Alan Ari Engel
Alan “Ari” Engel is a Canadian-born professional poker player from Toronto and one of the country’s most prolific tournament players. Also known by his longtime online nickname “BodogAri,” Engel built his reputation through both online and live poker and has accumulated four WSOP bracelets and 20 WSOP Circuit rings during his career.
Engel’s biggest live cash came in 2016, when he won the Aussie Millions Main Event for more than $1.1 million. He has since become particularly notable for the sheer volume of his tournament results, surpassing “Miami” John Cernuto in 2025 to become the all-time leader in recorded live tournament cashes on The Hendon Mob.
Main Info
Nickname
BodogAri
Residence
Canada
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/ariengelpoker/
Born
1983-09-05
Youtube
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Age
43
Twitch
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Engel Top 5 Cash Prizes
| Rank | Event | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A$10,600 Aussie Millions Main Event 2016 | 1st | $1,120,110 |
| 2 | $2,500 WSOP No-Limit Hold’em 2019 | 1st | $427,399 |
| 3 | €10,300 EPT Barcelona High Roller 2016 | 5th | $347,927 |
| 4 | $10,000 WSOP Omaha Hi-Lo Championship 2021 | 1st | $317,076 |
| 5 | Mega Millions XVIII Quantum at The Bicycle 2018 | 1st | $315,142 |
Biography
Alan “Ari” Engel was born in Toronto, Ontario, in 1983 and has built one of the longest and most varied tournament résumés of any Canadian poker player.
Canada was only the first stop in a childhood that took Engel across several continents. His family moved from Toronto to South Africa before his first birthday, followed by around eight years in Australia and periods in Israel and the United States. Engel later attended New York University, where he studied finance and business management.
Poker eventually replaced the Wall Street career he had initially imagined. Engel began playing online after university and quickly turned a small bankroll into enough money to persuade him to pursue the game professionally.
Playing under the screen name “BodogAri,” he became one of the busiest online tournament grinders of the era and reached the top of the online poker rankings in 2006.
His live results began accumulating at roughly the same time. Engel won his first WSOP Circuit ring in Atlantic City in 2007, and over the following years became particularly associated with the Circuit grind.
The breakthrough result arrived in Melbourne in 2016. Engel topped the Aussie Millions Main Event, defeating Tony Dunst heads-up to earn A$1.6 million, worth approximately $1.12 million at the time. It remains the largest live cash of his career. Melbourne also had a personal connection for Engel, who had spent much of his childhood living in Australia.
Only months later, he added another major result at EPT Barcelona. Engel finished fifth in the €10,300 High Roller for €307,900, helping make 2016 one of the defining years of his career.
His first WSOP bracelet took considerably longer. After years of Circuit success, Engel finally won one at the 2019 WSOP, beating a 996-entry field in the $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em event for $427,399.
He added a second bracelet in the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship in 2021 before winning online bracelets in 2023 and 2024, bringing his career total to four.
Trivia
Engel’s best-known online nickname, BodogAri, dates back to the early part of his career, when he was among the highest-volume online tournament players and briefly reached the number-one online ranking.
He is also one of poker’s better-known tournament nomads. Although major databases list Las Vegas as his residence, Engel has repeatedly described himself as a full-time travelling player and has spent substantial parts of his career moving from one festival to the next rather than maintaining a conventional home base.
The Canadian spent years building his reputation through smaller and mid-stakes events rather than relying exclusively on high rollers. One of the clearest examples came in 2018, when he entered the Mega Millions XVIII Quantum event at The Bicycle for as little as $160 and ultimately beat a field of 6,087 entries for $315,142.
More recently, Engel has also moved into poker content through the Ari & Jo Show, which follows Engel and fellow poker player Jo Kim through tournaments, travel and life on the circuit.
