(Image: Live at the Bike Casino channel)
Without a doubt Garrett Adelstein is a very interesting personality.
From being a Big Brother to needy children and mentoring them through their youth, to participating in CBS’ Survivor reality show, to destroying his opponents on the felt as a high stakes pro poker player… You can’t help but wonder about his life more.
- Where did he grow up?
- Where did he get his education?
- What did Garrett Adelstein do before poker?
And that’s exactly what we’re going to talk about today.
Where Did Garrett Adelstein Go to College?
Garrett Adelstein went to University of Arizona and graduated in May 2008 with Honours. Interestingly enough, he was a valedictorian in his high school in Tucson, and equally excelled in his post-secondary institution. G-Man graduated Summa Cum Laude from UArizona with a dual degree in Marketing and Entrepreneurship.
Let’s get started.
Did Adelstein Go to College?
Let’s face it:
Sometimes people have the misconception that just because someone is a pro poker player living his best flexible life, they usually never went/finished their post-secondary education.
(Daniel Negreanu is prime example of that. While he’s an icon in the poker industry, his younger self actually decided to drop out and fully commit himself to his poker journey.)
However, this is far from the truth. There are a LOT of brilliant minds in the poker community.
For instance, the British poker babe Liv Boeree got her diploma with flying colors in the astrophysics program at the University of Manchester, having a GPA of 4.0! She’s a big nerd when it comes to anything astrophysics.
Now…
While Garrett Adelstein didn’t go to science or mathematics programs, he DID excel in school, and he graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Arizona. He was born and raised in Tucson, Arizona, and that’s exactly the state where he got his education.
For those who aren’t sure, Summa Cum Laude is the academic way to say in Latin that the student finished the university/college and has a degree that was earned “with the highest distinction.”
“The criteria for the summa cum laude may include grade point average, class rank, hours and special projects (i.e., senior thesis) completed, and recommendations from an academic department. It’s a greater honor than magna cum laude or cum laude.”
Investopedia
It seems that G-Man is ambitious and always strives for excellence in every aspect of his life.
READ ALSO: How Does Garrett Make Money? (Sources of Income Revealed!)
The fact that he’s graduated with honours in Entrepreneurship as well as part of his dual degree, only confirmed that he likely has projects and business ventures that make up his investment portfolio/are one of his sources of wealth.
What Did Garrett Adelstein Do Before Poker?
Well, there was high school and university. But also there are rumours that before poker, G-Man was also a professional football athlete, and likely in his home university.
Either way it was in college that he learned No-Limit Hold’em and decided to to master the the game. In one of his Survivor show interviews, he mentioned that loved this card game so much that when his friends were out partying, he would play and study, study and play poker instead.
Now, Garrett is one of the best high rollers in the industry, particularly in high stakes live cash games. I mean check out this video below:
It’s just insane how good he was running, and how he was actually getting paid off!
READ ALSO: 12 Things You Didn’t Know About Garrett Adelstein (FAQs)
Final Thoughts
As you can see, Adelstein had a high academic standing. Being a valedictorian in his high school and graduating Summa Cum Laude in 2008 with a 4.0 GPA is no joke!
This also goes to show how G-Man is very ambitious and how this translates to the high stakes poker games that he regularly plays (some of them are livestreamed).
He’s a very intelligent, has become one of the wealthiest poker players with a high net worth, and is a great man all around. Rare these days!