.

As a result of his excellent year, Colman was named Player of the Year by BLUFF Magazine, Card Player Magazine, and ALL IN Magazine. He was also named the 2014 Global Poker Index (GPI) Player of the Year.

Here's a look as some of the impressive results Colman posted in 2014:

World Series of Poker

As mentioned above, Colman became a WSOP bracelet winner in 2014 when he topped a 42-entry field to win the second-ever $1,000,000 buy-in Big One for One Drop for $15,306,668. He did so by defeating Poker Hall of Famer Daniel Negreanu in heads-up play.

Colman notoriously shied away from the spotlight after his win and had to be cajoled into taking a lackluster winner’s photo.

Dan Colman’s Top 5 WSOP Results

Controversies

In 2014, Colman finished runner-up to Olivier Busquet in the EPT Barcelona Super High Roller for more than $1 million. He used his final table appearance as an opportunity to make a political statement, as he would don a t-shirt that said "Free Palestine" while giving Busquet a t-shirt of his own to wear that said "Save Gaza." As a result, PokerStars later changed their rules banning shirts that made political statements.

Colman wouldn't end the year quietly, however, as he took to the forums. This time his target was Phil Hellmuth and Colman had this to say about the all-time leader in WSOP bracelets:

"It's embarrassing that we have to share our profession with whores like this guy," Colman wrote. "After I [won] One Drop, he immediately [came] on stage to shake my hand in front of a camera and congratulate me. As if he's the gatekeeper to the poker world and welcoming me inside.

"It is truly pathetic that a 40-year-old would behave the way he does at the table, not to mention how spineless he is, just willing to take any sponsorship regardless of the company's integrity. 'Hey, anything for a payday!' Really makes me sad to think there's a chance some people may look up to this charlatan. People of his attitude and character are a cancer to this world."

Colman would later issue a clarification on his comments by stating "I understand I come off poorly attacking Phil [Hellmuth] in the way I did. Let's agree that I was harsh and over the top and didn't do myself any favors. I’m happy to have a dive taken in my almighty Two Plus Two street cred as long as we can focus some parts of the discussion on [Hellmuth's] overall behavior and his representing of [Ultimate Bet]."

After winning the Big One for One Drop, Colman also caused a bit of a controversy when he shunned media interviews and barely agreed to a winner photo. He later posted on 2+2 that “I really don’t owe anyone an explanation but I’ll give one.”

He proceeded to explain, “It bothers me that people care so much about poker’s well-being. As poker is a game that has such a net negative effect on the people playing it. Both financially and emotionally.”

Colman’s personal views didn’t sit well with a large segment of the poker community, though there were those who respected it such as Negreanu, who even addressed the controvery in a post of his own.

Did You Know?

• In 2013, Colman won $1 million in a calendar year playing online hyper-turbo tournaments, becoming the first player in history to do so. What’s more, he did it in just nine months!
• Colman was just 23 years old when he won the $1 Million Big One for One Drop in 2014.
• Prior to winning the Big One for One Drop, Colman had just $159,010 in career WSOP earnings.
• In 2017, Colman won a Triton Poker title by taking down the 6-Max event in Manila for $473,408.
• Colman is a World Poker Tour (WPT) champ having won the 2014 WPT Alpha8 London for $959,622.