It's a three-handed poker game for a $1 million first prize, and Chase Bricker is about to commit himself to violence. He has just smiled ruefully and shook his head, almost as if to say, "I hate that I have to do this, but you asked for it."
Jason Christopher of Knoxville, TN, a 47-year-old electrician, raised Bricker out of a pot, and in this moment, Bricker doesn't have the cards to call. His only available weapon is a southern man's version of a nuclear bomb. And so, it's time to declare war:
Bricker is going to insult Christopher's college football team.
"You a Tennessee Volunteer fan? They're gonna get that ass kicked on Saturday," Bricker says, eyeing Christopher in the way a man might if he'd just insulted someone's mother and then poured sugar in his gas tank.
To normal poker fans, this might have gone unnoticed, this casual violence and less casual disrespect. Here's what those fans might have missed:
The Tennessee Volunteers play The Ohio State Buckeyes in the College Football Playoff on Saturday. And around these parts, that's a big deal...so big that Bricker, a Buckeyes fan, pulled out the College Football Card in a poker game.
How did it work out?
Less than an hour after being in third place out of three players and throwing down the football gauntlet, Bricker was a millionaire.
You can watch the winning moment below.
Missed engagement at the right time
You know where Bricker should have been last night? Back home in Texas, where his sister got engaged. Bricker missed it, and it's his buddy Kyle's fault.
Bricker's poker year had been subpar at best. He put his money into 40-50 other tournaments and didn't come up with much. He had no plans to quit his day job as a partner in a Dallas-area commercial HVAC servicing company. It was getting close to time to reset for a new year.
That's when Bricker's friend Kyle started pestering the 36-year-old about a free poker tournament in Las Vegas. Kyle had already won a free seat on a new poker site called ClubWPT Gold and encouraged Bricker to try to do the same. The result? Bricker bricked, and bricked, and bricked.
But then Bricker decided to follow Kyle to Las Vegas anyway, and after they arrived, Bricker ended up winning an entry in a raffle. Both friends started the ClubWPT Gold $5 million Invitational on Friday. Kyle – the guy that cajoled his buddy into burning time in online satellites – busted out of the tourney after two hands.
Ask Bricker how he feels about Kyle now.
"I was hating him last week, but right now, I love that guy," Bricker said. "If you play tournaments, you're going to take a lot of beats. This is definitely an exclamation point on 2024."
Now all Bricker has to worry about is his Buckeyes on Saturday and asking forgiveness from his sister and her fiancé for missing their engagement. Bricker is hoping they have already forgiven him. And if not?
"I'll get them a nice engagement gift," he said.
Willy Wonka gone wild
Bricker was among the 1,500 people who played the poker tournament at the Wynn as part of a $5 million Willy Wonka-style customer sign-up promotion run by the start-up sweepstakes poker vertical ClubWPT Gold. Of the 1,500 people who played for free, 503 walked away with at least some free money, and the nine finalists who survived until Sunday all had a chance at the seven-figure prize.
The nine finalists represented some seasoned poker veterans, some relative newcomers, and one man who had never cashed in a live poker tournament. That player, Vic Avalonne, hoped to win enough money to buy his retirement-age mother a new home. His efforts got him part of the way here. His fourth-place finish and big mystery bounty draw allowed Avallone to walk away with $175,000.
Afterward, still near speechless and holding back emotion, Avallone said simply, "I love my mom."
Buckeye power?
For those who've never held one, a buckeye is an inedible nut that superstitious folk carry like they would carry a rabbit's foot. They're supposed to be good luck. They also happen to be the mascot of Chase Bricker's favorite football team.
Poker purists will doubt Bricker's buckeye invocation played any role in his eventual million-dollar win. Even Bricker himself is quick to shrug off his declaration of war on his Tennessee opponent.
"I just got hot at the right time," Bricker said.
But know this: just a few hands later, Bricker picked up pocket kings at the same time Vol fan Jason Christopher held pocket tens. Bricker's stack doubled in the span of sixty seconds. From there, it was a gridiron beatdown to the very end. By the time Bricker eliminated Daniyal Gheba in third place, the Buckeye fan had the chip lead. After that, it took Bricker just one hand to beat Christopher and win the million bucks.
Bricker stood, whooped like a cowboy, hugged everyone he knew, threw his hat in the air, and then wiped tears out of his eyes.
"What a moment, man," he said.
That moment, folks, is about more than poker. If you're a believer, that is also the power... of college football.
ClubWPT Gold $5 Million Invitational final table prizes*
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chase Bricker |
$1,000,000 |
| 2 | Jason Christopher |
$250,000 |
| 3 | Daniyal Gheba |
$125,000 |
| 4 | Victor Avallone |
$75,000 |
| 5 | Patrick Eskandar |
$50,000 |
| 6 | Tyler Hancock |
$40,000 |
| 7 | Josh Guindon |
$30,000 |
| 8 | Eric Zheng |
$25,000 |
| 9 | Jacob Stufflebean |
$20,000 |
*Amounts do not include bounties won for eliminations.
All photos courtesy WPT
