AUTHOR: Jerry "Jet" Whittaker
TITLE: An Amateur Poker Player's Absolute Dream Come
DATE: 9:38 AM
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BODY:
An amateur poker player recently won every budding poker player&#39;s absolute<br>dream: buy-ins to 10 big-time tournaments, lessons from an award-winning<br>poker player, and a free stab at more than $100 million in prize pools.<br>Illinois machinist Scott Carroll won Absolute Poker&#39;s appropriately named<br>Absolute Dream Package main event on March 4, and the $125,000 package that<br>went along with it. The package includes buy-ins to the World Series of<br>Poker main event, five World Poker Tour events, and the Ultimate Poker<br>Challenge&#39;s televised high-stakes cash game. The package also features<br>coaching from Card Player&#39;s 2007 Player of the Year, Michael &quot;The Grinder&quot;<br>Mizrachi. &quot;I&#39;m guaranteed to be on TV, so that&#39;s very cool,&quot; said Carroll,<br>referring to the Ultimate Poker Challenge&#39;s face-time guarantee for its Cash<br>Poker show. &quot;I&#39;ve just been on cloud nine for a week. All of my poker<br>buddies are super envious and wishing it was them. We&#39;re all pretty serious<br>about poker.&quot; Carroll is also particularly eager for his one-on-one poker<br>lesson with Mizrachi. &quot;I&#39;m super excited,&quot; Carroll said. &quot;Just for the<br>chance to meet him . He&#39;s the best player in the world right now.&quot; Carroll<br>started his journey to success by entering a $24 buy-in satellite to the<br>Absolute Dream main event under the screen name &quot;thebombbaby.&quot; He eventually<br>took second place in the satellite tournament, earning half of the $200<br>buy-in to the final event. Carroll put up the remaining half himself and<br>proceeded to plow through the field of more than 500 entrants on his way to<br>victory. As for his home games, Carroll says he only does &quot;OK&quot; against his<br>poker buddies, but he&#39;s hoping to hone his skills to capitalize on the<br>opportunity he&#39;s been given. On whether this experience will be<br>life-changing or simply a fun detour, Carroll says it could go either way.<br>&quot;I&#39;m quite into poker, so I&#39;ve been trying to get my wife to let me quit my<br>job and play,&quot; he said. &quot;Now, of course, she&#39;s all for me going out and<br>doing this. &quot;Some of it will depend on how I do in the tournaments,&quot; Carroll<br>said, &quot;but I do fairly well down in Tunica, Mississippi. I won a $200<br>second-chance tournament for $8,000, which was probably my biggest poker<br>accomplishment up until now.&quot;<p>Absolute Poker has decided to hold the Absolute Dream Package promotion<br>again this month as a result of the success of its inaugural run. The next<br>main event will be held on Sunday, April 8, and qualifiers are currently<br>running to gain entry into the final tournament. Players can qualify through<br>freerolls, $24 satellites (as Carroll did), or buy in directly for $200<br>(plus a $16 entry fee).
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