One of the most decorated mixed game players in poker has finished on top once again at Thunder Valley, as Frankie O’Dell claimed his sixth WSOP Circuit ring to go with three WSOP bracelets and many more accomplishments across his storied career.
The win over the 84-entry field in $600 HORSE adds $12,260 to over $3,300,000 in career earnings. It is also O’Dell’s 48th Hendon Mob-recognized tournament victory and third in HORSE at Thunder Valley.
O'Dell's legacy grows
With this being just the latest addition to his highly decorated career, we brought up the word ‘legacy’ and asked what it means to him.
“Legacy is when you play just to book the win. So, if I keep booking wins and I keep adding to my wins while I’m still playing, then my legacy is growing. For me, legacy is to just get in there, keep my head straight, and win the tournament. Legacy to me is winning.”
As much as winning means to O’Dell, doing it with friends by his side is even more important to him, and what’s made winning tournaments later in his career more satisfying.
“The thing is, now that I’ve been in the game so long, there’s a lot of people here where we root for each other when we’re not playing against each other. If we don’t win, we want one of our friends to win. So right now I just took a picture with people that care for me and I care about them, so the wins are really good now. Earlier in my career, I didn’t really talk so much, and I didn’t have so many people that I was personal with.”
'Sometimes you need a kick in your ass'
A fixture of the mixed game community, especially here in California, O’Dell got to share this win with a pair of friends with great legacies of their own in Shirley Rosario and Allen Kessler. O’Dell spoke about their importance to him, as both highly talented support and also providing tough love when it’s necessary.
“Allen, he’s a great player. Everybody says he’s a super nit, but hey, he’s a really smart guy, and Shirley, she’s my ride or die friend here, and she’s a great player too. It’s always good to have great players around you because sometimes you need a kick in your ass when you’re playing bad, and they’ll be like ‘Hey dude, you’re playing bad’ or ‘Hey dude, you’re getting too emotional at the table,’ so that helps out. We push each other, and whenever one of us gets out of line, the others step in. You can’t beat that.”
With tournament victories dating back almost 30 years to August 1997, and a first WSOP bracelet in 2003, O’Dell says his motivation hasn’t changed since those days.
“What drives me is why I got into playing tournaments, it’s wanting to win. Winning World Series bracelets is what motivates me every year. Basically, I do have my bracelets, but the thing is, the challenge of winning the next one, the thrill of winning the next one, to fight for it, to keep your head there, to be in a position to win it.”
A ticket to paradise
With his ticket to WSOP Paradise in The Bahamas now punched as well, he’ll have a chance this December to add a fourth bracelet to his resume, not only in the $2,750 Mystery Bounty event included in the package, but in the $10,000 8-Game event that’s on the schedule as well.
“Yeah, why not? We’ll jump in there. Things are lining up for me to be there, so hey, you’ve got to play it out. You never know when something could happen in poker; you’ve just got to be at the right spot at the right time. You never know when you’re going to catch a wave. I caught a wave today, I finished it, it’s all good!”
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