{{Short description|American poker player (born 1945)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2023}} {{Infobox poker player | name = Steve Brecher | nickname = | image = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1945}} | birth_place = | wsop bracelet count = | wsop money finishes = 20 | wsop main event best finish rank = 31st | wsop main event best finish year = 2011 | wpt titles = 1 | wpt final tables = 3 | wpt money finishes = 17 }}
'''Steve Brecher''' (born 1945) is an American professional poker player.
==Poker career== In 1999, Brecher placed 8th in the World Series of Poker $2,500 No Limit Hold'em event for $15,000.<ref>{{Cite web |title=30th World Series of Poker - WSOP 1999, No Limit Hold'em |url=https://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/event.php?a=r&n=7853 |access-date=December 2, 2023 |website=The Hendon Mob Poker Database |language=en}}</ref> In 2004, he reached the final table of the World Poker Tour $25,000 No Limit Championship, finishing in 6th place and winning $232,000.<ref>{{Cite web |title=World Poker Tour - WPT Championship, WPT No Limit Hold'em Championship Final Day |url=https://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/event.php?a=r&n=9191 |access-date=December 2, 2023 |website=The Hendon Mob Poker Database |language=en}}</ref> In 2005, he finished 3rd in the $9,700 No Limit Hold'em event at the United States Poker Championship, pocketing $218,250.<ref>{{Cite web |title=2005 United States Poker Championship, Main Event - No Limit Hold'em |url=https://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/event.php?a=r&n=15921 |access-date=December 2, 2023 |website=The Hendon Mob Poker Database |language=en}}</ref>
In 2009, Brecher took his first major tournament title by winning the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament. He beat over 300 other players to win more than $1 million, defeating Kathy Liebert heads up after the longest final table in WPT history.<ref>{{Cite web |title=World Poker Tour - WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star, No Limit Hold'em |url=https://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/event.php?a=r&n=34254 |access-date=December 2, 2023 |website=The Hendon Mob Poker Database |language=en}}</ref> He finished 31st in the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event, winning $242,636.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ryan |first=Rich |date=July 21, 2011 |title=2011 World Series of Poker Main Event: Lights, Camera, Action |url=https://www.pokernews.com/news/2011/07/2011-world-series-of-poker-main-event-lights-camera-action-10725.htm |access-date=November 29, 2023 |website=PokerNews |language=en}}</ref> In the Season 11 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship Event, Brecher finished in the 5th place and won $206,821.<ref>{{Cite web |title=World Poker Tour - WPT Borgata Poker Open, No Limit Hold'em - Championship Event (Re-Entry) |url=https://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/event.php?a=r&n=71175 |access-date=December 2, 2023 |website=The Hendon Mob Poker Database |language=en}}</ref>
As of 2023, his live tournament winnings exceeded $3 million.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Steve Brecher's profile on The Hendon Mob |url=https://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=8351 |access-date=November 27, 2023 |website=The Hendon Mob Poker Database |language=en}}</ref>
==Computer programming career== Before turning his hand to professional poker, Brecher was a computer programmer and writer who was instrumental in creating some of the earliest popular programs (and their product categories) for the Macintosh platform. He wrote ''Suitcase'',<ref>{{Cite web |last=Neuburg |first=Matt |date=April 22, 2002 |title=TidBITS: A Quick Trip with Suitcase 10 |url=http://db.tidbits.com/article/6797 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608032020/http://db.tidbits.com/article/6797 |archive-date=June 8, 2011 |access-date=November 13, 2012 |website=Tidbits.com}}</ref> the font management program for the Mac, which was originally self-published under the brand Software Supply, later distributed by Fifth Generation Systems, and eventually acquired by Extensis, which still publishes a (greatly improved and rewritten) version of the program more than 20 years after Brecher's original release. He also, together with Billy Steinberg, wrote ''Pyro'', the original Mac screen saver application. In addition to application software, Brecher was a contributor to the FreePPP project, which brought Macintosh computers onto the Internet, and developed low-level driver software for some of the earliest Macintosh hard disk drives.{{citation needed|date=November 2012}}
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Brecher was regarded in technology circles as a "programmer's programmer",{{citation needed|date=November 2012}} and was a Contributing Editor of MacTech magazine, for which he wrote the ''Ask Professor Mac'' column, and answered technical questions from readers.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Snively |first=Paul F. |title=The journal of Apple technology. |url=http://preserve.mactech.com/articles/mactech/Vol.02/02.02/Feb86Letters/index.html |access-date=November 29, 2023 |website=MacTech}}</ref> His later interest in professional gambling was foreshadowed by his 1980 book, ''Beating the Races with a Computer''.<ref>{{cite book |first=Steven L. |last=Brecher |title=Beating the Races With a Computer |publisher=Software Supply |year=1980 |isbn=0-9603792-0-7}}</ref>
==Miscellaneous== Brecher holds an FAA Airline Transport Pilot certificate, and during 2009–2012 flew himself to poker tournaments around the country from his plane's bases in Reno, Nevada and Carson City, Nevada.{{cn|date=December 2023}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://www.cardplayer.com/poker-players/2622-steve-brecher/bio Card Player profile] *[https://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=8351 Hendon Mob profile] *[https://www.worldpokertour.com/player/steve-brecher/ WPT profile] *[https://www.wsop.com/players/profile/?playerid=308 WSOP profile]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Brecher, Steve}} Category:1945 births Category:Living people Category:American poker players Category:World Poker Tour winners Category:American computer programmers Category:American magazine editors Category:Mass media people from Las Vegas Category:Sportspeople from Las Vegas