Known as “get crunk” on PokerStars and “DAT MOOSE” on Full Tilt Poker, Brett Richey is a poker player and member of hip-hop band Dream/Clone.
Originally hailing from Pittsburgh, Richey attended Amherst College in Boston where he met fellow aspiring musician Dave Stasiak, whose background was classical and jazz. Richey found that his rap fit with Stasiak’s increasingly hip-hop leaning style and, before long, was applying his lyrics to Stasiak’s beats; thus Dream/Clone was born. In 2004, the duo released their first album, Future Holds Nothing. After taking on a third member in 2009, Ghanaian rapper Nkozi, the band released their second EP entitled Transymphonic.
While music is his first love, Richey knew he needed a way to support his habit, which is where poker comes in. “I care much more about the music,” Richey has said, “Poker is a job.”
To that end, he began playing online and traveling the tournament circuit part-time in order to help fund Dream/Clone. In 2005, he finished third in a $2000 buy-in event at the New England Poker Classic. A year later, after winning his seat online, he cashed in the 2006 PartyPoker.com Million V Cruise for $19K. That same year he attended his first World Series of Poker, where he cashed in two events; $3000 Omaha Hi/Lo for $3.8K and the $10K Main Event for $16K. In 2008, he made his first WSOP final table, finishing eighth in a $3000 No Limit Hold’em tournament for $42K.
Richey’s biggest cash of his career thus far came in the 2009 WSOP, where he finished second in $5K Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo for $152K. More recently, he’s had a good start to 2010, taking sixth in the North American Poker Tour $25K Invitational High Roller Bounty Shootout for $90K and 26th in the L.A. Poker Classic Main Event for $46K. All told, Richey has $600K in live tournament earnings.