Jim Karol

Biography

Jim Karol grew up in Allentown, Pennsylvania "James Jonathon Karol". Jim attended a local college there, then ended up working at the local steel mill like the Billy Joel song "Living Here in Allentown". It wasn't until the early 80's that Jim began his career in entertainment. He began as a magician, and word soon spread about this "madman of magic", and before he knew it Jim found himself on the front pages of newspapers across the country for correctly predicting the Pennsylvania Lottery. He was asked to appear on several television shows, and his popularity began to grow.

Jim quickly became a huge hit at colleges and universities throughout the Northeast and was even invited to perform at the White House. Jim was then asked to tour the country with Guinness to promote their Millennium Edition Guinness book which Jim is featured in. The United States Playing Card Company then began sponsoring Jim and together they developed a product called "Cool Card Tricks" which sold countless units throughout the world. Jim then released his own book called "50 Ways to Hustle Your Friends", more as a novelty for his fans. It wasn't until a a few years ago that Jim began to dabble with memory techniques and other feats of the mind which then led Jim to realize that he had finally found his niche. With in just a few months he memorized 75,000 zip codes, every country and capital, the Scrabble dictionary, and thousands of sports facts. Jim actually became addicted to memorizing things. He's a real life combination of "Rocky Balboa" and "Rainman".

Today, Jim is one of the most sought after acts in the entertainment industry, combining extraordinary feats of the mind with comedy. He is also a very unique and highly motivational Keynote speaker and also teaches some of his skills after his presentations in his MindWiz Workshop.

Jim has been seen by millions of people from his appearances on NBC's Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the Ellen Show, Rosie O'Donnell Show, Montel, Fox News, and numerous other television and news programs. He has headlined at the Trump Plaza, the Borgata, the Turning Stone, and the Mohegan Sun, and is closing in on his 4,000th show since his steel mill days, showing no sign of slowing down. In fact, He has just created a new show called Mind, Magic and Madness premiering the talents of Chris Chelko and Michael DuBois two young up and coming stars that Jim has taken under his wing.

Don't be surprised if you see Jim in the final table of the World Series of Poker or the World Poker Tour soon.