Jesse May was born in New York City in 1971 and raised in Madison, New Jersey, where he first became hooked on poker playing with friends.
In 1988, he started attending the University of Chicago, but he found that classes were clashing with his poker games, and so dropped out.
May found fame presenting the Late Night Poker television series.
This pseudonym is in fact the main character in his poker novel, Shut Up and Deal (ISBN 1-901982-56-4).
He often commentates alongside Padraig Parkinson, who has said that it surprises him that May plays so little poker when he is such a good player.