Back right at the kick off of poker summer camp in Las Vegas, Mario was able to take a very quick trip out to Vegas to fire a few shots. Take a gander at his Hendon Mob - you’ll see that didn’t come home empty handed (he rarely does). At Planet Hollywood, he fired one of their “50k in a day” no limit hold’em events. On that day, he came up just short of the final table but finished 11th/710 runners for a nice score.

Just want to take a deep breath here and point something out. That puts Mario well into five figure territory in the last twelve months alone and at almost exactly $70k in lifetime “official” earnings on Hendon Mob - not bad for a part-time recreational player, part-time student, full-time dad, and oh yeah, he works for a living, too!

While his wife got off to a hot start on their Vegas trip this week, Mario wouldn’t be denied yet another trip with another cash. This time at the Golden Nugget, there were 310 runners in a 25k guarantee. Mario, in very typical fashion, had grinded and grinded, just waiting in the wings for the right opportunity. It finally came.

At just over ten big blinds remaining, a big stack at Mario’s table opened the pot to 4,500. A player in front of him flats with a similar stack to Mario’s, and his eyes lit up when he looked down and peeled - KK. The cowboys were exactly what he had been waiting for. Mario jams 27k, the big stack calls Mario’s shove, and by the time it got around to player #3, he gave a shrug and jammed it in as well.

KK v AT (big stack) v 66 (other short stack) — the KK holds and it’s a full triple up!

What that big stack didn’t realize at the time was he just put the field at a massive disadvantage. There were about 60 players remaining, but with more than thirty big blinds, Mario became dangerous. He rode that all the way to the final table and finally bowed out in 5th for another deep run. Oh, and he got a pretty sweet free hoodie from the Golden Nugget, too! (not as cool as Fade The Spades’ hoodies, but I digress)

With the Barreracudas’ trip wrapping up and Jim taking this year off, only one team member remains. Hopefully I’m able to follow in my friends’ footsteps and put some cashes on the board! First, it will be a few shots at some mixed game tourneys around town, and then it’s onto bracelet hunting in the mini Main Event on July 1st. Shuffle up and Deal!

#teamfade

- Colton