If you’re asked to come up with nations that have a hotbed of poker talent, Zimbabwe is unlikely to be near the top of your list. However, this landlocked nation of southern Africa has been the proving ground for several big winners at high-profile poker events.

Within this article, we’ll shine a spotlight on the poker players which feature most prominently in Zimbabwe’s all-time poker money list.

What the success of these players goes to show is that there’s no geographical reason why African players can’t succeed at the poker tables. It’s increasingly accessible to learn how to play poker online, with the leading online poker rooms going out of their way to explain the rules and nuances of the most popular poker formats like Texas Hold’em and Omaha. They don’t just discuss the basic rules either, they create repositories where beginner and intermediate poker players can visit to learn more on poker strategy and refine their game.

Uriel Remy Levy

Uriel Remy Levy is in a league of his own at the top of Zimbabwe’s all-time money list for poker winnings. He’s the only Zimbabwean poker player to have generated six-figure winnings from live poker events. His live poker record started out in September 2013, when Levy entered the Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) Panama Main Event. He cashed in the $1,500-entry tournament to almost double his money.

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Two years later, Levy landed one of his biggest live poker wins at the Royal Swazi Rumble Millionaire Edition Main Event in Eswatini, which is better known for its love of football than cards. In fact, there is a huge passion for football in Zimbabwe too, where plans are afoot to improve football facilities in Mabvuku and other areas of the country.

As for Levy, a third-place finish at the Ace High Poker tournament saw him take him just over $22,400 in winnings. He then went on to win two Six Max events in Johannesburg’s WPT Emperors Palace Poker Classic in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

Levy’s biggest poker win to date was his $29,800+ payout for finishing third in a High Roller Supa Stack event at the WPTDS Johannesburg event in 2017. Levy made the foray into the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in 2018 and cashed four times, followed by two further cashes at the 2019 WSOP. In total, Levy has raked in over $221,000 in live poker winnings during his career to date. Although, his last tournament was in September 2019 which suggests he’s no longer active on the poker scene.

Stuart Dunlop

Zimbabwean, Stuart Dunlop, is second on the all-time poker list, generating over $36,000 in live poker winnings. These figures have been achieved much more recently than his compatriot, Levy, having played his first recorded live poker event in September 2023 at Round Rock. Dunlop now resides in Austin, which is the state capital of Texas in the U.S., and all his poker appearances are based in America.

His biggest win to date came in a $250-entry event “The Art of Poker” at The Lodge Card Club in Round Rock, Texas. Dunlop binked a final table, eventually finishing runner-up to take home $11,707 – almost a 50x return on his initial entry fee.

Dunlop’s live poker appearances have been almost exclusively at The Lodge Card Club, although there’ve been a couple of attempts in “The Even Bigger One” in Dallas, where he narrowly missed out on the final table, taking home $3,600.

Weston Karnes

Zillah-based Zimbabwean poker player Weston Karnes is still third in Zimbabwe’s all-time money list, despite not playing in a live poker event since 2010. In fact, Karnes ventured to Pendleton in the U.S. state of Oregon to take part in all four of the tournaments he cashed in.

Karnes entered into two events as part of the Spring Poker Round-Up, finishing 15th on both occasions, taking home a total of $843. However, he also played in two events during the Fall Poker Round-Up the same year, winning one and nearly final tabling another. His first place win saw him take home $28,166 from a $300 entry.

Kim Parshotam

Zimbabwean, Kim Parshotam, is fourth in the country’s all-time money list. There is very little known about Parshotam, except that they played in live poker events in Tweed Heads West and Bundall. Parshotam somehow managed to win their first event at the WPTL Tweed Coast Quarterly Poker Championship, taking home $20,335 from a $100 entry. In February 2021, they also finished third in a WPTL Gold Coast Quarterly Poker Championship in Bundall, winning just $682.

Clearly, we’re not talking huge figures here, but Uriel Remy Levy is an established face on the poker scene and there’s no barrier for any other Zimbabweans to follow in his footsteps in the coming years.