Cranfill Looking for Success in Cherokee

At 14 months old, Josh Cranfill was diagnosed with Werdnig-Hoffman Disease, a form of Spinal Muscular Atrophy. It's a degenerative muscle disease that weakens the muscles in the body until they eventually die. Poker is unquestionably Cranfill's favorite hobby, and he's here in Cherokee with his father Shorty to compete for a World Series of Poker Circuit ring.

Since Black Friday, grinding his become increasingly more difficult for the wheelchair-stricken North Carolinian. Online poker allowed Cranfill to fire up a game and play whenever he wanted too, but when he plays live poker, he has to rely on his father for travel, and not every home game in the state is wheelchair accessible.

In 2009, Cranfill traveled to Las Vegas to compete in the World Series of Poker. In 2012, he finished seventh in a WSOP-C side event at the Palm Beach Kennel Club.

When he's not grinding, the Elon University graduate is fulfilling his duties as the vice president of the North Carolina Electric Wheelchair Hockey Association, a non-profit organization that offers the sport of hockey to those who have physical disabilities and are confined to an electric wheelchair.

We'll keep an eye on Cranfill as he tries to amass a stack here on Day 1b.