Paul Yaffee
Home: Skokie, Ill.
Age: 51
Occupation: Commercial real estate sales
Road to the Finals: Finished second in a field of 185 players and won $2,500 in the Hawthorne Buy-In Handicapping Contest on April 23-25.
Bio: Avid contest player hails from the great village of Skokie, Ill. on the north side of Chicago. Owns two tournament titles including a win in the 2003 Gold Coast Summer Classic, where he received a check for $92,900, and a win in the Pick the Ponies Invitational at the Las Vegas Hilton, where he collected $40,500. Also has a pick 4 to his credit, which returned $7,800. Yaffee says he became interested in racing by going to the Chicago area tracks with his college friends. He now modestly rates his handicapping ability as a "4 on the scale of 1-5."
Photo: Four Footed Fotos