The pot was limped, the flop came Q-5-2 with two hearts, and Brandon Steven held 5-2. Bottom two pair, heads-up, for a WSOP bracelet in the 2022 $250,000 Super High Roller at the Paris and Horseshoe in Las Vegas. Alex Foxen held Q-T for top pair and a nine-to-one chip lead. The king of hearts on the turn gave Foxen more outs. The ten on the river gave him a better two pair, and the title.
Steven took second place for $2,820,581, still the largest cash of his career. Foxen collected $4,563,700 and his first bracelet. For most players in that field, a result like Steven’s would be the headline of a professional career. For Steven, it was a strong summer for a man whose main job is selling cars in Kansas.
A used car lot in 1996
Steven opened Brandon Steven Motors in Wichita in 1996 as a small used car lot. The business grew into a dealership group that, according to its own published list of locations, now runs more than a dozen stores in the Wichita area, many under the long-established Eddy’s name, along with several dealerships in California, including stores in the Los Angeles area. The roster covers Toyota, Chevrolet, Cadillac, Honda, Hyundai, Volvo and others, plus pre-owned lots.
Since 1994 he and his brother Rodney Steven have also run Steven Enterprises, the holding company for their other ventures. The best known of those in Wichita are the Genesis Health Clubs chain, which runs dozens of locations, and the Wichita Thunder, the city’s professional hockey team in the ECHL.
The brothers also tried to add a casino. In 2015 they backed the Castle Rock Casino proposal for the southeast Kansas gaming zone. The Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission awarded the license to the competing Kansas Crossing bid in Pittsburg, which opened in April 2017. In 2007 Steven was named National Man of the Year by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society for his fundraising.
The tournament record
Steven’s poker career runs in parallel with the business, and the results are public. The Hendon Mob lists about $6.87 million in live tournament earnings as of 2026, which puts him first on the Kansas all-time money list by a long way.
Swipe the table
| Year | Event | Finish | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | WSOP $10,000 Main Event | 10th | $635,011 |
| 2013 | WSOP $111,111 One Drop High Roller | 7th | $621,180 |
| 2013 | WPT World Championship, $25,500 | 5th | $223,203 |
| 2016 | Aria $50,000 Super High Roller | 1st | $648,000 |
| 2022 | WSOP $250,000 Super High Roller | 2nd | $2,820,581 |
| 2023 | WSOP $250,000 Super High Roller | 8th | $574,899 |
The 2010 Main Event result came one place short of the November Nine, the final table that the WSOP then held back for a delayed autumn broadcast. Missing that table by one seat was a famous near-miss of the era, and it was the result that first put Steven’s name in front of a national audience.
The table also shows the shape of his game since. Most of the big numbers come from events with five- and six-figure buy-ins, the fields where businessmen and the best tournament professionals sit at the same table. His own explanation, given in 2013, was about the contest rather than the money: “I started playing poker not because of the money behind it but because it was a competitive mind-provoking game.”
The 2019 case
The less flattering chapter is also on the public record. In June 2019 Steven pleaded guilty in federal court to a misdemeanor charge of transmitting wagering information. The case concerned private poker games in Wichita that he ran with a co-defendant, Daven Flax, starting in 2017; players were contacted by text about payments and collections, and ledgers tracking credit and debts were kept out of view.
Steven paid about $1.1 million to the U.S. Marshals Service, the amount treated as proceeds of the offense. He was sentenced to three years of probation and 200 hours of community service, with no prison time. At the time he said he planned to return to tournament play at the WSOP that summer, and the results above show he did: his two largest cashes both came after the case.
If you play in a private home game, the case is a reminder that what is legal in a living room between friends and what is legal as a business with collections and records are not the same thing under federal law. Under many state laws the line sits at whether the organizer profits from the game.
Why no one can give a precise net worth
The phrase “Brandon Steven net worth” returns a range of confident figures, and none of them are verified. Steven’s wealth sits overwhelmingly in private companies: dealerships, health clubs, a hockey franchise. None of them publish accounts. Dealership groups are valued on profit and franchise rights that are not disclosed, and the size of the Steven Enterprises group (its own materials speak of thousands of employees) says something about scale but nothing precise about equity.
Poker is the only part of the picture with public numbers, and even those need care. About $6.87 million in live cashes does not mean $6.87 million of profit. A $250,000 buy-in is a real cost whether the player finishes second or first out, and players at this level often sell or swap shares. Steven’s tournament results are better read as evidence of skill at the top level than as a line on a balance sheet. For a comparison with the players whose fortunes do come mainly from poker, see the richest poker players and their net worth, or the profile of Tony G, another player whose wealth was built largely away from the table.
Still at the WSOP
Steven has kept playing.
His most recent results in the WSOP database include a cash in a 2025 Mystery Bounty event in early June, a small figure next to the high roller scores, and a sign that the Wichita car dealer still makes the trip to Las Vegas in summer. He remains first on the Kansas all-time money list.