Neil Blumenfield is used to being "old" at the poker table. In fact, this is something a 61-year-old man is usually very pleased with.
"If the rest of the table thinks I'm just an old man to hang out with all day, that's fine," he says with a smile. "I can definitely take advantage of the situation, trust me, it used to be."
Unfortunately for Blumenfield, when he sits down to play on poker's grandest stage in November at the Rio All Suites Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, his cover will already be flying. When the cards come out at the last table of the 2015 World Series Poker Main Event, every poker player will have a good idea of who he is, and he won't even be the oldest contestant on the table. The honor is given to Pierre Neuville of Belgium, who is the oldest September in history at 72, a whopping 15 years old.
Blumenfield reminds us that the two true seniors are part of the final table that lasted 6,420 fields, and he is quite aware that the average age of a main event champion over the past seven years is 23.
"Let's face it by chance: It's a young man's game," he said. "But this year, we got 94-year-old William Wachter in cash at the main event. You put me and Pierre at the last table. I think that's a good thing for the game. For me and Pierre to have a chance to win is a great indicator that men our age can be competitive in this new era of poker. I take great pride in that." 바카라사이트 순위
Also, being an older politician offers Blumenfield a unique perspective, especially considering what happened in his life away from poker just before the main event began in July. Having lived in Northern California for nearly 30 years, Blumenfield from Chicago is a software industry veteran. In 2008, he co-founded Elastic Intelligence Inc., which was purchased by Intuit in 2013. Blumenfield stayed as a sales engineering manager, but was fired 10 days before the main event to prepare to play at the WSOP.