John Tabatabai

John Tabatabai is a British poker player based in London. Before embarking on a professional poker playing career, John was a keen chess player. He represented Wales in numerous international competitions as a junior.

John was runner-up to Norwegian poker player Annette Obrestad in the first WSOPE Main Event in 2007.

In the final hand Annette Obrestad had a slight chip lead with 3,851,000 over Tabatabai with 3,381,000. In the small blind he flat, called Obrestad's big blind, Obrestad raised the pot from 68,000 to 138,000. Tabatabai again flat called the pre-flop raise which brought the pot to 208,000. The flop was 7♣ 6♣ 5♥ and Obrestad lead out with a 250,000 bet, bringing the pot to 458,000. Tabatabai re-raised an additional 750,000. Obrestad then went all-in, which was called by Tabatabai who had flopped two pair with 5♠ 6♦, however Obrestad had flopped top set with 7♥ 7♠. Tabatabai was in need of two running cards (fives or sixes) to win the hand or two running cards for a straight; the turn brought the 2♣, securing Obrestad the win. The irrelevant river card was the Q♥. Tabatabai earned £570,150 for his second place finish.

In March 2008 John won the 12th All Africa Poker Tournament collecting the one million Rand ($127,584) pot. In January 2009, John won the $5,000au heads up event in Australia for $120,000au. As of July 2009 his live tournament earnings exceed $1,360,000. His lone cash at the WSOP accounts for $1,117,494 of those winnings.