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Brendan Mahoney grew up with a golf club in his hand, and the 21-year old Milton resident has won his fair share of competitions on the golf course.

Mahoney's also pretty good with another kind of club - the kind that helps him win poker games.

So good, in fact, that he earned a spot to play poker at the highest level. He was in Las Vegas last month, where he played at the featured table in the World Series of Poker, the renowned no-limit Texas Hold 'Em tournament. His time in the spotlight will be broadcast on ESPN in September.

Mahoney earned the opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the biggest names in poker by winning an online tournament held by the website Ultimate Bet, which sponsored his trip. For a $50 investment, he ended up with a $10,000 seat at the main event, as well as $2,000 in spending money and additional prizes.

"I guess it's always been kind of a dream to play in the World Series, because you see it on TV, and it looks crazy," he said. "I always played poker on and off since high school, but never seriously. . . . School was always my number one priority."

Mahoney attends Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla., where he has been a member of the golf team. But a downturn in his golf game gave him some spare time to play poker, where he found a new sense of competition.

"Last year I went down to school with the intention of playing golf, but I missed three or four straight cuts for tournaments, so I got a little frustrated. I decided to take some time off because I felt like I was getting a little burned out," he remembered.

He was one of over 6,400 players at the World Series of Poker tournament, held July 3-14 at the Rio Hotel on the Vegas strip. But as he entered the huge hall for day one, he realized that he would be one of the 10 players at the "featured table," with TV lights and cameras pointed at him. The table was surrounded by stadium seating, where his girlfriend, Kelly O'Connor, of Seneca Falls, N.Y., observed the action. Seated next to him was one of the most famous names in poker.

"The featured table revolved around Scotty Nguyen, who is like the Phil Mickelson of poker," Mahoney said. "And I was in awe, because I knew what that meant, to be at the featured table. It was just blind luck that I ended up there. And after every hour that we played, I would just get up and look around and take it all in, because it was such a crazy experience.

The age for online poker is 18, and the competitors at the World Series have to be 21. Mahoney was the youngest player at the featured table, but there were other young players at the tournament, he said.

His parents, Paul and Pat Mahoney, had to drag the details of the poker tournament out of their youngest child.

"I started hearing rumors up at Wollaston" - the golf club the family belongs to in Milton - "about the fact that he was going to Las Vegas for this tournament," said Paul Mahoney.

"I told him if what I'm hearing is true, it seems like an honor, but I didn't send him to Florida to be playing poker online," the elder Mahoney said with a chuckle. "It sounds to me like the time he's putting into poker could be better spent on his school work."

"My parents definitely don't like the fact that I play poker, but I think it has to do with the fact that they grew up in a different generation, and this technology wasn't around," Brendan Mahoney said. "Granted, I'm not going to spend the rest of my life playing poker, but it was a good experience and I think out of poker I got a lot of skills in terms of managing my money and good concentration skills, patience."

Majoring in business administration, with a minor in finance, Mahoney compares poker to the stock market, where a small investment can become a big financial gain. But he points out that you have to know your limits.

His playing time at the World Series ended the second day, where he was eliminated after a "bad beat," a term used to describe an against-the-odds loss. But of the original 6,400 players, he was better than well over half, he said, and wouldn't trade the experience for the world.

"I learned a lot, and I met some really interesting people," he said. "Now I'm looking forward to heading back to Eckerd for my senior year. I'm really getting back into playing golf again, and having fun."

He also plans on using the lessons he's learned from both his passions to find more success in life, if he plays his cards right.

Written by Kathy Kurtz Ferrari

boston.com