eMoviePoster.com

     It is true! Back in the late 1960s, when Bruce was just a middle teenager, he was already one of the foremost dealers in the then brand-new comic book collecting hobby (and he co-published the very first authorized full-color reprints of classic comic books, plus he also published a number of fanzines and comic books, including three comics of all-new material by Steve Ditko, the co-creator of Spiderman, Dr. Strange and others).

But then in 1972 Bruce happened to go to Las Vegas (even though he was only 19, and could not legally gamble in any casino) and he was "bitten" by the poker bug, because he had been playing in a weekly home game for a few years, and was a consistent winner. Early the next year he moved to Vegas and became a pro poker player (at that time there were likely no more than 100 others doing the same thing).

     By 1976 his winnings were enough to generate a consistent living, so he sold out all of his remaining comic book inventory to devote all his time to playing poker. For several years, he did not play in tournaments (too much luck required, he felt, and you could not quit, while you were ahead, but had to play to the end). But friends and relatives elsewhere were starting to hear of the World Series of Poker, and he was often asked why he didn't play in those, and in 1979, "Amarillo Slim" started the "Super Bowl of Poker" (a competitor to the much more famous "World Series of Poker") and Bruce played in the 7 Card Stud event in that very first one, and he won, receiving $27,500 for his share!

     Two years later, in 1981 he won the 7 Card Razz event at the World Series of Poker (receiving $34,000 for his share), and he also received the solid gold bracelet all winners there are given. The following year, growing weary of poker after ten solid years of playing it almost every day, Bruce left Las Vegas, and he returned on just a few occasions over the next 5 years to play some poker, but in 1987 he stopped playing entirely, and except for a single charity event with non-pros, and some games for "fun" with his children, he has not played any poker for the past 31 years!

After quitting playing poker, Bruce was looking for a new profession, and he met some "Registered Options Traders" on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange who were former poker players, and they told him that most top poker pros could make a lot of money trading options, so Bruce moved to Philadelphia, and became an options trader on the floor of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange. He did that for the next six years, and he did quite well, but after those six years, in 1989, he was again ready for yet another profession, and this time he first thought of doing something connected with his old hobby of comic books.

But once he investigated the situation, he was much more taken by the then tiny hobby of collectible movie posters, because even the very best ones did not cost all that much money, and Bruce felt that it was amazing that there was no museum devoted to the very significant part of American history. So he began buying up the very best movie posters and lobby cards, thinking that he might become a dealer in them.

But then, in late 1989, he met a man with a great collection, who did not want to sell it, but was open to auctioning it, and Bruce approached the famed Christie's Auction House in New York City to hold the first ever live all-movie poster auction by a major auction house, and Bruce and the man each consigned half and half to that first 1990 auction, and it took in just under a million dollars, and that event led to Bruce first starting "Bruce Hershenson Vintage Movie Posters" (the name changed to eMoviePoster.com a decade later when it moved to the Internet), and you likely know much of the rest of the story.

But Bruce had several long and successful careers before ever auctioning his first movie poster in 1990, and you can find more information on his Wikipedia page at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Hershenson!