12 Facts About Ivo Donev

Ivo Donev was born on 25 December 1959 and is a Bulgarian, with Austrian passport, who is a professional chess and poker player.

Ivo Donev's father, Hristo Donev was a national master at chess.

Ivo Donev won the 1989 CSSR International Chess Tournament, progressing him to International Master status.

When he and his family emigrated to Austria in 1990, Donev taught for a chess school at $10 per hour to support his study of computer science.

Ivo Donev is the author of the chess book "The most important ideas in the end game" in German language.

Ivo Donev studied the poker books of David Sklansky, Mason Malmuth, and Tom McEvoy and practiced using poker computer software.

Ivo Donev won a bracelet in the $1,500 Limit Omaha event at the 2000 World Series of Poker, where he took home $85,800 for his first-place finish.

In 2002, Ivo Donev made his one and only appearance on Late Night Poker.

Ivo Donev finished 5th out of an impressive field including Peter Costa, Dave Welch and Ram Vaswani.

In 2003, Ivo Donev finished as a semi-finalist in the World Heads-Up Poker Championship.

Ivo Donev was a professional chess player before starting his poker career.

Ivo Donev has two children, and lives in Lochau bei Bregenz, Austria.