People who play poker live are often fond of taunting online poker players and telling them to come play “real poker” for a change. However, many poker pros that we know and idolize today have proven that online poker players can be just as good at the live arena as they are in the virtual one. In fact, one 20 year old guy from Lisle, Illinois, named Jordan Jayne, has just championed this cause by winning the Heartland Poker Tour’s Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort stop. Jayne went on to best a field of 385 players, earning himself the HPT championship jacket as well as a nifty $165,462 first place prize.
The Tournament
The field at the Heartland poker Tour drew quite a number of poker pros. In fact, there were three WSOP Main Event Champs there to liven up the field, namely Greg Raymer, Jerry Yang, and Tom McEvoy. However, in the end, it was not a seasoned pro who won, but a young man just barely out of his teens. The runner up, Max Weinberg, was only 21 years old. What was interesting about this tournament was that the two players who battled it out at heads up were both mainly online poker players, both of them displaced due to the Black Friday incident.
A Significant Victory
What was amazing about Jayne’s victory was that it was the first time that he ever ventured into joining a live tournament. Jordan Jayne actually played online poker exclusively up until the Black Friday Incident last April 15. He was one of those people whose lives were turned upside down because of the Department of Justice’s actions. “Black Friday has completely changed my life. I used to play eight to ten hours per day, five or six days each week”, said Jayne in an interview. He managed to gain $70,000 in his bankroll while playing poker professionally. He was, however, on the verge of giving up and just thinking of going to college and getting a normal job. Now he’s rolling in the riches with a very timely win at a live poker tournament. The Black Friday Incident certainly changed his life for the better, even though it might not have seemed like it at first.
However, don’t go thinking that this is going to be happening all over the country. For one thing, Jayne is only 20 years old and he was extremely lucky to chance upon the Mt. Pleasant Stop. If the tournament had been held elsewhere, Jayne would not have even been allowed to join. As it is, Jayne still isn’t going to be able to participate in the World Series of Poker or any other major tournament. Besides, how many displaced online poker players will really get the chance to win at a live tournament like Jayne did?
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