Last week, the poker world received the sad news that Bob Ciaffone, an accomplished poker author and longtime Card Player Magazine columnist, passed away at the age of 81.
Born in Brooklyn, New York on December 10, 1940, Ciaffone learned to play poker decades earlier at the age of nine after being taught by his mother. A year later, their family relocated to Sagniaw, Michigan, and by the time he was 15 he was excelling at several different kinds of games.
He would attend the University of Notre Dame but despite being the highest-ranked student on entrance exams, he eventually dropped out after spending too much time playing pool.