Shulman was born in Seattle, Washington. He began playing poker while studying at college in the 1960s. He worked in real estate for 25 years before moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in the early 1990s. He used his retirement funds to purchase Card Player in 1999.

Shulman first finished in the money in a World Series of Poker (WSOP) event in 1997 at the $3,000 pot limit hold'em event. He has gone on to cash another 11 times since then, and won a bracelet at the 2001 World Series of Poker in the $1,500 seven card stud hi-lo split 8 or better event.

In October 2003, Shulman made the final table of the World Poker Tour (WPT) Ultimatebet.com Poker Classic II in Aruba. He finished fourth in the event won by Erick Lindgren.

He has also made the final table of a Professional Poker Tour (PPT) event, finishing 2nd in 2005.

On October 2nd, 2009 he won the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event, beating Daniel Negreanu heads up for the $1,305,542 first place prize.

In January, 2010, Shulman finished 3rd in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event, winning $1,350,000.

As of 2010, his total live tournament winnings exceed $4,300,000.Shulman's 15 WSOP cashes account for $1,577,968 of his tournament winnings total.

Shulman has two sons. One of his sons, Jeff Shulman, is president of CardPlayer Media and one of the 2009 November Nine. Shulman also has two stepchildren from his second marriage.