No the Greek poker player is not John Paulson, but the story is still interesting.
Brevan Howard Asset Management, one of the largest hedge funds in the United Kingdom hired Alexios Zervos, a former professional poker player from Greece. Zervos will be working at the London office of the hedge fund, according to report from Giles Turner of the WSJ Money Beat.
The report indicated that Mr. Zervos admitted that he was a former professional player. He refused to provide further comments regarding the matter. A spokesman for Brevan Howard also declined to provide details regarding Mr. Zervos’ appointment.
Currently, Mr. Zervos ranked 18th in Greece All Time Money List. He is 3,234th in the Global Poker Index Ranking. During the 2014 World Series, Mr. Zervos ranked 55th and collected $124,447.
Three partners left Brevan Howard
Brevan Howard has approximately $27 billion of assets under management. Last April, the hedge fund disclosed the departure of its three partners, Mathew James, Fillippo Cipriani and Stephanie Nicolas.
Mr. James served as senior credit strategist at Brevan Howard. Mr. Nicolas served as manager of the firm’s commodities strategies fund, and Mr. Nichols was a senior trader, emerging markets local fixed income strategy at Brevan Howard.
In 2014, Brevan Howard recorded its first losing year since its inception in 2003. Its Master Fund posted a total loss of 0.8% last year.
Some hedge fund managers play poker
It is not surprising for hedge funds to hire poker players. Some hedge fund managers play poker such as David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital Management. Einhorn is a serious poker player at the World Series of Poker.
Last year, Einhorn played during the Big One for One Drop poker tournament, which was hosted by the World Series of Poker. He participates in large poker events for charity.
Other hedge fund managers who play poker include Steve Kuhn of Pine River Investments, John Rogers of Ariel Investments, Jim Chanos of Kynikos Associates, and Steven Cohen of SAC Capital.
Mr. Cohen previously told the Wall Street Journal that he learned to take risks from playing poker. He changed the name of SAC Capital to Point72 Asset Management. SAC Capital and its former portfolio managers became the center of insider trading charges over the past few years.
