Victory Tavern owner Randy Gattesco is home in Timmins, celebrating his victory in a World Series of Poker tournament in Las Vegas.
“I placed 54th and I was paid out $160,000 US, $224,000 Canadian,” he says proudly.
This is Gattesco’s first time in a tournament. That 54th place is out of just 10,116 competitors. He says some of the bigger names in the World Series of Poker were knocked out before he was. After some regular cash games, Gattesco says he’ll be back in the tourney next year.
“I just love poker. I’ve been playing since 1999 and I love it.”
He has advice for anyone thinking of taking it up.
“Be patient. You’ve got to play a lot to get the drift of what everybody’s doing, I guess.”
Gattesco says the tournament wraps up Wednesday with the final six players at the table. The eventual winner gets $10-million.
