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HEADLINE: Poker ace is all-in
Body:
DOVETON poker ace
Glen Atwell is but a few chip pots away from unprecedented fame
and fortune after outsmarting 80 opponents to win a Crown Casino
poker tournament this week.
The win qualifies the 21-year-old for this Sunday’s grand
finale of World Poker Tour (WPT) Week of Texas Hold ‘Em
poker at the casino.
On the line are three guaranteed spots into the internationally
acclaimed WPT circuit, each worth $16,000.
Mr Atwell’s win gives him free entry into this Sunday’s
final, whereas others will have to pay $340 to buy into the tournament.
The unexpected victory came after Mr Atwell and close friend
David Fonseca decided to turn a casual Sunday afternoon into a
fun poker experience costing just $40 each.
Each player started with $1500 of fantasy chips and the multiple-table
competition used special turbo-mode rules, giving players just
10 seconds to complete each turn.
“The less time to make decisions means more pressure, so
many players give away the strength of their hand through ‘tells’
such as darting eyes, squirming in their seat, touching their
face or playing with their chips, because they’re more worried
about the clock,” Mr Atwell said. “My timing was spot
on. I bet eight times, including six all-in raises, and took down
eight pots. The best hand I was dealt all day was a pair of threes,
so I had to make sure I was betting at the right time and into
the right players.”
Although early into the tournament the young poker gun was almost
down and out.
An early victim to nervousness, it took until half of his chips
were depleted until Mr Atwell settled and won a miraculous $900
pot on the river with a pair of threes.
From that point, Mr Atwell won pot after pot to go forth and
conquer his opponents and make it to the final table. The few
remaining opponents crumbled before the poker behemoth that Mr
Atwell had quickly become and victory was soon his.
“The final table always attracts a large crowd of onlookers,”
he said of his brush with fame. “I’d love to say I
was carried on the crowds’ shoulders to a king-sized suite
in Crown Towers but there was just a polite round of a applause
before I was taken by the poker staff to have my identity checked
and to organise my entry into Sunday’s tournament.
“I did get a cool WPT lanyard and a smile that will last
all week though.”
Mr Atwell said that at age 17 he was studying poker
hand combinations and percentages and soon realised that it was
a unique and challenging game.
“From the moment I learnt that poker
is mostly skill and only a little bit of luck, I was hooked,”
he said.
“It is the only casino game in which your opponent is another
person and not the casino, meaning if you’re good enough,
you can win.”
He said the WPT brand had beamed poker into millions of households
worldwide and inspired him to play in what was Australia’s
first official WPT satellite tournament on the weekend.
And his goal now is to win Sunday’s tournament and experience
the glitz and glamour of a poker tournament in Los Angeles.
“I’d love to play in the Los Angeles Poker Classic
in February next year,” he said.
"The buy-in is almost $10,000 and the prize pool is worth
about $6.6 million."
Hollywood
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