Henry Orenstein

Henry Orenstein
Hometown	Verona, New Jersey, United States
World Series of Poker
Bracelet(s)	1
Money finish(es)	3
Highest ITM Main Event finish	8th, 1995

For Canadian artist, see Henry Orenstein.

Henry Orenstein (born as Henryk Orenstein circa 1925, Hrubieszów, Poland) is a poker player and entrepreneur who resides in Verona, New Jersey, United States.

He won the $5,000 Seven-card stud tournament at the 1996 World Series of Poker (WSOP), earning $130,000 by beating fourth-place T. J. Cloutier, third-place Cyndy Violette, and runner-up Humberto Brenes. He twice had finished in the money in the $10,000 WSOP no limit Texas hold 'em main event: 12th in 1993 and 8th in 1995.

He came in 7th in the $2,500 Seven Card Stud event at the 2005 United States Poker Championship, and despite being the oldest competitor (at age 80), won his first round of NBC's National Heads-Up Poker Championship against one of the best cash-game players in the world, Chip Reese. Orenstein would lose in the second round to John Hennigan.

Orenstein is successful outside of his poker playing. A Holocaust survivor who spent much of the end of World War II in various concentration camps, Orenstein became a toymaker who convinced Hasbro to start producing Transformers. He holds over 100 other patents, and aside from Transformers, the best-known of these inventions is U.S. Patent 5,451,054 which gave Orenstein the exclusive right in the United States to detect and display hole cards in poker games. The ability to show a player's hidden cards to an audience is one of the principal reasons that poker is so popular today.

Orenstein is the creator and an executive producer of the Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament on FSN. He also produces the popular TV Show High Stakes Poker, which can be seen in the United States on GSN.

As of 2009, Orensein's live poker tournament winnings exceed $200,000. He is a 2008 inductee into the Poker Hall of Fame. Orenstein was also inducted to the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame.

Orenstein is a noted philanthropist, giving money to many causes. Circa 1984 the US government built an eleven story building for low income families, it is named the Lejb and Golda Orenstein Building in honor of Orensteins parents.(see photo Orenstein and Mayor Ed Koch in "I Shall Live")Henry Orenstein paid for air conditioners in all apartments and security. There is also a Lejb and Golda Orenstein Building in Kiryat Ono,Israel.which consists of housing units and recreational facilities.Orenstein contributed most of money towards this project. Orenstein has his own chapter at Metropolian Council for the Jewish Poor in New York. CEO William Rapfogel. Over the past thirty three years Orensteinn has helped thousands of poor New Yorkers to pay their rent, assist with their dental bills,hearing aid bills, surgical supplies etc.

Books

Orenstein wrote I Shall Live: Surviving Against All Odds 1939-1945, a memoir of his experiences during the Holocaust in Europe and his survival in five concentration camps.

Orenstein also wrote Abram which is the life story of Abram Silberstein who emigrated to then Palestine in 1934. He enlisted in the British army in 1939 and rose from the rank of private to rank of Major. He was great help to Ben Gurion . Abram was chosen to be the best book written about World War II. Orenstein received a medal, honorary certificate and 2500 Israeli Shekels.