Looking Sharpe, So Far

Perhaps the greatest tight end to ever play football is here playing the greatest poker event in the world. Ex-Bronco’s standout Shannon Sharpe has drawn Day 3 and is holding his own. Sharpe’s only been playing poker for about 6 months now but says, "I'm approaching this like I would football or any other competition. It's all about being focused and prepared. I've started training with Mark and I'm getting better every day.” That’s poker pro Mark Seif he's talking about, who is also in on the action today, though last report suggests he may be hitting the sidelines sometime soon. Both Seif and Sharpe have been drafted by online site Absolute Poker.

Speaking of greatest, Greg Amoils, a Brit from London playing over on table 119, is an unlikely candidate for Sharpe’s greatest fan. You wouldn’t expect a Londoner to worship a football player, American style, but when WCP’s Snake was talking with WSOP’s Heather Allman about Sharpe’s presence here today, Amoils immediately turned in his seat and asked, with almost gitty excitement, “Sharpe’s playing? Really? Where is his table?” Amoils explained that Sharpe is one of the 3 people in the world he wanted to meet most and that he has three golden retrievers back in London named Elway, Terrell and Sharpe. Amoils then decided missing a few hands was worth the trip over to see his idol, so Snake personally escorted him over to Sharpe’s table, where the former NFL great was nice enough to sign Amoils’ Broncos cap (click on bottom right photo to see up close).

Is the newly penned cap bringing Amoils any luck? Well he looks to be in decent shape with about $28,000 in chips. Sharpe, meanwhile is sitting with about $9k after being up around $13k.