PokerNews Qualifier, Navy Veteran Tom Pierce Takes on the NAPT Main Event
Tom Pierce, a Navy veteran from Wyoming, won a contest through PokerNews for a trip to Las Vegas to compete in the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Main Event.
The NAPT Gold Pass contest winner who appeared on the PokerNews Podcast to accept his prize competed in the biggest tournament of his life. He is a recreational player who'd never entered a poker tournament with a buy-in even as high as $1,000. The cost to play the NAPT Main Event for anyone who didn't win a seat? $5,300.
Meet the Qualifier
Pierce, 58, grew up in Fort Collins, Colorado and has six children and six grandchildren. He served four years with the Naval Aircrew, which helped lead him to his current career in the aviation industry as an aircraft mechanic for the the past 38 years, now working for the University of Wyoming.
Poker has long been a favorite hobby for Pierce, who loves to spend time with his kids and grandkids. He told PokerNews he learned how to play poker from his grandmother.
"We played penny ante games to help me learn to count, preparing me for school. Five-card and seven-card stud was the game then and as I progressed through school a few years I remember this new game called Texas hold'em that my dad and friends started to play on poker nights at the house in Colorado," Pierce said.
Pierce has a full-time job and a family, so he can't play cards all the time. But he said he makes a trip to Las Vegas "a couple times a year" to play poker, and plays in some local cash games, mostly $1/$2 and $2/$5. He also plays online once in a while.
"I like to play Omaha but mostly play NLH here in Laramie. We sprinkle in some Omaha double board bomb pots with a little pineapple here and there. Shout out to my new friends at Poker on the Poudre in the Fort Collins area I attended this year and my friends here at the local game in Laramie," Pierce said.
Pierce moved to Laramie, Wyoming within the past year after having spent five years in Las Vegas working at the Executive Airport in Henderson. The NAPT Gold Pass winner watches the PokerNews Podcast each week, and said Kyna England is his favorite host on the show.
Pierce spent much of Day 1b seated at the same table as Jordan Handrich, one of the current PokerStars Big Game on Tour Season 2 "Loose Cannon's." He battled deep into the session but was eliminated before the day ended. Despite the Day 1 elimination, he gained some valuable experience competing in a major poker tournament.
