Bernard Lee, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Sindelar finally gets his shot

Poker

Poker can be an extremely frustrating game.

Some players firmly believe that they can never win a race. They clearly remember all the times they were one- or two-outed on the river for their tournament life. They become disgusted watching players they feel are weaker than them get hit by the deck while their chip stack dwindles away. Of course their pocket aces are destined to be cracked every time.

Dan Sindelar, a no-limit cash game specialist originally from Nebraska, has experienced all the highs and lows of poker, especially at the World Series of Poker.

"I may have a bunch of cashes at the WSOP (17 since 2008), but I had no final tables leading up to this year's main event," he said. "It definitely weighed on me every year I did not make a final table because it was my goal heading into each summer. Also, I had never cashed in the main event before. Overall, I'm probably a lifetime loser in the WSOP in tournament buy-ins."

Nevertheless, the 30-year-old professional poker player continues to play the game for one reason.

"It's a pretty easy answer. I just love the game of poker," he said. "I love the competition."

His father, a former world champion power lifter, developed a love of poker himself and passed it along to his only son. When Sindelar was around 10 years old, his father taught him the game. Many nights before heading to bed, the two would shuffle up the cards and play against each other. By high school, Sindelar was playing with his buddies for quarters and dimes, with the winner splurging on pizzas for everyone. In these early years, poker was full of fun memories with family and friends.

While attending University of Nebraska at Lincoln, Sindelar developed his true passion for poker. After attending most of his classes freshman year, he became disenchanted with college and began playing more and more poker. By his junior year, he dropped out of college to play poker full time.

"Nothing really sparked my attention in school after my first year," he said. "I fell back to poker and started playing more with friends, one of which introduced me to online poker during my sophomore year. That is when my future career took off."

The decision to drop out of school was not initially received very well by his parents as both of his older sisters had earned master's degrees with steady vocations.

"My parents were very hesitant at first, understandably so. They definitely did not really understand it at first. They really just wanted me to get my degree so I could have something to fall back on," said Sindelar. "However, they trusted my own decision and I really respect them for letting me try."

When he turned 21, he moved to Omaha to gain some more experience playing poker not only online, but also live poker in nearby Council Bluffs, Iowa. He would combine his work by grinding out $1/$2 and $2/$5 no-limit hold 'em, and also playing bigger stakes online. After three years of his initial poker education, he decided it was time to move to Las Vegas and played with the "big boys."

In May of 2008, Sindelar transplanted himself to Sin City, just in time to play in the 2008 WSOP. For the first few years, he played a handful of WSOP bracelet events along with the main event. His cash game efforts built this bankroll and beginning in 2011, he played 20-25 events a year.

In 2011, Black Friday hit most poker players hard, including Sindelar. Due to his competitive nature, he chose another outlet: golf. After three years, he's a 2 handicap.

"When online poker was shut down [I] needed something else to do," he said. "I'm a pretty competitive guy and I fell in love with the game of golf. I kept practicing and getting better and better, trying to improve myself just like I did in poker."

His golf game was a pivotal part of his life, but poker was still his No. 1 passion. Heading into this summer, Sindelar knew it was just a matter of time.

"I felt pretty confident in my tournament game," he said. "I felt something would have sooner or later ... although I wasn't really expecting the main event run."

The 2014 WSOP main event started out rocky for Sindelar and only ended with a Day 1 chip count of 40,000. Day 2 and 3 went better as he ended Day 3 in 132nd out of the final 746 players. On Day 4 he surged into chip lead contention after an interesting hand involving the ESPN cameras.

With 550,000 in chips to start the hand, Sindelar defended his big blind with Qc-5c, after an inexperienced early position player, with about 300,000 in chips, opened the pot. The flop, Q-5-4, completely hit Sindelar. After his opponent made a large pot size bet on the flop, Sindelar put his opponent on an overpair and made a hefty check raise. The ESPN cameras flocked to the table.

"He seemed a little uncomfortable when the cameras came around," said Sindelar. "He moved all his chips for about 300,000. I snapped called and he flipped over pocket sevens. I think that the cameras coming around actually made him a little nervous and he wanted to win the pot right there. I want to thank ESPN for coming around."

Sindelar continued his chip accumulation and ended both Day 5 and 6 over double the average stack.

"Honestly, I didn't think about making it to the November Nine," he said. "I tried to stay focused on the moment."

Entering Day 7 with 27 players remaining, Sindelar was third in the chip counts. With an incredible first hour, Sindelar took over the chip lead with over 26 million and from that moment on, he focused on the ultimate task at hand: make the November Nine. He limited his chip exposure throughout the rest of the day and earned his spot at the final table. The texts from friends and family flooded his phone.

"People did not want to jinx me while I was playing," he said. "After I made it, I had so many text messages the next morning. It was really cool to hear from everybody. It really meant a lot."

With the support of his family and friends and his passionate love the game of poker, Sindelar will utilize these assets and maybe a little bit of luck in order to capture the most coveted bracelet in poker and $10,000,000. He's playing on home turf. Let's see what he can do.

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