When describing Josh Arieh, words such as "brash," "aggressive," "extremely self-confident" and "controversial" are not infrequent. Certainly, some of this comes from his general table demeanor, but it may also come from his debut on the televised main event of the 2004 World Series of Poker, when his banter and attitude ruffled more than a few feathers.
Born in 1975 in Rochester, New York, Arieh and his family relocated to Atlanta, Georgia in 1984. His hyper-competitiveness began at early age, including being a high school baseball star and, later, a pool shark. He says he started playing poker when he and friends would regularly rent a hotel room to play cards, after the pool room had closed for the evening. They would "basically play until one person had all the money," he remembers. "Very frequently, that person would be me." His poker career became earnest when he began playing tournaments in Biloxi, Mississippi. Arieh, then under-aged, borrowed his brother's ID to play. His early successes led him to enter the 1999 World Series of Poker (WSOP), when his confidence was rewarded with a first-place win in Limit-Hold'em. In the 2000 WSOP, he nabbed second place in the Poker Pot-Limit Omaha event, and he took a 3rd place in the aforesaid 2004 WSOP. In 2005, he took his second bracelet in the Pot-Limit Omaha event. In addition to these games, he has also specialized as a high-limit player in No-Limit Hold'em, Omaha 8-or-better (Omaha Hi-Lo) and 7-Card Stud. His high level of confidence is also confirmed by the dollar bills he has acquired from poker. In the 2004 Top Money List, he is #5, an achievement made more remarkable by his age of 29. And he has ninth place in the Top-10 All-time WSOP Millionaires, as of 2005, with total winnings of $3,188,590.
