It’s an annual occurrence that fills many of the seats in the World Series of Poker Main Event. Home game heroes put their funds together in a satellite-style tournament or year-long series to send the champion to Las Vegas to play in the world’s most prestigious tournament.
But this home game story hits very differently.
Nason Weller earned his seat in the Main Event through that process too, but in part by one of the final wishes of his close friend Michael 'The Mayor' Hughes.
In 2014, Weller and Hughes worked together for the Department of Corrections in Washington state and were part of a regular home game. Hughes took a job across the world in Afghanistan, training people there how to run prisons.
Tragically, Hughes never came home. He was killed by a suicide bomber.
Before he left for Afghanistan, Hughes put it in his will that if anything happened to him, his home game friends were to get together and play a tournament. With $10,000 left collectively, the winner would play in the WSOP Main Event.
The winner of that tournament was Weller, who told us not only about Hughes’ generosity in bequeathing this opportunity but also about what made him such a great friend.
“He was a joker, a prankster. Great sense of humor. I think a lot of people, if you ask them about Mike, would say, oh, he was one of my best friends. That’s how he came across; he made everybody feel like that. He was just a solid dude. Just a dude that was always there. Always. He’d do anything for you.”
A long road to the WSOP
It’s taken 12 years for Weller to get the chance to honour his friend’s wish and play the Main Event. In fact, it took five years just to play the home game tournament to get Weller here today.
Disputes and hold-ups with Hughes’ will prevented the release of the prize pool to honor their friend until 2019, when the 16 players finally gathered.
After that, the COVID-19 pandemic delayed things further. Weller then prioritized family and his son Jacob’s years in high school.
“I was a football coach, and I’d been coaching him from the time he was eight years old. So, football kind of got in the way of being able to attend the Main Event for another four years. I took last year off, and here we are this year.”
With Jacob now 20 years old and in the Navy, It’s finally Weller’s time to fulfill his friend’s wish.
Home game heads to Vegas
As he plays in Day 1D of the Main Event, Weller is at a table right along the rail, so the friends from the home game who have reunited again can sweat the tournament that’s been a dozen years in the making.
Talking about the loss of his friend and finally playing in the Main Event have been experiences that he says have "picked some scabs," as Weller just wants to do right by Hughes with his play in a tournament that he says means everything to him.
“I wouldn't spend the ten grand to come play here. We do okay, but I'm not a rich guy. I'm not money-scared, if that makes sense, but playing for his memory is such a huge deal, too. I think I'm doing a lot of folding. I mean, you know, I'm playing some cards, and I'm doing okay. But I definitely was terrified in the days leading up to it. He's on my mind constantly here. And, yeah, if there is something else out there, I know he's watching and rooting me on.”
At the time of publication in the late stages of Day 1D, Weller was still in the Main Event with less than the starting stack. But win or lose, this trip means so much more to him and his friends.
“He provided us with a once-in-a-lifetime experience, for all of us to be together. I don't really have a goal. I've fulfilled my promise… I just want to make solid decisions and see where it takes me. And then, like I told them, if I get bounced today, or if I make it through today, we have all day tomorrow to just hang out, all my people.”
