Russ "Dutch" Boyd

Russ "Dutch" Boyd was born in 1980 in Warrensburg, Mo.

Dutch Boyd graduated from law school at age 18, but decided not to pursue a law career after experiencing law as an intern. Boyd was inspired by the movie Rounders and began playing online poker day and night through his last year of law school.

Boyd and his brother began an online casino specializing in poker (PokerSpot), which would ultimately fail and resulted in controversy. In January 2001 PokerSpot's credit card processor was late in transferring player funds to PokerSpot according to Boyd. PokerSpot therefore did not have all the funds that were being used at their site. This resulted in PokerSpot being short 6 weeks of credit card deposits, which they could not cover. Players were unable to cash out, and eventually the site shut down. PokerSpot did not refund $400,000 of the player's funds. Boyd suffered from a series of self-alleged mental problems after the failure of PokerSpot, which lead to his commitment for a short time in Antigua.

It's rumored that Boyd is attempting to establish another online poker room which charges players a monthly membership fee rather than rake in order to play.

Dutch Boyd's run at the 2003 World Series of Poker, where he finished 12th, garnered him substantial media attention.

Boyd later founded a group of young poker players called "The Crew", which also included Scott Fischman, Robert Boyd, David Smyth, Joe Bartholdi Jr, Tony Lazar, and Brett Jungblut. Jungblut and Bartholdi have officially left the group and "The Crew" hasn't really been an association since 2004. Although, Boyd announced on his blog, on June 6, 2006, that plans were in the works to bring "The Crew" back together for a reality show.

Dutch Boyd finished runner-up to T.J. Cloutier at the 2004 World Series of Poker (WSOP) in the $1,500 razz event. Boyd also finished 12th in 2003 WSOP $10,000 no limit hold'em main event and 177th in 2005 in the same event.

Boyd won his first bracelet at the 2006 WSOP in the $2,500 short-handed no limit hold 'em event when he deafeated Joe Hachem.

Fun Facts:

• Knew how to read at age 3.
• Graduated from law school at age 18.
• Began playing poker at age 18.
• Founding member of 'The Crew'