Raymond Harper earned a seat on ClubWPT into the $5,000 buy-in World Poker Tour (WPT) bestbet Scramble Championship, which simply so occurs to be his first ever stay poker event.
The Buffalo native feels lucky to be in Florida at bestbet Jacksonville, and never solely as a result of he gained a free seat into the most important poker event and journey bills on ClubWPT. He is survived 4 strokes and spent two years bedridden, and simply being alive has him feeling lucky.
First Time for All the pieces
It is by no means too late to play your first stay poker event, not even at age 68 like Harper who gained his seat into the massive event Aug. 18 after 10 years of taking part in on ClubWPT. The World Poker Tour’s on-line poker platform, as he stated, has carried out wonders for his psychological state because it gave him a passion and escape from his his well being points.
“I began taking part in on ClubWPT roughly 10 or 11 years in the past, and I play each single day, for hours and hours on finish,” Harper stated in an interview with the World Poker Tour. “After I had a few strokes, and I used to be confined within the residence, I at all times wished to discover ways to play and I used to be fascinated with the No Restrict Maintain’em recreation. I taught myself on ClubWPT, and I’ve been taking part in there ever since.”
Harper entered Day 1b of the WPT bestbet Scramble, the second of two beginning flights. Every participant started the event with 50,000 chips, and the qualifier hovered round his beginning stack and even barely above at occasions for the primary few ranges. However he bumped into some misfortune and dropped all the best way down to only 3,000 chips earlier than shortly doubling up twice again. That gave him a little bit of consolation taking part in in his first ever stay event. He, nevertheless, would bust on a nasty beat 20 minutes earlier than the dinner break when his flopped set misplaced to runner-runner flush.
The ClubWPT qualifier did not money in his first event. However he scored a dream bundle that any poker participant would love, which included $1,500 in journey bills to Jacksonville. And he had the chance to play stay poker, which is not at all times straightforward for him provided that he lives three hours from the closest poker site.
“The closest place for me to go play stay is sort of three hours away. And I’m going there now and again. I like taking part in live-action, largely money video games. However after a three-hour drive, it’s type of a letdown. That’s why I’m trying ahead to Jacksonville, to have the ability to spend three or 4 days down there and be capable of get pleasure from being round different stay individuals taking part in as a substitute of simply taking part in on-line on my pc,” Harper instructed the WPT’s Tim Fiorvanti.
Harper’s native poker site closed down after COVID, which made ClubWPT much more beneficial to the poker participant because it gave him a chance to play playing cards often.
*Photos courtesy of Katerina Lukina/World Poker Tour.
