We don’t hear the stories of the poker dream coming through these days nearly as often as we did 10 or 15 years ago, but some incredible stories are still being written on the live and the virtual felt alike.
One most recent example comes from ACRPoker, a popular US-facing poker site that saw a 47-year-old player from Chicago turn his $0.80 satellite ticket into a score of $42,700 – by far the biggest of his career.
The best part is, John Kim got his initial ticket from ACRPoker’s Venom Vault, and he was able to use it to climb the ranks all the way to a tournament ticket worth $2,650. He picked his tournament, and the poker gods decided it was his time.
Taking on the Big Shots
Kim would never consider buying into a $2k+ tournament directly, as this is way beyond his usual buy-ins. But it was almost like destiny.
His journey started when he won a $0.80 Survivor Flip Step ticket from Venom Vault. He won the first step, then the next one, and the next one, and he found himself holding a tournament ticket worth $2,650.
Next, he had to choose what tournament to play, and, at that level, regardless of what you pick, you know you’ll be facing some of the best players on the planet. So, eventually, Kim decided to go for Mini Phil’s Thrill event.
The tournament saw a relatively small field of 61 entries, but among those entries were the likes of Alex Foxen, Chris Moneymaker, Alex Foxen, and Kristen Foxen. These are not the type of players you want to see at your table when you are playing the biggest tournament of your life by far.
Prior to this, Kim’s biggest score was $1,400, which he won playing a $21 hyper turbo event, and he had a few scores like this one over the course of his career that started around the time of the Moneymaker boom. So the pressure was most certainly on.
The Run of a Lifetime
Was Kim realistically outmatched in this tournament? Of course! But a beautiful thing about poker, and the reason why the game has grown so much over the years, is that, in any given tournament, anyone can win.
You don’t care about the long run when playing for about 30 times your largest career score. You just want to get good cards and have your hands hold in crucial spots.
John managed to navigate his way through the field pretty well, building his stack to be second in chips with nine players left but only seven getting paid. Then he picked up pocket aces in a crucial spot where the chip leader decided to put on the maximum pressure with pocket sixes.
Kim’s aces held; he doubled up, eliminating another short stack in the process. That gave him the stack and the confidence to finish the job. It was pretty much smooth sailing from there on for the 47-year-old sales consultant, and he was able to ride his high all the way to the victory.
It all started with a tiny $0.80 Venom Vault satellite ticket and ended with a career-best score of $47,000, so just in case you were wondering if the poker dream is still attainable, this is your answer.
