Imagine playing in a World Series of Poker event and sitting across the table from a barely 21-year-old WSOP rookie, fumbling his chips as if he’d never played before. It might be easy to assume that the player is inexperienced, but the chances of them being a seasoned pro are higher than one might think. In other words, don’t judge a book by its cover.
With the new age of poker and the endless opportunities to gain poker experience through the internet, the so-called rookie could have seen more hands than players twice his age, boast numerous six-digit cashes, and have already spent a couple of years traveling the world in pursuit of million do
llar purses in places where 18 is the legal age.
This generation of players has been waiting, for what seems like a long time to them in their short existence, to play in the WSOP, and a few of them have already made final table appearances in just the first few events. One such player is Mike Sowers.
Like many under aged internet players, Sowers started abroad. His first major cash came at the age of 20 when he won a $1,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em event at the 2007 Ultimate Bet Aruba Classic. A serious player at only 17, Sowers said that before turning 21, he tried not to dwell on the fact that he couldn’t play tournaments in the U.S. When the time came, he would play.
Only three months after turning 21, Sowers made another big score at the 2008 Borgata Winter Open when he won nearly $400,000 for taking down a $5,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament. With two wins under his belt and other major live tournaments cashes, Sowers was ready to play the World Series of Poker.
In the very first event of this year’s WSOP, Sowers plowed through most of the 352 player field to get to the final table of the $10,000 buy-in World Championship pot-limit hold’em eve
nt. He faced a slew of pros in the top nine and was eventually eliminated in eighth place. Sowers pocketed $99,000.
“I wouldn’t say I expected it, but I’m not surprised I did so well my first event. I played really well and ran really well to get to the final table. It was really exciting, and it makes me even that more excited to make it back to another final table,” said Sowers.
In an outlook that might seem beyond his years, Sowers says that he is investing money in small real estate houses in an effort to set up financial security for the future. “One of the big things I learned growing up in a split home is that money can be the issue for a lot of fights. I want to make money the least of my concerns in the future so hopefully I can be young and retired with a family.”
Unlike Sowers who saw the Amazon room for the first time this year, Jeff Williams was at last year’s WSOP, but he wasn’t playing. He was one year too young to enter any events, but that didn’t mean he couldn't gain financially from the tournaments. The 20-year-old had already accumulated more than $1 million in tournament winnings, mostly from a first-place finish at the 2006 European Poker Tour Grand Final, and was backing a few players in events.
“It was definitely hard to just watch. You see all these guys in events that I get to play with online all the time, but I can’t play,” said Williams.
When he finally did get his chance this year, Williams nearly snagged a bracelet in event No. 5, a $1,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament with rebuys. He finished second for more than $406,000, bringing his lifetime winnings to more than $1.5 million.
“I play lots of rebuys online. I think that internet players have an edge in rebuys because they play them more often since so many are offered online.”
Tom Dwan has been called one of the most talented young up-and-comers out there. Since turning 21 this year, he has made a WPT televised final table at the World Poker Finals, finishing fourth for $324,000, and in the $25,000 WPT Championship, he placed ninth which was a payday of $185,000. Entering into the WSOP for the first time, he was expected to do well, and the in the first-ever $10,000 buy-in World Championship Mixed event No. 8, he did just that. Proving his talent in a variety of games, Dwan made the final table of the tournament that included no-limit hold’em, pot-limit Omaha, triple-draw lowball, limit hold’em, Omaha 
high-low split, razz, seven-card stud, and seven-card stud eight-or-better. Dwan finished seventh for nearly $68,000. Soon, Dwan will break $1 million mark in tournament winnings if he keeps it up, and he might do so in the next day with the conclusion of the $1,000 buy-in deuce-to-seven lowball with rebuys event that he is currently still competing it.
While these players continue their first journey through the month-and-a-half grind that is the WSOP, there are many other talented under 21-year-olds continuing to wait in the wings. They are dying to get their first shot at the WSOP, all while accumulating years of experience on the digital felt so that when preparation meets opportunity, they will be the lucky winners.
When talking about players to look out for next year, it would be hard not to mention the 2007 Online Card Player Player of the Year Isaac Baron. At age 20, Baron won the prestigious award by being the most consistent online tournament player in the world. Since the age of 18, Baron has been traveling the world in pursuit of millions of dollars in prize money in places where his age would not be an issue. He’s made more than $1 million in major tournaments including cashes in the past t
wo PokerStars.com Caribbean Adventure Championships, two non U.S. WPT main events, a European Poker Tour main event, and most recently, he placed fourth in the 2008 EPT Grand Final for more than $931,000. Unfortunately for him, he is turning 21 on July 10, just four days late of being allowed to enter the 2008 WSOP main event.
Another highly anticipated player is the first and only WSOP Europe title winner who will still be too young to play next year. Annette Obrestad, the Norwegian online phenom known as “Annette_15,” won $2 million at the inaugural WSOPE event just one day before her 19th birthday and will not be able to compete in the U.S. version until 2010. She has $2.4 million in tournament winnings.
Having to wait even longer is Michael McDonald, known as “Timex” online. He made his first major cash at the 2007 European Poker Tour main event in Prague which was worth more than $28,000. McDonald followed that with three cashes in the 2008 Aussie Millions, one of them being a win. Then, in February of 2008, he b
ecame the youngest person to win an event on the EPT when took down the tournament in Dortmund, Germany for just under $1.4 million. With more than $1.5 million in major cashes, McDonald is still 18-years-old. That means he still has three more years to practice multi-table tournaments before getting a crack at the WSOP.
While turning 21-years-old for many people means stringing days and nights together with drunken debauchery, both Sowers and Williams say that they would rather just focus on poker right now.
“I pretty much decided to kind of put the whole club scene and parties on the back burner for the time being,” said Williams. “Well, at least until the series is over.”
