After an inauspicious adolescence, Paul The Truth Darden, Jr. has come a long way. Born October 27, 1968 in New Haven, Connecticut and raised in a ghetto, in his teen years he hung out with thieves and drug dealers. In fact, at the tender age of 15, Darden was accused of murder but was lucky enough to be acquitted due to mistaken identity.
As a high school dropout, there were not many career options open to him and he says that the game of Poker helped him turn his life around. Darden states that one of his goals is to bring poker to the African American community and commented in one of his interviews There is going to be salt and pepper all over the casinos when they see me win a big event.
Paul Darden began playing and winning at the local Foxwoods Casino as well as in the Stud Games at Atlantic City where they were very popular. He tells us that his father had a small poker club many years ago and taught Paul to play.
A positive event in his life was meeting up with Phil Ivey who became his friend and mentor. Although Pauls favorite games were Five Card and Seven Card Stud, Phil encouraged him to branch out into other games, especially Texas Holdem No...