May 18 2012, Donnie Peters

Each year when PokerNews compiles it’s World Series of Poker Rookie Roundup list, Harrison Gimbel’s name comes up. Since he stormed onto the scene in early 2010, it’s always been a question of whether or not this kid would finally be of age to take to the WSOP felt. It’s now 2012 and it’s finally time that Gimbel gets the chance to make a run at a coveted gold bracelet to add to his trophy case.

Gimbel’s name first came to be known when he made the final table of the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. He entered the final table fourth in chips behind Ryan D’Angelo, Ty Reiman and Barry Shulman. When play got down to heads-up action, Gimbel was one of the two players remaining and pitted against Reiman for the title. After 46 hands of heads-up play, Gimbel’s defeated Reiman’s to give the 19 year old the title and the whopping first-place prize of $2.2 million.

Prior to his massive splash onto the poker scene, Gimbel was already a winner. In June 2009, he took down the Florida State Poker Championships for over $67,000. Since the 2010 PCA, Gimbel has been crushing the Florida poker scene where he was of legal age to play in live tournaments.

In April 2010, Gimbel took his talents overseas to Italy where he placed 39th in the European Poker Tour San Remo Main Event for “22,000. Several months later he won the Fall Poker Open Championship held in November at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino for $330,000, confirming he was no one-hit wonder.

From there, Gimbel went on to have earnings of $99,525 in 2011 and $72,811 already in 2012. Out of those two years, Gimbel’s largest score came in November 2011 when he took third in the Rock and Roll Poker Open in Hollywood, Florida, for just over $76,000. He also cashed in the PCA Main Event and the World Poker Tour Lucky Hearts Poker Open, both in 2012.

In total, Gimbel’s lifetime tournament earnings on the live felt total over $2.8 million and the youngster has the world at his fingertips when the 2012 WSOP rolls around.

Online, Gimbel used to play under the moniker “gibler321” on PokerStars and “this is punny” on Full Tilt Poker. Just from those two sites, Gimbel has won over $1.6 million in prize money. His largest online score came in December 2010 when he took second place in the Sunday Brawl for $88,107.31. He also has six other online scores over $40,000.

With his win at PCA, Gimbel became the youngest PCA Main Event champion, and though he may be young, Gimbel has put in the time playing millions of hands that will give him the experience he’ll need to thrive on the WSOP felt. The only question now is, how many final tables are we going to be covering him at?

PokerNews will be keeping a close eye on Gimbel in the coming months, so be sure to check our Live Reporting Page for the duration of the 2012 WSOP. Stay tuned for more rookies to look out for, as well.

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