5-Minutes to 7-Card Studdom

Thirty-nine-year old Cliff "Bax" Josephy came to the 2005 WSOP to play some hold'em, but it was the $1,500 seven-card stud event that made him $200,000 richer. Nolan Dalla, the WSOP's Media Director, tells Bax's remarkable story over at Poker Player, and it's worth the read to hear how this semi-retired stockbroker received a crash course in seven-card stud from Scott Fischman and Brett Jungblut moments before the event and went on to outlast 472 players and a final table that included the likes of Men "The Master" Nguyen.

In Dalla's piece, Bax confesses:

“I never would have dreamed I could win this event. Stud is made up of good players. It’s not like hold’em where you raise with all your chips and some donkey calls you down with a 10-3 of diamonds. People who enter stud tournaments – most of them know how to play…..except me, of course."

I guess it's true . . . ignorance is bliss, especially when it puts $200,000 in your wallet.

The $1,500 event was this year’s first seven-card stud tournament.