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Patrick Fagen, 22, a network engineer from Urbandale, used to make fun of his college roommates and their apparent obsession with playing poker.

His roommate, Matt McCartney, 23, of Des Moines dropped out of the University of Iowa to play poker full time and work the Poker Room at Riverside Casino and Resort.

Fagen would give them a hard time when they would lose and shake his head when they got excited when they won. He didn't understand the game. He didn't understand the draw.

He was more interested in studying for classes.

That is, until he discovered the amount of money that could be won.

"It opened my eyes to the potential money you can make. ... For me it's a very high-profitable hobby," Fagen said. "Some people collect coins and trains, I play poker and make good money off of it."

He finished third, winning $37,054, in a World Series of Poker No-Limit Texas Hold' em circuit event at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas April 26. Since January, he has won $51,179.

"He would make fun of us and he was terrible to start with, but apparently, he has a handle on it," McCartney said.

Fagen decided to fly to Las Vegas and live with another roommate who has gone pro playing poker.

"The money is nice, obviously. My roommate in college makes six figures. And he taught pretty much everything when I lived with him," he said.

The advice paid off - literally.

Fagen, with his 205,000 chip count, sat next to famed poker professionals Chris Ferguson and Phil Gordon, both of whom would not finish in the top 10.

"It was exciting and slightly intimidating at the same time, but more so exciting. I sat to the right of Phil Gordon for two hours and he makes millions at this," Fagen said. "But Payton Manning throws interceptions every once in a while. Everyone makes mistakes, you've just got to find them and exploit them."

That he did. The 191 players who started the tournament, which lasted 14 hours, were whittled down to 10. Fagen was No. 9.

"He studies a lot harder than anyone I ever knew. He understands the math a lot better than the rest of us, which is very key," McCartney said. "A lot of people think it's a game of luck and chance, but there's a lot of number's involved and probabilities.

"He's definitely a smart kid. There's a range of hands a player could have and you have to figure out the probabilities and percentage of your chance to win on a certain hand."

Then came the final hand. Pocket nines. He went all-in. He didn't wait for the rest of the cards to be dealt. Ted Lawson, who would win the tournament with $120,054, had pocket queens. He called.

The rest of the cards were dealt. Q-J-3-7-9. Fagen's three nines lost to three queens.

"To me it's just kind of textbook poker and he happened to have queens," Fagen said.

Fagen said he probably won't go pro like his roommate. But he's thinking about it.

"I have a pretty stress-free job right now," he said. "You need to make a lot of money to go pro."

Written by Tom Barton

desmoinesregister.com