Life of Jean-Robert Bellande (JRB): Wealth, Profits, Losses, and Personal Life

About Jean-Robert Bellande

Jean-Robert Bellande is a professional poker player from the United States. On September 17th, 1970, he was born. He has also appeared on CBS’s Survivor: China.

Jean-Robert Bellande

Bellande, also known as JRB or “Action Bob,” won a World Series of Poker gold bracelet in 2018. He has approximately $3 million in live tournament cashes. Given his years of professional poker experience, that figure could be much higher; however, he mostly plays live cash games.

Most poker fans remember him for his infamous 53-suited punt in a super high stakes Triton cash game.

Significant Dates of his Poker Career

In 2005, Bellande received national media attention for his performance in a televised $10,000 WSOP Circuit event in Las Vegas. His aggressive table talk draws the public’s attention.

He appeared on CBS’s reality show Survivor: China in 2007. Almost a decade later, he got second place at the $50,000 WSOP The Players Championship and took home $784,828 in prize money. It is the most money he has ever won in a single live tournament.

In 2018, he took home $616,302 after placing first in the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em 6-Handed event at the World Series of Poker.

Jean-Rober Bellande’s Poker Career History

Poker: His Calling

Bellande was born in the United States to Haitian immigrants. When he was five years old, his family relocated to Taiwan, where he grew up. After high school, he returned to the United States and earned a marketing degree from Azusa Pacific University. During his college years, he supplemented his income by playing pool and dabbling in poker.

Bellande worked as a club promoter in California after graduating from college.

One day in 1998, JRB was playing pool at Hard Times when he won $5,000 in the game. He took his winnings to the Bicycle Casino. He won $25,000 playing California blackjack before moving on to a $60/$120 mixed game poker table, where he lost $13,000.

However, he became addicted to the game. He was a massive loser at the high-stakes tables in his early years. He turned things around in his third year of regular poker play. He eventually earned enough money at the tables to quit his job and go pro.

He caught the attention of the national poker media during a $10,000 WSOP Circuit event in Las Vegas that was broadcast live on ESPN.

‘Action Bob’ Winnings in Live Poker Tournaments

Jean Robert Bellande has $2.977 million in live tournament earnings on his Hendon page. It is the accumulation of 60 different cashes over the course of 18 years. JRB isn’t the most prolific live tournament player because he prefers to play high-stakes live cash games.

His first live ITM finish was in May 2001. He won $6,450 in a $145 Omaha Hi-Lo tournament at the Mini Poker Series at the Bicycle Casino.

He won a number of $300-$2,000 buy-in events across the United States over the next four years. In March of 2005, he got his big break.

He finished third for $210,900 in the $10K WSOP Circuit Main Event in Las Vegas. The event was broadcast live on ESPN, and the final table included well-known poker players such as Jennifer Harman and Phil Ivey. Bellande drew a lot of attention from poker fans due to his lively table presence and aggressive table talk. That was also his first tournament score of six figures.

In the same month, he also triumphed at “the Bike” in a $2,500 competition, taking home a prize of $148,000. That summer, he began participating in WSOP events on a regular basis. Since then, the majority of his biggest paydays have come from the World Series.

He finished second in a $2K event at the WPT Five-Star World Poker Classic in the Bellagio in April 2005 for $123,385. He also finished third in the same event in December 2004 for $63,557. He finished second in the $5K PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Mixed Game event in January 2010 for $58,975.

Bellande in Word Series of Poker Events

Bellande has only won one WSOP gold bracelet. In 2018, he won $616,302 by defeating the field in the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em 6-Handed event.

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He finished second in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship mixed game event in 2015. Mike Gorodinsky won the title in a heads-up match. JRB had to settle for second place and $784,828 in prize money, his highest single live tournament score to date.

He finished second in the 2009 $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout event. He received $173,564 for his efforts. Bellande has earned a total of $2,100,574 from 25 WSOP tournament cashes.

There were four ITM finishes in the Main Event. They were released in 2008, 2010, 2011, and 2019. The highest was in 2011 when he finished in 65th place and received $108,412.

Live Streams of Cash Games

As previously stated, this is Bellande’s bread and butter in poker. He began immediately at the high-stakes tables as a successful club promoter and amateur pool player in Los Angeles.

In his very first two years as a player, he racked up losses amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, he recovered and went on to become a professional player.

Bellande is a frequent visitor to Bobby’s Room at the Bellagio, the world’s most famous super high stakes cash room. Bobby Baldwin, the legendary room’s namesake, is his close personal friend. He tweeted this intriguing image in August 2017.

Las Vegas Legends Bobby Baldwin and @HuckleberrySeed. Wsop champs and so fukn much more. Mad love… Family! pic.twitter.com/WkzJ4w3bms

— Jean-Robert Bellande (@BrokeLivingJRB) February 2, 2018

It features online poker legend Tom Dwan, Instagram sensation Dan Bilzerian, and the aforementioned Bobby Baldwin, all playing poker in Bobby’s Room.

JRB is also a regular in Triton Poker’s live-streamed super high stakes cash games. He also made an appearance on both episodes of Poker After Dark. Between the years 2007 and 2011, he made appearances on both the original version of PAD, which aired late at night on NBC and the revived version of PAD, which was broadcast on Poker Central.

On the new show in August 2018, he got into this memorable hand against Phil Hellmuth. Many members of the online poker community chastised both Bellande and Hellmuth’s actions in this pot.

Poker Online

On PokerStars, Bellande’s screen name is “Jaqueline.” He primarily participated in high-stakes 8-game cash games. However, the sample available online for that account shows that he lost more than $1.375 million after only 32,360 hands.

JRB Appearance in Survivor: China

He appeared on CBS’s reality show Survivor: China in 2007. The cast members of these shows are whisked away to an exotic location, where they compete in so-called “tribes” while completing challenging mental and physical challenges. Each week, members of the audience vote to eliminate a group member.

JRB finished ninth out of 16 competitors. Tyson Apostol, another well-known poker player, appeared on yet another season of Survivor in 2009.

The Unforgettable Punt with 53 in Triton Poker Game

In June of 2019, Bellande took part in a KRW 1,000,000/1,000,000/2,000,000 NLHE cash game that was organized by Triton Poker in Jeju, which is located in South Korea. One hand from that night will live in infamy.

In the small blind, he was dealt the 53 of hearts. He 3-bet to KRW32 million (approximately $27,000) after a UTG open. When the action returned to the original raiser, Yu Liang, the Chinese player, decided to 4-bet to KRW76 million with AK off-suit. Then something inexplicable happened.

Jean-Robert Bellande shoved immediately, only to be called just as quickly. He lost a KRW88 million ($750,000) pot by going all-in preflop with 53… The table talk came to a halt when the cards were revealed. To make matters worse, his staker, German pro – Andrew Robl, was also present.

JRB lost the rest of his stack the following hand when his pocket Aces were cracked by pocket 9s. Joe Ingram created a hilarious edit of Jean-Robert Bellande’s low point in his career.