WSOP Gold -- A Pipefitter Makes His First World Series Count

When Mike Eise accepted his gold bracelet, WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack remarked that Eise epitomized what was so great about the World Series.

Here he was — a hard-working, blue-collar American and first-time World Series participant who won his entry to the $1,500 no-limit hold’em event in his monthly St. Louis poker league — accepting his first bracelet and earning $639,331 for his family.

“It doesn’t get any better than this,” said Eise. “I’m going to use this money to take care of my little girls.”

A family man from St. Louis, Eise is married with three young daughters, a dog, and a cat. He’s played poker casually most of his life, but had never before been to Las Vegas. He said he didn’t want to come until he was ready to play in his first World Series event. A 30-year-old plumber/pipefitter for a Local 562, he never had the money to throw around for a vacation to Vegas.

But thanks to a monthly poker league that he joined this past year called “The Wanna-be Poker Series,” Eise finally got his shot. At the end of the league’s season, the league sent one person to the main event and four others to play in event No. 28, a $1,500 event, based on their results during the season. Eise’s performances were good enough for an entry into event No. 28.

Eise said he played pretty tight and cautious in the early goings of the event, just remaining slightly above average for most of the tournament. His play and his cards got him past the vast majority of the 2,638-person field, and when he got down to the final 27, he decided to change up his strategy.

“I definitely turned the aggression up when it got down to 27 people,” said Eise. “The money jumps were important, but I wasn’t going to let that affect my play or my game.”

So while many of the remaining players tightened up with the ever-expanding pay jumps, Eise kept hammering away. Before he knew it, he was the last man standing.

“My family can’t believe it,” said Eise. “My one daughter was like, ‘Dad, that’s an honor.’ They’re just kind of in disbelief that their dad won something that they’ve seen on TV.”

Before this tournament, Eise only had a couple of tournament cashes over a thousand dollars — a $1,200 cash at a local Knights of Columbus poker tournament and a $1,400 cash in a local tournament at a casino. He says that the $639,331 is definitely life-changing.

“I’m not going to get crazy, playing high-limit games,” said Eise. “I’m going to play what I’ve been playing, but I’ll most likely play one more event before the main event, and I’ll probably play the main event, too.”

The father of three said that his girls can expect some presents coming their way.

“Their birthdays are actually coming up, so they’re going to have some good birthdays,” said Eise. “My three little girls are going to be excited because I’m going to take them to Disneyland.”

It was obvious that Eise’s unexpected win had resonated with the crowd at the Rio. When Pollack told Eise’s story during the daily bracelet ceremony, one woman in the crowd whispered, “That’s freaking awesome,” while another man shouted, “Living the dream, baby!”

Eise smiled and softly repeated his supporter’s slogan: “Living the dream, living the dream…”

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