Harold Angle, a 78-year-old retiree from Sun City, Fla., won the $1K Seniors NLHE World Championship at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.
This marked his first career WSOP gold bracelet victory, winning the biggest seniors poker event ever on record, as he came out on top of a field numbering 3,142 entries. No senior’s-related poker tournament has ever broken the 3,000-player mark before this monster-sized attraction. This year’s record turnout eclipsed the 2009 mark by 16 percent. The prize pool amounting to $2,827,800 was also a record.
Angle formally worked in sales for a major show manufacturer. He was the eldest of nine players at the final table. Some of the players who were in their 50s were “young” enough to be Angle’s children. First place paid $487,994.
Angle’s stunning victory was unthinkable on the first day of play. At one point on Day 1, the Floridian was down to just 400 chips. The starting stacks were 3,000. Angle later stated he didn’t win a pot during the first two levels of play (two hours). At one point, he held up the paltry few chips and showed his son-in-law who was watching at the rail. “I’ll be out soon,” he said. Three days later, Angle was still playing and ended up the champion.
The top 324 finishers collected prize money. Former WSOP gold bracelet finishers who cashed in this event included Tom Schneider (14th), Fred Berger (42nd), Eddy Scharf (73rd), Susie Isaacs (78th), Dao Bac (199th), T.J. Cloutier (225th), Randy Holland (246th), Howard “Tahoe” Andrew (286th), “Captain” Tom Franklin (312th), and Hoyt Corkins (288th).
