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For most people, walking past a commercial booth and hearing someone hawk their product is like listening to fingernails on a chalkboard. But not Kendall’s Michael Gaetjens. He has 107,000 reasons why he’s glad he stopped by the All In Energy Drink booth at this year’s World Series of Poker Expo.
The drink’s company, fronted and co-founded by two-time WSOP Main Event champ Johnny Chan, was conducting a contest for its $500,000 Invitational Poker Tournament. Gaetjens, in town to play one WSOP event, entered the freeroll. … and won $107,000, plus a seat in the $10,000 WSOP Main Event.
"This is my biggest win by far," said Gaetjens, who donated a portion of his winnings to the United Way. "I’m very proud of the laydown I made of two jacks that cost me 20 percent of my stack, but I knew the other guy had aces. It left me alive to come back and win.”
Chan, pictured at left, interviewed Gaetjens, right, after his victory and presented him with the prize.
Gaetjens didn’t parlay thefree Main Event seat into $9 million, but it’s safe to say he’s ahead of the game.
