What is the story behind the nickname and the toy sharks?
Humberto Brenes: When I first went to Vegas in 1987, I went straight to the Horseshoe Casino to play poker and everyone would say, “Humberto, why do you go there, that’s where all the sharks play?” “But I want to play the sharks,” I’d respond. I wasn’t playing for the money, I was playing for the challenge, so I was happy to take on the likes of Johnny Chan, Doyle Brunson and TJ Cloutier. Of course, these games were not quite the same as the ones I played in Costa Rica, and I quickly began to lose money. So, in 1988, I read the books, studied the game and came back a better player. It was then that I came 4th in the World Series of Poker Main Event behind Johnny Chan and Erik Seidel with TJ in 5th. I’d been playing for a good time and proved that these guys didn’t scare me. In 2006, I played as a sponsored pro for the first time and on the opening day of the World Series, I was given this plastic shark and, remembering what people used to say about the sharks at the Horseshoe, I decide
