Jay Heimowitz was born on December 26th, 1937. He maintained the status of an amateur poker player for many years and that allowed him to play mostly money games. He is currently an inhabitant of Bethel, New York, US and his desire to be a player was born in his early childhood. Jay began playing poker for baseball cards when he was only nine years old. He later joined the U.S. army and when leaving at the age of 21, Jay Heimowitz had won almost $10,000 from the countless games against his fellow servicemen. And since he had always wanted to have his own business, he invested the money he had earned into a beer and soda bottling company where he worked for 80 hours per week. However, Jay Heimowitz decided to sell the company to Budweiser two years later.
Jay Heimowitz is best known for his wonderful behavior that has always helped him to present himself in the best way possible. Despite his amateur status, Jay Heimowitz has managed to participate in all the World Series of Poker events since 1975. He has six bracelets behind his back and has earned over $ 1, 5 million from tournament prizes.
The player has always known that the main purpose of his life is business and his lovely wife and four children. But with years poker became an extremely important part of his daily routine, so Heimowitz started playing like a true professional - defeating other players and making his name worth something in the poker world.
Jay’s first appearance at WSOP tournament in1975 was also the first time he hit a big score. He also participated in the $1,000 buy-in “ Non-professional” No–Limit Hold’em tournament and the $10,000 No-limit Main Event in 1977 This way Jay Heimowitz became one of the most successful players in the poker world with the most participations in poker tournaments and total finishes. Also Jay Heimowitz is one of the few poker players who could praise themselves with such an impressive number of bracelets.
Jay has been married to his wife Carole for over forty years. They have four sons together and eight grandchildren. Two of his sons also took up with poker and that turned into a family trait. Outside of poker Heimowitz likes going fishing, listening to music, watching films and going out for long walks. That’s the way he keeps his mind clear and his physical shape – excellent. It’s no surprise that Mike Sexton of Card Player Magazine considers Jay Heimowitz as one of the best poker players in the whole world together with Lyle Berman. He reckons that Jay Heimowitz “exhibits greatness of spirit”.
It is not by chance that Jay’s motto is “Take pride in your work – whatever it is”. And that’s exactly what he does. Being a loving husband, caring father and a model grandfather, was never affected by Heimowitz’ business career or his devotion to poker. He has proven that a person can really succeed in anything he wants, as long as they have the will.
So are we going to see more from Jay Hewitz? Probably! A spirit like his could never betray the cards, just like the cards never betrayed him.
