Arkansas Veteran Secures Free Seat to December’s WPT World Championship

Summary:

• Chace McKamie qualified for the record-breaking tournament via ClubWPT
• He hopes to win the tournament in honor of his deceased twin brother who was also a huge poker fan
• McKamie has already made plans on what he will do if he claims the title

One lucky player from Arkansas gets the chance of a lifetime after winning his way into the $10,400 million buy-in World Poker Tour (WPT) World Championship this December.

Chace McKamie qualified for the tournament by playing on ClubWPT, the WPT’s official subscription-based online poker platform.

Arkansas Veteran Believes He Can Win

McKamie outclassed around 1,500 opponents in the ClubWPT qualifier to secure his seat in the WPT World Championship which will award a staggering $40 million guarantee, the largest guaranteed prize pool ever offered in a single poker tournament.

McKamie, an Iraq war veteran, began playing poker at nine years old. Since then, he has maintained an interest in the game, though he never attempted to pursue a career out of it. Even so, he remains a huge fan of the game, following the journeys of some of the world’s most successful poker pros.

 

McKamie, who currently works for Goodyear on 12-hour shifts, developed a bigger passion for poker a few years ago when he lost his twin brother who was his poker buddy. As a coping mechanism, he studied the game and played more.

The 35-year-old considers himself an amateur player but he is optimistic about the prospect of going up against the elites and winning the historic tournament.

In an interview with a local news outlet, McKamie said he has an edge against the best poker pros – he knows their game as he watches them all the time, but those guys never saw him play poker. That sounds ambitious, but the poker world has a few stories to share about amateurs outclassing poker veterans.

McKamie Eyes Life-Changing Victory

Claiming the WPT World Championship title would be a life-changing moment for McKamie. The winner is guaranteed to walk away with an estimated $6 million as top prize – that would be enough for McKamie to start a new life with his wife and their five children.

Should he win the record-breaking tournament, McKamie said he would leave his current work (building tires for Goodyear) and use the prize money to pursue other endeavors. He could help his wife start a local business, which has always been her dream.

But above all, Chace McKamie is just grateful for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of sharing a table with his poker heroes, honoring his twin brother, and potentially embarking on a new life with his family.