It's a story that repeats itself each summer, but we never get tired of it. Every year, hundreds of bar, garage, and home-game poker groups send representatives to the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas for a shot at bringing home eternal glory.
Lonny Eisenberg, a 30-year veteran of the Mendota Fire Department, plays in one such group in his home state of Illinois. Eisenberg has been playing poker for about as long he's been able to walk and talk. "My dad taught us when we were five or six years old. There's not a lot to do out in rural Illinois, so we played a lot of poker growing up. I've always loved, loved, loved the game," he told us.
The garage game origins
The years of experience and enjoyment at the tables led Eisenberg to found a garage poker club with his friends. "About twenty years ago, we started a poker club in our hometown, got about 50 players. We usually send anywhere between 3-4 guys out each year to represent the club. We started our league this year in April and I got lucky enough to take first place," said Eisenberg.
Like many other groups across the world, Eisenberg and his buddies play for points throughout the year and, once the tallies are final, send their representatives off to Las Vegas.
Eisenberg's first place finish in that event back in April wasn't enough to send him to the WSOP, but that's not the end of the story — not by a long shot. A couple months after that win, with a little help from his family, Eisenberg found himself ponying up the $10,000 buy-in for a seat in the Main Event. "So, I got lucky and won the first month and I was telling my family about it, my sister. The next thing I knew, my family is sending me to Vegas to play in my first World Series of Poker. I've never done it before," he said.
Loving every minute
Eisenberg may not have the depth of tournament poker know-how that some of the professionals in the field possess, but his years and years of experience at the table served him well on his run. In his eyes, however, that's not necessarily a bad thing. PokerOrg caught up with Eisenberg on the dinner break of Day 5 and he told us, "I don't know these younger guys anymore, but then again, they don't know me."
After making it deep in the Main, Eisenberg was focused on playing well, but also on having a good time and enjoying the moment. "I'm having fun, I'm having a blast. I got to go to the feature table, everything that could go right did go right."
"I'm enjoying myself 100%. I'm just a garage player, a guy that's played with his family and friends. I love this game and I love this whole thing," he told us.
Back home, Eisenberg's garage game buddies and family were sweating his run collectively, all rooting for their guy to make the final table. "My home town, Amboy, Illinois, had it on the local bar. The bar was packed, everybody's livestreaming it. My phones been blowing up for days. It's just been awesome."
Sadly, Eisenberg bowed out in 222nd place after the dinner break on Day 5, good for a $60,000 score.
