An employee of mine is in the World Series of Poker

[Adam West]

I remember someone last year or two years ago say they were playing....$10,000 entry fee.

This guy lives and breathes Texas Hold 'Em. Sometimes I hear him on the phone talking to a friend about what you should do if you are dealt such and such a hand, etc....yes, he works in the accounting department but I have made sure to restrict his access to any company money.

Apparently, he was able to get in for free because of some online site that was running a promotion contest (a virtual World Series of Poker) and he won.

He has already made it past day 1 and has around $60,000 in chips which ranks him around 500 right now which isn't too shabby considering around 6,000 people were playing.

We all chuckled when he left because he literallly could walk in next week if he advances far enough and give me his resignation. We're all watching and waiting to see how far he will go. He knows what he's doing, so it really wouldn't surprise me to see him go far or possibly win the whole thing.

[toys2cool]

very cool,good luck to him I guess

[megocrazy]

The odds of winning are so great now because of the huge numbers of entrants, but the nice thing is the payouts go deeper. You may not win the whole thing, but if you finish in the money, I think the minimum is $35,000. Not bad. Biggest problem is, you need to get around so many bad beats ie: hands that shouldn't have won but did, that you will see few big names finish in the very top any more. Scotty Nguyen came close but he plays a game that's tough to read, which is what I think you need to do to finish in the top. Tight, by the book players will always succumb to the bad beat, and usually never see it coming. If you haven't guessed, I also am very big into hold em. I made a final table a few years ago to qualify for the WPT main event at foxwoods casino, but didn't make it. The guy that won took down the $1000 buy in tournament entrance that he won and went to the final event to play for the $3.5 million grand prize. He missed the money by about 30 players, but got to play against Daniel Negranu one of the best and nicest players in the game. I would have rather had the money myself but that's me. Best of luck to your employee and let us know how he does. Just making it to day two is a great accomplishment.

[Adam West]

We'll see. Right now he's sitting with about $60K worth of chips in his grouping (I think the top person has about $150K).

He is supposed to play round two later today. Apparently he played the first round from about noon to 4 am the next day.

[toys2cool]

That's awesome man

[Adam West]

My only issue right now is when he proposed going on this once in a lifetime trip, it is an inopportune time for my department. We have deadlines to meet and normally I wouldn't allow anyone to take a vacation right now until we finish up but made an exception since he promised to do his work remotely between matches and ensure he wouldn't leave me high and dry.

Right now, he hasn't responded to any of my emails and could cause problems for us if he is not holding his end of the bargain. Of course, he could end up winning the whole thing and telling me to shove it. I am very happy for him and hope he wins but I'm hoping he will not disappoint and will hold up to the work commitment he made before leaving.

[toys2cool]

yeah that sucks,he should hold his end of the bargain

if he makes it to the top 20 chances are he won't be back,I think the minumum there will be atleast a million I think

[spaceace35]

any new update?

[megocrazy]

Only the top 5 players broke a million last year. I believe this years attendance is slightly lower than last year so it will probably only be the top 4 this year if that is true. Both are in the low to mid 6000 range I believe. After the 33% taxes on gambling winnings 4th or 5th place will bring home about $666,000. Not bad mind you, and definately enough to settle most peoples outstanding balances on mortgage, cars, etc., but even banking it after paying off all ones bills, he would only pull about $15,000 in actual annual income from the money if he didn't spend it. 3% is about the max return on most cd's and certificates available. Banking it is usually not the case with most poker players though. It's just not in their blood as gamblers. They'll blow a portion on stuff they never thought they would ever be able to afford.They'll enter the tournament 10 more times and blow off 1/5th of the remaining winnings trying to repeat, which is even harder than actually winning, because all the players want to take out a past top finisher and that "bad beat" percentage comes into play even higher than before. Everything said and done a 5th place winner might end up with $200,000 in the bank and no major bills, if they don't over gamble and spend the entire thing. Sounds like a lot, but it wouldn't cover the cost of my 2 boys college tuition before scholarships and barely covers it after scholarships. A million dollars just doesn't go as far as it used to. I wouldn't turn it down, and would love to be there playing myself, but the chances are good your guy will be returning to work, even if he makes it into the money. Don't be too hard on him, if he doesn't keep his word, especially if this is his first time ever going to the WSOP. I have played with guys that have attended and it's a long, tiring experience and extremely overwhelming from what they say. You barely have time to sleep, much less get work done. If he does win, tell him if he signs with any sponsors to get entry fees into upcoming major events for a period of years worked into his marketing contract. It ensures entry with out him having to pay any of the fees and should keep him in the limelight for a period of time with no worry of the cost. He'll never have the amount of bargaining leverage as he will directly after the WSOP so make the most of it so he can benefit for the longest period of time. Also he should remember the loudest one usually gets the most air time on ESPN. Make the most of it while he can. Hope he does well.

[Goblin19]

One of my best friends just got eliminated. He had won his way in via a tournament. They paid for his trip and entry fee. He also qualified for the world series in 2 other online tournaments, as well, but took the payoff totalling $27,500 instead. Not bad.

[megocrazy]

One of my best friends just got eliminated. He had won his way in via a tournament. They paid for his trip and entry fee. He also qualified for the world series in 2 other online tournaments, as well, but took the payoff totalling $27,500 instead. Not bad.

Awesome! Always nice to hear someone made money.

[Adam West]

Our colleague just went out. Don't know much in the way of details other than he was really angry. From some of the people here at work who have played poker with him, they said he probably lost to someone who bet big on a terrible hand and got a lucky card on the river.

Well, at least he had the opportunity to try what I would imagine would be a poker players dream and to do it on someone else's dime.

He can't get a flight out until tomorrow anyway so I told him not to worry about the work and maybe try to enjoy a couple of extra days out there and fly back over the weekend.

[toys2cool]

that sucks,but atleast he got pretty far.

[megocrazy]

he probably lost to someone who bet big on a terrible hand and got a lucky card on the river.

That is usually the way it works since the entries have increased. Did he make it to the money? He would need to be in the top 9-10% (600) roughly to make anything. That's just an estimate based on last years numbers.