Jeff Dickerson knew what he was doing when he put together his three-player team for PokerOrg's Pick 3 World Series of Poker Main Event competition. With a $5,000 Moneymaker Tour Aruba package on the line, Dickerson placed his faith in the trio of Josh Arieh, Brock Wilson, and Shaun Deeb.
All three of them delivered.
PokerOrg spoke with the Georgia-based father of five to learn more about his winning strategy – and what motivated his team selection.
Assembling the team
After learning about PokerOrg through one of his visits to the WSOP Circuit stop in Cherokee, the Pick 3 Main Event contest caught Dickerson's eye and he began to put together a team.
Wilson had come through for him in the past, making for a simple first pick.
"I had done some staking on Josh Arieh's site, PokerStake," he told us. "And Brock Wilson made me a pretty good bit of money back in 2022 – took about 500 bucks and turned it into 10 grand."
Arieh, a known entity in the Georgia gambling world – and beyond – was another easy selection.
"I've always known Josh to be a gamer," Dickerson asserted. "Josh wins at anything that he competes in. Whether it's pool, golf, any variant of poker. He's one I've watched and learned a lot from."
And Deeb?
"I think he's probably the best in the world right now," he explained.
It was a straightforward, no nonsense approach – and it paid off, big time.
The Day 8 sweat – and beyond
When all three of his picks made the money in the Main Event, Dickerson had a real shot at picking up big points. Arieh dropped off earlier than he, or Dickerson, would have liked, but Deeb and Wilson persisted.
After seven full days of Main Event toil, Dickerson's two remaining horses entered Day 8 play with a realistic chance of making the final table. It was now a serious sweat – but he had a leg up on the competition as no other team owners had both Deeb and Wilson on their squad.
"I was pretty confident, but I also understand variance," he said with a laugh. "It definitely wasn't a done deal because if any of the others – [Todd] Brunson or Dylan [Smith] – had won the thing it wouldn't matter how many points I had.
"Fortunately, it worked out as I had hoped."
And as for the upcoming Main Event action at the Moneymaker Tour Aruba festival, Dickerson is well prepared. While he considers himself a recreational player, he has experience on the felt both in the virtual and live arenas.
In the pre-Black Friday era, he played regularly on Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars before devoting more of his time to family life.
Now, with at least a few of his children out of the house, he has more time to play the game he loves – and he's taking it seriously.
"I signed up with PokerCoaching, started learning the math a little better," he told us. "And now I've started working with a group, Intuition Poker.
"I'm going to be working with them going into the [WSOP] Circuit event here in Cherokee in August and for the Aruba event in the hopes that I can fine tune my game and close one out instead of hitting the final table and then dying like I have the last couple."
In Aruba, Dickerson will have a shot at playing for big money – all thanks to clicking a few buttons on PokerOrg. If you want to follow in his footsteps, keep an eye out for our next Pick 3 contest.
