Telly Rogers is already counting his Vegas millions
He won't converse in the chat. He won't respond to your "nh" (nice hand) messages. He won't show his cards if he can avoid it. He doesn't want anyone to know anything about him. He doesn't even want to be in this article!
But he is willing to give one piece of advice to anyone trying to beat him: "Good luck".
Telly Rogers, a 27-year-old electrical engineer from Avon, Indiana, cruised through the field of 3,722 players to win the sixth Sunday qualifier. Watching the tournament was the most excruciating part of the day for Rogers, as the tiebreaker for determining the overall winner is time elapsed in each tournament. When it was all said and done, a very excited Rogers took home the victory & but he'd needed a little help to get there.
Rogers, his wife and his brother often play tournaments together. They keep each other in check, making sure no one gets too aggressive or loose. This team does not like to lose and Rogers needed a little help from his wife on Sunday to claim first.
Rogers had to run over to his brother's house in the middle of the tournament, so he needed to pick the right time and the right replacement. He left his short stack in the hands of his wife. Not intending to knock to his wife's playing ability, he expected to come back to find his stack had been blinded away.
Instead, he was pleasantly surprised. His wife had doubled up.
Once he sat back down, the "streak" started. As he said, "You have to have the string of luck, especially when the blinds get big."
For seven consecutive hands, Rogers held pocket cards that anyone would love. Aces, kings, tens, big slick (ace-king suited), and other prosperous starting hands quickly propelled Rogers to the top of the chip count. It then became a waiting game.
As he watched hundreds drop out, Rogers played tighter than ever, just looking to get a seat in the final tournament. The blinds were eating away at his stack and there was some doubt in his mind about whether he'd make it.
There were 19 players left and, under most circumstances, you don't want to do anything that might keep you from the prize money, or in this case, a seat in the final. But there are exceptions to every rule and, in this case, it came in the form of pocket rockets (aces). Rogers doubled up and knew he was in the final tournament. There was only one thing left to do -- win.
Seventeen players bowed out and two remained. Rogers' opponent, gnipmac, had dominated the final table and played exceptionally well leading up to the heads-up match. As Rogers watched in silence, he picked up some crucial information. He became very aggressive when it came down to heads-up play and knew, "If I just kept pushing him, I'd win."
Even though Rogers had a good read on his opponent, the hand history proved that luck factored into the end result. Sitting with a $30,000 chip lead, Rogers was dealt the six of hearts and five of diamonds. He raised the minimum to put the pressure on gnipmac, who called with his queen of hearts and ten of clubs. The flop came down king, six, and jack of clubs. This gave Rogers a lowly pair of sixes and gnipmac an open-ended straight draw, a flush draw and two overcards. With nine outs for the flush, eight outs for the straight and six other queens and tens, gnipmac was a 68 percent favorite to win the hand after the flop.
Still, Rogers bet out and quickly was called. Another six came on the turn to give Rogers a set, and, finally, the odds on favorite to win the hand. He bet the minimum this time because he thought he had him beat and wanted to draw some money out of him.
Little did Rogers know he needed to avoid a lot of cards on the river.
The river was the king of hearts, giving Rogers the sucker full house with his sixes over kings.
"I bet the minimum on the river because I thought he had the king in the first place [which would have given his opponent kings over sixes]."
Rogers was testing the waters. If gnipmac came over the top, he would have had to make a tough decision. Fortunately, he was not forced to make that decision and the $510,000 pot was his.
Three hands later, gnipmac attempted an all-in bluff that landed him in second place when Rogers made aces up on the flop.
"I was extremely excited," Rogers said. "I was calling everyone and letting them know!"
Rogers is ready for the competition in the finals, but says he's already won in his head.
After he earns his seat on May 15th, "I figure I'll win the WSOP. Then fly around the world playing poker and golf for a living," Rogers said.
A guy can dream right? If he does win, he better bring his wife and brother along for the ride & just in case.
There are still 200 seats to be won for the final tournament. It's time to claim your seat this week. Join the Degree All In Poker Challenge and win your seat to the finals this week.
Andrew Feldman is the ESPN.com Poker Club's Tournament Director. To contact Andrew, please email andrew.j.feldman@espn3.com
