He was accused of murder at the age of 15, due to mistaken identity but was acquitted.[1] Poker was Darden's way of turning his life around, and he was helped in this by his mentor, Phil Ivey.
Poker career
Originally, Darden was best known as a seven-card stud player, in which he had several notable tournament finishes in 2000 prior to winning the World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet in 2001 for the $2,500 seven-card stud event, defeating Tom Franklin heads-up.[2]
In 2002, Darden won a World Poker Tour (WPT) title in the $3,000 main event of the Gold Rush tournament.[3] He later finished in second place behind Gus Hansen in the WPT Bad Boys of Poker invitational event.[4] Additionally, in March 2005 Darden finished fifth in the $10,000 main event of the PartyPoker.com Million IV cruise.[5]
In 2003, Darden made his first money finish in the $10,000 WSOP main event, being eliminated in 45th place.[6] He cashed in the same event in 2005.[7]