John Cernuto: An Air-Traffic-Controller-Turned-Poker-Player
Who would have thought that an air traffic controller could become a poker professional? Of course, anyone has the right to become a professional poker player, whether that person is a lawyer, a doctor, a teacher, an engineer, or whatever. In the case of John Cernuto, he was an air traffic controller by profession before shifting to becoming a professional poker player. And such shift of careers seems to be a right decision for him because he has turned out to be one of the best players of poker.
Born in Jersey City, New Jersey on January 10, 1944, John Cernuto was a graduate of finance at the Florida State University. After graduation, he did not use his degree to earn a living though. Instead, he got a job as an air traffic controller. In 1981, he and other air traffic controllers went on a strike, which led to their termination by former United States President Ronald Reagan. It may seem like an unfortunate event for John Cernuto, but it actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise. It was during this time when he decided to turn to professional poker.
In 1989, John Cernuto became a professional poker player. He was first seen participating in the US$5,000 Seven-Card Stud event of the World Series of Poker. It was such an exhilarating experience for John Cernuto because aside from winning fourth place, he also had the chance to play against such professional poker players as Gabe Kaplan, Humberto Brenes, and David Sklansky.
This professional poker player continued to play in events of the World Series of Poker until he earned his first bracelet in 1996. This was when he joined the US$1,500 Seven-Card Stud Split event that made him take home a sum of US$147,000. In 1997, this professional poker player once again earned the respect of poker enthusiasts as he won in the US$2,000 No Limit Hold'em event, earning him his second World Series of Poker bracelet and winning a total amount of US$259,150. His third World Series of Poker bracelet was won in 2002 when he joined the US$1,500 Limit Omaha event. His winnings in this event totaled to US$73,320.
John Cernuto also joined other poker events such as the World Heads-Up Poker Championship and the world Poker Tour.
In the World Heads-Up Poker Championship in 2003, this professional poker player was fortunate to reach third place, defeating such poker giants as Padraig Parkinson, Scotty Nguyen, Dave Colclough, Ram Vaswani, and Ivo Donev.
It was in 2005 when he also had the chance to reach the final table of the PokerStars Caribbean Poker Adventure event conducted by the World Poker Tour.
Yes, John Cernuto is certainly successful in playing poker. But did you know that he is also a blackjack player? Now, that's another story.