Novice Poker Player to Try His Hand at World Series

SPOKANE, Wash. — Gerry Drehobl took a nice family vacation to Las Vegas recently and won $365,000 on a pair of kings at the poker table.

Not bad for a guy who only took up the game at Thanksgiving.

This weekend, Drehobl, 49, begins play in the finals of the World Series of Poker at Binion’s Horseshoe Casino in the Nevada city. The $10,000 entry fee was no problem after he won the huge pot at an earlier tournament.

“I’m still a novice. I don’t pretend to be anything different,” Drehobl said. “To win a tournament like that, you’ve got to be sort of lucky.”

It helped that Drehobl felt that he had little to lose.”I took a lot more chances than [the pros] would,” Drehobl said. “Why risk all their chips on one hand when they can grind it out?”

His winning game is to be shown June 22 on ESPN, and the finals of the World Series of Poker will be televised over and over for the next year.

In ordinary life, Drehobl operates a corporate aircraft maintenance service out of his home. His clients call or e-mail from anywhere in the nation and Drehobl finds local mechanics to do the job.

Drehobl had never played cards much, but became hooked on poker while playing with his wife’s family and watching televised tournaments last year. Around Thanksgiving, he taught himself to play Texas Hold ‘em, a wildly popular game in which each player is dealt two personal cards and then five community cards are turned up on the table.

Players make the best five-card combination, betting over four rounds. Players at any time can bet all their chips.

It was in that game that his pair of kings beat an opponent’s ace and six, winning more than $1 million. He got to keep 35%, with much of the rest distributed among the top 30 finishers.

Drehobl was paid in cash, which he deposited at the casino and then wired to his bank, not wanting to walk out the door with it.

Drehobl said he gave 10% to charity, and bought a trampoline for his two children and a 50-inch home theater for himself.

Last year, amateur Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker -- and $2.5 million. This year’s jackpot could reach $3.5 million.