One of the biggest stars in boxing is on the verge of making a little extra money at the biggest event in the world of poker. 140 pound star Ryan Garcia is just ten spots away from “cashing” at the main event of the World Series of Poker, guaranteeing himself a minimum payout of at least $15,000.
Regular readers of this site are surely familiar with Garcia, last seen three months losing a mega fight against Gervonta “Tank” Davis by 7th round knockout. If you’re not familiar with the World Series of Poker? Well, you obviously didn’t live through the “poker boom” of the early 2000s, inspired largely by the film Rounders and extensive television coverage of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) on ESPN.
The WSOP is the biggest event in poker, where anyone willing to travel to Las Vegas and pay the $10,000 entry fee can compete for the coveted bracelet awarded to each year’s winner. If you’re not a fan of wrist jewelry? There’s also a huge pile of money, with this year’s prize pool is over $93 Million. The 2023 edition of the WSOP runs 11 days, and started with over 10,000 entrants.
Day 4 of the tournament starts today at noon Pacific time, and Garcia starts the day in 246th place out of 1517 remaining players with nearly 700,000 chips. 1507 players will “cash” in the tournament, earning a guaranteed minimum payout of at least $15,000.
The day starts with the “big blind,” the largest mandatory opening bet players must post before receiving cards, already at 8,000 chips. With seventeen players starting the day at five or fewer big blinds remaining, Garcia sits in excellent position.
Garcia had to fight to survive in the tournament, dipping as low as 7,000 chips on Day 2 of the event That’s far below each player’s starting allotment of 60,000 in chips, but Garcia fought his way back to end Day 2 with 36,500, and climbed as high as 62nd on the chip count during Day 3.
There’s still a lot of tournament left, but cashing in the main event of the World Series of Poker is a significant accomplishment for anyone that isn’t a professional poker player.
The tournament concludes on July 17th, and the winner will receive over $12 Million. Not a bad payday, and you don’t even have to get punched in the face to get it.