June 14, 2015
A Minnesota man proved that dumb luck can suddenly become beginner's luck and be very lucrative.
40-year-old professional poker player Christian Pham of St. Paul traveled to Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker to play Texas Hold Em, but inadvertently signed up for a game with a completely different mindset and strategy, the Associated Press reports.
Rather than aiming for straights and flushes, it's better to have the lowest total in so-called no-limit deuce-to-seven draw lowball. When the game started and Pham was dealt five instead of two cards, he initially panicked, but decided to roll with it, observing the play of others at the table.
By Thursday, Pham rose to the top of 219 players, surpassing a few poker icons as he skillfully applied his knowledge of the game to another format.
On Friday, Pham was up $81,314 and had earned a gold bracelet, the tournament's equivalent of a Super Bowl ring.
Read more at the Associated Press.
