Hailing from Glenwood, Alabama, Hoyt Corkins started playing poker at age 19 after learning from his father.
Hoyt started his professional career in the late 1980s, but didn’t strike gold until the 1992 World Series of Poker, where he won the $5K Pot Limit Omaha event for $96K. Following the victory, he took an 11 year leave from the game to tend to his family in the wake of his divorce.
When he returned in 2003, Hoyt quickly let the poker world know that he was still a great player by taking down the World Poker Tour $10K World Poker Finals for $1 million. A year later, he finished second to Gus Hansen at the WPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure for $290K. In November 2005, he finished second to Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow in the World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions freeroll for $325K.
2006 saw Corkins make yet another WPT final table, this time a third in the Legends of Poker for $381K. He then won his second WSOP bracelet in 2007, shipping the $2500 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max event for $515K. In 2008, he made two more WPT final tables, taking second in the $10K Gold Strike World Poker Open for $458K and sixth in the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $216K.
More recently, he added a second WPT title to his mantle by winning the Southern Poker Championship for $713K. All told, Corkins has a staggering $5 million in live poker earnings.
With his black hat and shirt, blue jeans, and cowboy boots, Hoyt Corkins is affectionately known as the ‘Alabama Cowboy’. His loose-aggressive style has also earned him other monikers, including ‘Mr. Move All-In’ and ‘Nightmare’. Described as easy-going and humble, he is one of the most respected players in the game. Currently, Hoyt lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, but also spends time back in Alabama where he tends cattle at his ranch.
