After spending quite a bit of time as the small stack, Dallas’ own Allen Carter bested the most recent WPT Final table at the Southern Poker Championship in Biloxi, MS, taking home $1,000,000, an entry into the WPT Championship, and his first major bracelet. This win also marked his first 6-figure drag.

Allen is a member of a very elite group of poker players. Not because of his new bracelet or his arguable transition to pro ranks. It actually has little to do with how he plays, but more to do with why he plays. In my opinion, there are about 5 different kinds of players. Let me also note that I recognize that the majority of players belong to more than one of each.

1) Those who play for fun (Think Guy Laliberte)

Even his txt msgs have the right attitude.

2) Those who play for profit (Tom Schneider)
3) Those who play for action (Dan Michalski)
4) Those who play because of addiction (Endless list)
5) Those who play for lack of better options (Think tomorrow’s Madsen and other young guns turn college drop-outs of today)
…and finally…
6) Those who play purely for competition (Allen Carter)

I first met Allen in ’06 in the DFW airport, waiting to board a flight to the WSOP. He had won an entry into the Main Event through and online tournament. Actually, I should be clear,… He won FOUR entries. Pretty awesome in its own right, but totally redonkulous if you consider that he did all of it in only 6 attempts! And I believe that I remember he also came in 2nd in another one of those events.

You can’t enjoy success like that if you can’t commit yourself completely and exclusively to a single player category. And in case it isn’t obvious, the only two categories capable of supporting such are 1) Profit and 2) Competition. Allen has expressed to me multiple times that competition is his only reason for playing. Without that, he simply won’t play.

I understand that this philosophy almost completely contradicts the principles of the only other successful player category, profit, where you try to find the juiciest and softest game available. But maybe what Allen has figured out is that as long as you have enough water in the sports bottle (bankroll), you should always opt to play against the young, tall, black team, and never against the short, white, computer nerd, poker enthusiasts. Because with poker, unlike any other sport, you can put yourself or find yourself in the ‘big game’ at any time. This time it was a white, 40-something, former CPA from Dallas who prepared for and conquered the biggest game of his life. While he was preparing, you were checking your fish lists and looking for the softest SnG’s you could find.

Being a former WPT employee has its perks, like having friends who still work there and give up the inside information. This news isn’t the kind we like to report, but late on Thursday, September 6, the World Poker Tour semi that is decorated with the WPT logo was on its way to the tour stop in Biloxi, Mississippi when it crashed into another semi. In the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night, the collision occurred and injured both truck drivers. Sadly, the driving trainee, along for the ride and taking a nap in the back of the WPT truck, was ejected upon impact and died.

The truck contained the entire WPT television production set, and a source said it was “trashed.” By the time the final table took place in Biloxi only a few days later, Kevin King, WPT Art Director, and his crew were able to reconstruct about 50 percent of the set, but there was reportedly a bit of a solemn air behind the scenes as the production staff was informed of the accident.

WPT has not released an official statement yet but is planning to do so.

UPDATE: The following statement was sent from WPT Enterprises:

While traveling though Texas in the early hours on Thursday, September 6th, the World Poker Tour semi truck that transports our set for WPT final tables was involved in an accident that tragically claimed the life of one of the drivers. The accident also damaged the final table set, which WPT is currently working to rebuild and restore to its original design. We hope to have it back on the road for the North American Poker Championship at the Fallsview Casino in Canada next month. Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone involved in the accident and the family of the driver who lost his life.