Steve Paul-Ambrose, a poker player from Ontario, Canada, was born in 1983. He went to the University of Waterloo in Ontario, where he earned degrees in business and science in 2007. Steve Paul-Ambrose did not play poker before he entered college and never thought about giving it a shot, even though he grew up hearing his uncle and brother talk about the game. But with a campus teeming with people playing Texas Hold’em, he started to get acquainted with the game. When Steve Paul-Ambrose and his college roommates saw Chris Moneymaker, Team PokerStars Pro member, win the World Series Main Event in 2003, he was so inspired that he began practicing earnestly. Soon after, he was frequenting PokerStars and spent the next few years playing online to perfect his game.
During a PokerStars satellite tournament, Steve Paul-Ambrose won a place at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure – World Poker Tour Event Season 4. He played a $22 turbo satellite qualifier and was awarded an entry fee of $8,000. This event also earned him a seat in the $650 PCA satellite, which he went on to win.
In 2006, Steve Paul-Ambrose traveled to the Bahamas from the University of Waterloo to participate in a tournament. He started the tournament along with 723 entrants, out of whom some were poker professionals and the remaining were PokerStars online poker qualifiers, just like him. During the first hand of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Steve Paul-Ambrose looked down to find that he was dealt pocket queens. The rest of the game went just as well, and he managed to play all the way to the final table. He went heads-up against Brook Lyter, another PokerStars satellite qualifier. At this stage, the blinds were $40,000/$80,000/$10,000. The flop revealed a J 9 2 with two spades on the board, so Brook Lyter bet $300,000. Steve Paul-Ambrose raised by $1.2 million for a total bet of $1.5 million. Brook Lyter seized the opportunity and declared all-in, only to find his opponent calling his hand. He showed K J and Steve Paul-Ambrose in return showed Q T, which resulted in an open-ended straight draw and a backdoor flush draw. The turn was a queen and the river was a king, which gave Brook two pair, but his opponent made a straight. With this victory, Steve Paul-Ambrose walked away with a whopping $1,363,100 and a $25,000 World Poker Tour Championship seat.
He met with a lot of success in 2007 as well, appearing in final tables and cashing in several events. On June 1st at the 38th Annual World Series of Poker, he went on to finish fourth in the No-Limit Hold’em World Championship Mixed Hold’em event and took home $146,259. Steve Paul-Ambrose then managed to pocket $53,430 on July 24th of the same year by finishing in third place in the No-Limit Hold’em event at the Bellagio Cup lll. He was also victorious at the Canadian Open Poker Championship No-Limit Hold’em Shorthanded event, in which he finished in first place on March 7, 2008.
Steve Paul-Ambrose is now a member of Team PokerStars Pro and plays online using the screen name Stevejpa. He likes playing golf, reading books, cooking, and spending time with his fiancée, when he is not busy playing poker.
Steve Paul-Ambrose- Winnings
- Event: 2008, Canadian Open Poker ChampionshipNo-Limit Hold'em Shorthanded / Finished: 1st / Earned: $27,062
- Event: 2008, Canadian Open Poker Championship Charity – No-Limit Hold'em / Finished: 8th / Earned: $1,312
- Event: 2007, Bellagio Cup III Event #24 – No-Limit Hold'em / Finished: 3rd / Earned: $53,430
- Event: 2007, 38th Annual World Series of Poker Event #1 - WSOP No-Limit Hold'em World Championship Mixed Hold'em / Finished: 4th / Earned: $146,259
- Event: 2006, Five-Star World Poker Classic - WPT Championship Season 4 WPT No-Limit Hold'em Championship / Finished: 63rd / Earned: $43,935
- Event: 2006, Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure - WPT Event Season 4wPT No-Limit Hold'em / Finished: 1st / Earned: $1,363,100
