Sunny Mehta

Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Sunny grew up in Wyckoff, New Jersey with a passion for music. He graduated from the University of Miami School of Music in 2000 with a degree in Jazz Guitar and Studio Music. After moving to New Orleans, Louisiana in 2002, he began playing and recording professionally with notable local acts such as Umami, Sista Teedy, Electravibe, The Funkin’ Horns, Jerry Jumonville, The New Orleans Funk Project, Lani Ramos, and others.

Sunny started playing poker in 2003. He took an interest in No-Limit Texas Hold ‘em, and after playing and studying the game for a year, he was playing professionally by 2004. He finished third in the New Orleans WSOP Satellite Tournament in May 2004, and by 2005 he was playing in the biggest no-limit hold ‘em cash games in New Orleans.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005, Sunny fled to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he became a fixture in the local high stakes no-limit hold ‘em cash games. He met noted poker author Ed Miller (a New Orleans native) as well as Mason Malmuth – owner of Two Plus Two Publishing.

In January 2006, Sunny cashed in 13th place in the $1,500 Buy-In No-Limit Hold ‘em Tournament at the Jack Binion World Poker Open in Tunica, Mississippi. Despite enjoying all the success in Las Vegas and Tunica, he missed the unique culture of New Orleans.

Sunny returned to the Big Easy in early 2006 and spent the remainder of the year playing high stakes online poker and writing “Professional No-Limit Hold ‘em: Volume I”. The book, co-written with Ed Miller and poker player Matt Flynn, was released by Two Plus Two Publishing on July 20, 2007 and immediately became the #1 poker and gambling book on Amazon’s bestseller list.

Sunny still lives in New Orleans where he plays poker, writes about poker, coaches poker, plays music, writes music, and enjoys the local flavor. He is currently working on his second book. You can contact him about private poker lessons at sunnymehta@sunnymehta.com