Bodog Poker Football in Paradise Promotion Crowns a Winner

Card Player and Bodog Poker teamed up to give Card Player readers an amazing deal with a value-added series of tournaments leading up to an incredible VIP prize package to Hawaii to watch football’s Pro Bowl game. As if that package wasn’t enough, Bodog added entries to its Sunday $100,000-guaranteed event to every single tournament, and the site also sprinkled $25 credits to its casino and sportsbook and one-year subscriptions to Card Player magazine. Pretty much every player who participated in the series left with something.

Players jockeyed for position on the leader board to secure their seats in the final, and those who couldn’t make the cut had to make one last-ditch effort by playing in the last-chance event. When the dust had settled, 15 Card Player readers duked it out in the final event this past Sunday for the incredible prize package, but only one player left with the coveted trip — Shaun “Cougars4444” Hendrickson.

Card Player had the chance to catch up with Hendrickson after his win to talk about the series, his win, and his plans for the future.


Shawn Patrick Green: Congratulations on your win! What did you think of the Bodog series?

Shaun “Cougars4444” Hendrickson: It was an amazing value. You couldn’t beat it for the prices of the tournaments and the amount of money that Bodog and Card Player added in. They were great tournaments to play with small fields.

SPG: It was a bunch of small fields. Did it make it any easier playing against the same people over and over again?

SH: It was basically the same players over and over again. I typically added [the Bodog] tournament in while I played other tournaments on other sites. Honestly, since it was a lower buy-in, I didn’t pay as close attention to it, but as I got deep in it I started to pay closer attention, I guess.

SPG: Did you qualify for the final event by topping the leader board or by winning a seat in the last-chance event?

SH: I think I bubbled the leader board, so I qualified through the last-chance event.

SPG: So, you made it into the final tournament with your very last opportunity.

SH: Yeah, pretty much! I was sort of mad at myself for not having accumulated enough points throughout the tournaments, probably because I wasn’t paying as much attention as I should have. I was like, “Well, I guess I have to win this last-chance thing.” So, I won my seat through there, and things just worked out on Sunday, which also happened to be my birthday, so that was a pretty nice birthday present. [Laughs]

SPG: [Laughs] That is a pretty nice birthday present. How much are you looking forward to the trip?

SH: I’m pretty excited! It should be a good time; I’ve never been to Hawaii before, and I’ve never been to the Pro Bowl before, either, obviously. It sounds like a great trip; I’m really excited, especially since the whole thing is free.

SPG: Do you know who you’re going to be taking with you, yet?

SH: Yeah, I’m taking the girlfriend with me. She was pretty excited about it.

SPG: Probably more excited about Hawaii than the football?

SH: Well, nah. I go to Florida State, and we have a pretty big football school down here, so she’s a big football fan.

SPG: What are you doing at Florida State?

SH: I’m finally going to graduate; I’ve been on the extended plan, and I’m going to graduate here in June. I’m trying to find a job, but in this job market it’s not really the easiest thing.

SPG: Looking for a job in what?

SH: My degree is in applied economics, so I’m basically looking for any job in business. It’s such a broad degree, so I’m looking for a job basically anywhere. I’m just hoping to make good money and get my feed wet somewhere to get started.

I’ve been playing online poker for a few years, now, and I spent last summer in Vegas. Hopefully, I’m going to spend a good portion of this summer out for the World Series and all of that. I’ll just keep doing that on the side, because it tends to be a pretty decent side-income.

SPG: When you said that you spend the summer in Vegas, were you actually playing in the World Series tournaments, or were you just playing the cash games there, or what?

SH: I played a good amount of the Venetian and Caesars events, and I actually only ended up playing one World Series event this past summer, but hopefully that will change this year.

SPG: What is the most you’ve won in a poker tournament previous to this?

SH: I’ve won the $10 rebuy on PokerStars for I think just under $10,000. I’ve eluded the big prize so far. I’ve final-table bubbled a few of the majors, and I still haven’t cracked that five-figure score. I think I have like $130,000 in cashes on Stars and not one of them is over $10,000. It’s pretty irritating. But eventually …

SPG: Pretty irritating, but you can’t complain too much. [Laughs]

SH: Yeah, exactly. It’s one of those things where it just tends to be that a lot of times I get deep and lose those key hands. But eventually [the luck] will all break even.

SPG: All right, well congratulations again, and have fun in Hawaii on Bodog’s VIP trip!

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