An Illowa farmer has won a seven-hour poker game to progress to competing against the country's top players for a slice of more than $100,000 at a tournament in early 2024.
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Luke Ryan, a 38-year-old dairy farmer, competed at the four-day Australian Poker League Million event on the Gold Coast.
He placed first in the hyper-turbo tournament, a fast-paced Texas hold'em game, winning $2770 and an invitation to compete in the Gold Coast in January which has a prize pool of at least $100,000.
"It's pretty exciting, just the fact you're up against some of the best players in Australia is pretty cool," Mr Ryan said.
He said the game ended at 4am on Sunday, August 27, after running for about seven hours.
"It was nice to get the win by the end of it because it's such a long time to sit there and concentrate," Mr Ryan said.
He also played alongside his wife, Hayley, in the doubles, where they placed 10th out of 150 winning $600.
Mr Ryan met Hayley about seven years ago while playing poker in Warrnambool.
"Since I met her we've had three kids and got married so it's actually a real cool thing to do something together we enjoy and have some time alone (without the children at the tournament)," he said.
Mr Ryan became interested in poker about 20 years ago when his football club mates taught him how to play.
"It's a good way to meet people and poker is a good way of being competitive and enjoying something else other than work," he said.
Mr Ryan was one of about 12 people from the south-west to participate in the two-week competition, including Hamilton's Jason Shepherd.
Mr Shepherd beat 112 Victorian and interstate players at Warrnambool's Rafferty's Tavern in July to progress to the Gold Coast competition.
He said it was important for south-west players to have local tournaments they could play in.
"We'd love to see more support in Hamilton and we don't want to lose our regular weekly game," Mr Shepherd.
He has played poker in Hamilton for the past 15 to 20 years when some friends invited him over to play.
APL Southwest Vic manager Johnathan Munro said games ran every week in Warrnambool, Hamilton, Portland and Koroit with between 20 to 30 players, reaching upwards of 40 or 50 on "bigger nights".
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Lillian Altman
Lillian is an experienced journalist who joined Warrnambool Standard in late 2021. She has a particular interest in writing stories on the arts and culture, health, education, breaking news, police stories, as well as human interest and profiles.
Lillian is an experienced journalist who joined Warrnambool Standard in late 2021. She has a particular interest in writing stories on the arts and culture, health, education, breaking news, police stories, as well as human interest and profiles.
