$1.6 million poker win for man from Toronto
24th July, 2008
A man from Toronto, Mike ‘Sir Watts’ Watson, won his first big live poker tournament in Las Vegas last week at the World Poker Tour’s Bellagio Cup IV and took home $1,673,770 for his efforts.
While all the media hoopla was surrounding the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, a tournament full of many dangerous pros was taking place just down the road. The winner, Watson, is a graduate-school dropout turn poker player who found himself with a pile of cash in front of him and a bracelet on his wrist after all was said and done.
“I don’t even know if it’s entirely sunk in or not, it was so much fun,” Watson said. “I had two small cashes at the World Series, but it had been a pretty unsuccessful summer and obviously I came in with pretty high expectations. So ending it the way I did it was almost like a story book ending with the way things worked out.”
Watson began his poker career with a few small deposits into online poker where he built his stack while playing very low stakes. He said he would only jump to a high level when his bankroll was large enough. He soon found himself playing high stakes online, testing his poker skills against pros and holding his own.
Although Watson did drop out of grad school to focus on poker full time, he says that he has not ruled out the option of going back, but I wouldn’t bet on him giving up on poker any time soon though.
“I don’t have any really long term plans, I definitely would consider going back to school at some point...for the time being I’m quite happy playing poker and it’s what I plan to do for a little while. In a few years down the road, if I’ve accomplished what I wanted to in poker, if it’s not as fun or interesting, then going back to school is definitely a strong possibility.”
By Michael
