Faces in the Crowd: The Traveler, The Fisherman, & The Ex-Accountant

July 02, 2018

As the Crazy Eights (sponsored by 888poker) continued into the afternoon, players from every part of the world were jumping in the third flight yesterday – hoping for a bracelet and that top prize of $888,888.

PokerNews caught up with a few of the players in the field to tell their own unique stories – ranging from a retired former accountant turned poker pro, to a real estate investor, to a poker nomad who travels the world playing cards – and mixes in some mountain climbing.

THE KING OF TRAVEL

Nick Reynolds stands out in the crowd of players. His entire sweatsuit is designed as the character of a playing card king. Whether he’s dealt kings or not, he’s always got one. And whether he wins or loses, Reynolds is happy. For this Englishman, poker is a means to an end.

“I want to travel the world and I do that by playing poker,” he says. “I like the journey you go through when you're in a poker tournament.”

So far, Reynolds has spent time in Spain, several African countries, and Slovenia – with Latvia up next. This is Reynolds’ first trip to the WSOP, but after a couple nice finishes in Europe he wanted to try and make just enough in poker to fund his travel.

“I like trying new things – new foods, new people, and learning new languages.”

“Basically last year I came into a lot of money and instead of doing the normal thing, which is to just continue earning money until you're old and gray and then can't travel, I thought let's take some time out travel the world and play poker,” he says. “I want to be a break-even poker player and travel the world for free. That’s my plan.”

When at a new locale, Reynolds hits the casino for about four days of poker and then another six days exploring. He enjoys hiking, mountain climbing, paragliding, and anything else that piques his interest. So far, he’s climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and in the Alps. He also lived in Tanzania for a while, which is where he learned to play poker.

“I like trying new things – new foods, new people, and learning new languages,” he says.

Poker isn’t his only income. Reynolds also does some cryptocurrency investing, trades in coffee, and sells currency from Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation period on eBay. Under dictator Robert Mugabe, the country actually produced bills in the billions and trillions of dollars, but were virtually worthless because of inflation. The currency has become collectible and Reynolds says he is one of the biggest traders in the world of the currency.

While he busted the Crazy Eights by mid-afternoon, Reynolds jumped in a Daily DeepStacks and was hoping for a better run. So far his first trip to Vegas is not going well at the tables, but he’s taking it in stride and having fun nonetheless.

“I can't hit anything,” he says. “I'm being being coolered left, right, and center. I've always got my money in good, but that's okay because it's make me a better player.”

FISHING & FIXER-UPPERS

Reeling in a 65-pound fish may not seem like it has much to do with poker. But Jeff Demmings knows the patience and tenacity it takes to pull in a lunker of a catfish – he’s done it. And as someone who regularly purchases houses to renovate and resell, he is always expecting the unexpected and ready to adjust.

“When everything doesn't go right, you've just got to ride it out. You’ve got to take the good with the bad.”

“Patience – you've got to have patience in everything you do,” he says. “When everything doesn't go right, you've just got to ride it out. You’ve got to take the good with the bad.”

The Crazy EIghts was his first event this summer, but he played in two last summer. Demmings also plans to play the Main Event. He doesn’t have a cash yet, but working on it.

As the owner of his own company, his schedule allows him occasionally to get away for a pker tournament. His stack wasn’t quite where he wanted it, but moving in the right direction.

“I just doubled up,” he says. “So that’s pretty good.”

SKIPPING THE AUDIT

After five years of credits, debits, balance sheets, and analyzing data, Will Corvino decided he’d had enough with accounting and working as an auditor. Corvino spent a lot of time playing poker on the East Coast in places like the Borgata and Parx casinos.

“I just got tired of the really long hours and decided to give poker a shot full time,” he says.

“Poker's really pretty simple math, so it's not really too much on the accounting side.”

So far, so good. Corvino has $168,266 in live tournament cashes and in October snagged the biggest cash of his career. He finished runner-up in the $1,200 No Limit Hold'em Big Stax event at the Parx for $89,784.

Back in New York, the former accountant is a big sports fan and cheers for the Yankees, Knicks, and Giants. While many may see the math involved with accounting, Corvino says the two don’t actually complement each other.

“Poker's really pretty simple math, so it's not really too much on the accounting side,” he says.

After the second break in mid-afternoon, he’d worked his stack up to 73,000 and was pleased to be building it up and hoping for another score after hitting a few cashes around Vegas this summer.

“I’ve had some decent runs this summer,” he says. “Nothing crazy. But this might be the one.”

Sean Chaffin is a freelance writer in Crandall, Texas. His work appears in numerous websites and publications. Follow him on Twitter @PokerTraditions. He is also the host of the True Gambling Stories podcast, available on iTunes, Google Play, TuneIn Radio, Spotify, Stitcher, PokerNews.com, HoldemRadio.com, and TrueGamblingStories.com.

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