The Enviable Life of Bill Perkins
Putting an exact number on the net worth of Bill Perkins might be an impossible task. It’s safe to say, however, that the 50-year-old businessman, film producer and poker player is comfortably bankrolled to play poker at the highest of stakes around the world.
Perkins made his fortune as a hedge fund manager, but in the past decade he’s also put together a poker resume that includes more than $5,000,000 in live tournament earnings. He recently scored the biggest cash of his poker career at the Triton Million.
Let’s take a look at the business background, lifestyle and poker success of Bill Perkins.
Featured photo: Poker Central
Background and Business Ventures
William O. Perkins III was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1969.
Perkins’ success in hedge fund management has provided him with enormous wealth. His educational background includes a degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Iowa.
His knowledge of energy markets has led Perkins to some of his most successful business ventures. Perkins started his trading career in the oil industry, working for successful oil trader John D. Arnold.
He eventually moved on to start his own hedge fund, Small Ventures USA, in 1997. Throughout his career, Perkins has specialized in energy market and venture capital financial management.
He went on to take the reigns as the director of a number of different energy hedge funds across the United States throughout the 2000s. By the end of the decade, Perkins amassed a fortune through his trading acumen.
Those exploits include a vested interest and influence in the Wall Street stock markets. In 2008, Perkins netted $1,250,000 in trading of Goldman Sachs stock.
Perkins currently manages Skylar Capital, an energy hedge fund based in Houston, Texas.
Lifestyle
Taking a look at Perkins’ social media profiles reveals the life of a man who’s just about done it all. The jet-setting, world-traveling Perkins truly lives the dream life of a high roller.
In the video below, Perkins takes a British report under his wing for a humorous look at one day of living the Bill Perkins lifestyle.
The Bill Perkins lifestyle includes a close friendship with Dan Bilzerian, perhaps one of the only other human beings on earth with a billionaire life of extravagance to match Perkins.
Perkins and Bilzerian often appear together in each other’s social media exploits, and both share a love of high stakes poker and prop bets.
One of the most infamous prop bets between the two happened in 2016. Perkins bet Bilzerian $600,000 that he couldn’t ride a bicycle from Las Vegas to Los Angeles in a 24-hour period. Despite some controversy along the way, Bilzerian completed the 300-mile ride across the desert and collected from Perkins.
Bill Perkins’ Poker Results
Perkins recorded his first tournament score in 2012 at the $25,000 High Roller at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. In the past seven years he’s appeared occasionally in some of the highest stakes tournaments in the world.
He recently scored the biggest cash of his career at the Triton Million – A Helping Hand for Charity event in London. That tournament boasted the highest buy in ever for a poker tournament, with an entry fee of £1,000,000.
Perkins ended Day 1 of the massive buy-in event as the chip leader, eventually finishing sixth among a loaded field (including Bryn Kenney, Fedor Holz, Dan “Jungleman” Cates, Nick Petrangelo and Justin Bonomo, just to name a few) for a cash prize of £2,200,000 ($2,678,286 USD).
Not gonna lie, it felt GOOD to have my picture on the wall!! 📸 @JeffGrossPoker
Thanks @tritonpoker pic.twitter.com/aABCD5G7cv— Bill Perkins (Guy) (@bp22) August 6, 2019
He previous best cash came at the 2013 World Series of Poker $111,111 One Drop High Roller, which saw Perkins take home $1,965,163.
Perkins is also known in online poker circles under the screen name gastrader. Whether it’s super high roller tournament final tables, the WSOP, or high stakes private poker games that most of us can only dream about, Perkins adventures as a amateur poker player and lifestyle as a billionaire high roller continue to entertain.
Check out this article about Perkins’ good friend Dan Bilzerian.
Follow along with the charmed life of Bill Perkins on his Instagram @billperkins.
