![]() A few days later, he was invited by Gavin-Mather to a shooting of “Poker Night in America” in Las Vegas.Īfter hearing Daniels’ story during the show, high-stakes pros MJ Gonzales and Casey Coughlan donated $5,000 each to put Daniels in the Main Event. The two talked about the coin Daniels used as a card protector - which was given to him by President Barack Obama during a visit to the White House through the Make-A-Wish Foundation - and remained in contact.ĭaniels finished second in a poker pub league in May, missing out on a Main Event seat to his close friend. ![]() Last year, Daniels played in the WSOP “Colossus” event and was seated next to poker pro Lexy Gavin-Mather. The resident of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, suffered a ruptured intestine as a child and spent most of his life in the hospital. “I can’t even put it into words how much it means to me to get me and play the Main Event, because I would never have been able to do it on my own.”Ĭody Daniels, 28, also saw his wish of playing in the Main Event come true during Flight 1D on Thursday. “This whole trip is a blessing,” Mercer said. That helped ease the sting of being eliminated from the Main Event before the dinner break Thursday. He also won close to $9,000 on table games and finished seventh in a daily poker tournament for an additional $2,300. This kid’s fighting for his life, so I’m just so happy he gets to play.”Īlong with his goal of raising $12,000 on GoFundMe, Mercer received additional donations to fund his trip. “It chokes me up because we walk around so blessed and we don’t realize it. “I was so overwhelmed, I just got on the speaker and said, ‘Hey, it’s booked. ![]() Vertucci happened to be listening and was impacted by Mercer’s struggle. The 37-year-old resident of Vallejo, California, started a GoFundMe last month in an effort to raise enough money to play the Main Event and had about $4,000 in donations when he shared his story 2½ weeks ago on the late-night Twitter Space of Alexander Zisiades, a musician and aspiring poker influencer. Mercer said he was diagnosed last year with terminal stage 4 colon cancer. That includes Nick Vertucci, the creator and producer of the “Hustler Casino Live” poker stream. His entry was made possible by the generosity of dozens in the poker community who donated money. Mercer was part of a record-setting field for the $10,000 buy-in No-limit Hold’em World Championship at Horseshoe Las Vegas and Paris Las Vegas. It feels good to have somebody else outside my family put the kind of love and support into me and to know that they have my back.” “But I haven’t had that kind of love from people outside my family for a long time. Obviously they feel something for me, and I understand that,” Mercer said. “All these people rallied around me because of my story. Just a former semipro midstakes grinder who started playing 18 years ago.īut for a few hours Thursday, Mercer felt like a celebrity, fulfilling his dream of playing in the World Series of Poker Main Event. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) Mercer calls himself a nobody in the poker world. Eugene Calden at 100-years-old is enjoying being the oldest player during the final starting flight of World Series of Poker $10,000 buy-in Main Event No-limit Hold’em World Championship at the Horseshoe on Thursday, July 6, 2023, in Las Vegas.
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