Justin Arnwine: The Best Poker Player in the Shadows

Underground record

American players hold several records in the poker industry. For example, Bryan Kenney holds the most tournament money ($75M* to date), and John Cernuto holds the most ITMs (597).
However, little is known about the holder of another equally interesting record.

Justin Arnwine has won 152* live tournaments since 2009.

*Figures as of the end of March 2025

Interestingly, the American only started actively playing MTTs in 2019, meaning that he surpassed all his competitors in just six years.

Justin has 481 ITMs (total winnings of $1,107,011), so if he continues playing, he will surpass John Cernuto in a few years. Interestingly, Arnwine's biggest cashes weren't victories.

Justin Arnwine's Three Biggest Cashes:

Shining at Mid-Stakes

*The $500 Potomac Winter Poker Open was one of the few tournaments Justin won with his first buy-in.

Arnwine was born in the small town of Upper Marlboro, Maryland. Although his mother (a renowned civil rights attorney) initially opposed the game, Justin began playing Yu-Gi-Oh professionally in 2003. A few years later, he saw Carlos Mortensen win a WPT tournament on the Travel Channel for nearly $4 million, at which point he decided he was wasting his time and switched to poker.

Arnwine played cash games for several years, spending up to 50 hours at the tables and several sleepless nights. After a two-week losing streak at the tables, he recovered on the weekend by winning tournaments.

The definitive transition to MTT came with the pandemic. Despite the downswings, Justin is proud to play with his own money without resorting to investors. Likewise, the player often reenters until the time limit expires.

In 2019, due to another incident, Justin developed an unusual playing style, involving the Hello Kitty brand. During a long, losing session, the player decided to change his clothes, but that night in Maryland, he only found a small store with three T-shirts with the Hello Kitty logo.

The player's unusual attire caught the attention of dealers and players, creating a more relaxed atmosphere at the tables, so Justin decided to continue including kittens in his attire. 

Interestingly, our protagonist met his future wife, Caitlyn, at a casino. She was there because she was homeless, and Maryland Live offered her hot coffee.

Over time, Caitlyn began playing poker and surpassed her husband's best cash: $172,044 in February 2023, for his second-place finish in the $2,200 Potomac Winter Poker Open Main Event.

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