For Brent Roberts, winning $151,570 at a World Series of Poker final table — being the youngest player ever to even sit at such a table — was not enough. No, Brett had to knock out Phil “The Brat” Hellmuth in the process.
It was better than your average Friday night game of Texas Hold ’Em in the dorm room, to say the least; Roberts is a Binghamton University student.
Roberts, a senior English major from Staten Island and brother in the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, whose professional poker career has already begun, can be seen playing at the 2006 WSOP on Tuesday, Oct. 3, at 9 p.m. on ESPN. To be broadcast is Preliminary Event 2, which was held in June.
Before the final table at Event 2, with about 68 players remaining, a short-stacked Hellmuth (the short stack is the player with the fewest chips) went all-in with ace-seven, and Roberts, who would have called with any hand because of pot odds, had pocket tens. Hellmuth did not catch the ace he needed, and Roberts took down one of the world’s most notorious poker players.
“It was just another hand,” Roberts said of defeating Hellmuth.“I wasn’t really relieved or anything; I wasn’t excited, it was just another player gone, closer to the final table.”
Later on in the tournament, which featured 2,776 players and a $1,500 buy-in that added up to a prize pool of $4,164,000, Roberts would make the final table as the short stack. He finished in fifth place after losing three straight “coin tosses” — hands in which two players have an essentially equivalent chance to win — in a row, sending the last of his stack over to chip leader Brandon Cantu, the eventual winner of the tournament. Cantu had caught a queen on the flop to pair his ace-queen and best Roberts’ pocket sevens.
Though fellow 21-year-old Jeff Madsen holds the distinction of being the youngest player to ever win a WSOP bracelet, Roberts remains the youngest ever to have made a final table.
A POKER CAREER?
After his impressive showing at the WSOP, Roberts went on to take home his first major tournament win in the $1,000 buy-in game of the Empire State Poker Series held at Turning Stone Casino and Resort. Finishing in first place, Roberts netted himself a cool $59,641.
With winnings totaling over $200,000, Roberts said he’s getting an accountant to invest his money for safekeeping. Though he has made some purchases — like a spiffy new laptop and watch — he is playing it safe with his new funds.
Now, with graduation coming up, Roberts plans to keep his attention focused on his poker career.
“When I graduate I plan on playing a decent amount, not getting a job right away and seeing where this can take me,” Roberts said. “So I’m not sure if I’m going to move out to Vegas or not,” he said. “I’m going to definitely go out for the [WSOP] again next year, probably stay the whole summer in Vegas.”
Despite his success, Roberts still enjoys taking his friends’ money, too.
“I play with friends up at school, usually once a week we’ll play just a small home game,” Roberts says. “It’s fun, it’s a pretty competitive game even though the stakes aren’t large for me. I would take that game more seriously than bigger-stakes games that I’d play at a casino.”
Roberts plans to play next in October, at the $10,000 buy-in World Poker Tour North American Poker Championship held at Niagra Fallsview Casino and Resort.