Todd Witteles

For the musician Dan Druff, see Dan Druff (musician).

Todd Witteles
Todd Witteles in the 2008 World Series of Poker
Nickname(s)	Dan Druff
Residence	Las Vegas, Nevada
World Series of Poker
Bracelet(s)	1
Money finish(es)	14
Highest ITM Main Event finish	88, 2010

Todd Witteles is an American professional poker player. A former computer scientist, Witteles made poker his full-time pursuit in 2003.

Poker career

Witteles entered his first tournament at the 2005 World Series of Poker, where he played the $1500 Limit Texas hold 'em event. He finished in third place out of a field of 1,049 entrants. He took home nearly $116,000 after getting knocked out of the tournament by 21-year-old Eric Froehlich. As a gimmick, Witteles used a small Head & Shoulders bottle to protect his cards while playing, in reference to his online moniker "Dan Druff."

During the same World Series of Poker, Witteles played the $3,000 Limit Hold 'em event finishing first, earning a World Series of Poker gold bracelet and $347,385. Witteles set a World Series of Poker record, as no other player in history has finished better in their first two events. He was also named CardPlayer Magazine's 2005 World Series of Poker Player of the Year.

In subsequent years, Witteles cashed twelve other times at the WSOP, including finishes in 4th, 10th twice, and 12th. He finished 88th out of 7,319 entrants at the 2010 WSOP Main Event, good for nearly $80,000.

With nearly $495,000 in cashes at WSOP Limit Hold 'Em events, Witteles ranks 13th all time on the WSOP Limit Hold 'Em money list, and is less than $36,000 away from cracking the top 10.

Witteles was a victim of the Absolute Poker/Ultimatebet "Superuser" cheating scandal. He and several other online players took part in uncovering and proving the cheating. This attracted enough media attention to where it became the subject of a story on the TV news program "60 Minutes", where Witteles was featured. The episode aired on November 30, 2008. Witteles appeared on the front page of The Washington Post about the same matter. On December 16, 2009, he appeared on CNBC to discuss the cheating. In the CNBC special, Witteles claimed that legalization and regulation of online poker was necessary in order to prevent future cheating scandals.

In March 2008, Witteles was selected among eight other top online poker players to participate in ESPN's "Online Poker Think Tank." In 2009, he was a guest broadcaster on ESPN360 for the final table of a World Series of Poker event. He co-hosted two poker-related podcasts, The Cold Call Show and The Dan Druff +EV Show, from 2008-2011.

Witteles currently operates a website called PokerFraudAlert.com, where he analyzes scams and scandals within the online poker community. He currently co-hosts an internet radio show, The Druff & Drexel Show, which broadcasts from his site.

As of 2012, his total live tournament winnings exceed $800,000. His 14 cashes at the WSOP account for $663,116 of those winnings.

Personal life

Witteles has a son, Benjamin, born in October 2010. During his radio show, he identified the child's mother as a college friend that he reunited with on Facebook, after being out of contact for 16 years, and are currently engaged.

Witteles is Jewish, and grew up primarily in the Los Angeles area.