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Man Wins $15,000 Trip To Las Vegas In Poker Tournament After Being Made Redundant

Man Wins $15,000 Trip To Las Vegas In Poker Tournament After Being Made Redundant

A week after being made redundant, Ryan Osman won the trip of a lifetime to Las Vegas.

Thomas Thorn

Thomas Thorn

A week after being made redundant, Ryan Osman won the trip of a lifetime to Las Vegas.

Ryan, a last minute tournament entrant from South London, took part in the LADbible x GGPoker WSOP Final Table at Aspers Casino in London on the weekend and bagged himself a poker player's dream holiday - a trip to Vegas and a $10,000 ticket to the iconic World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event in November, courtesy of GG Poker.

The tournament was the main event of the OnlyHands Community meet-up where poker players from around the world were finally able to meet after months of speaking to each other online in our Facebook poker community group OnlyHands.

UFC star Paddy Pimblett, poker pro Lukas Robinson and four qualifiers from the LADbible Poker World Series Wednesday's tournament on GGPoker sat down at the final table in Westfield, Stratford on Saturday.

After two hours of intense poker action it came down to a heads-up battle between Ryan and poker pro Lukas.

The Final Two: Lukas and Ryan
The Final Two: Lukas and Ryan

Ryan, who had just lost his IT job at a company he had been working at for the last nine years, thought his dreams were over when Lukas was victorious with his trip Queens, meaning the South Londoner had missed out on the trip.

However, in an unbelievable act of generosity, as the pair embraced, Lukas offered Ryan the trip to Las Vegas, saying that: "I'm already going to Vegas to play in the WSOP, the trip is yours."

Ryan's face lit up, and he was on the verge of tears as he gleefully accepted Robinson's offer.

As if it wasn't already written in the stars, the 26-year-old was not one of the original qualifiers of the tournament. One player had to vacate their seat at the table due to personal issues and after a random draw from the OnlyHands Community Facebook page was made two days before the tournament took place, Ryan grasped his opportunity with both hands.

"You never expect anything like this to happen to a random, normal guy like me," he said.

"I honestly can't believe it. I had never played in a casino before, this is unreal.

Ryan and Lukas after the tournament
Ryan and Lukas after the tournament

"When it was nearing the end, I was realising my hopes were slim of winning the whole thing, the difference between myself and Lukas was a lot, you could certainly tell who the professional was.

"I thought I'd Hail Mary it at the end with an all-in, as the second place prize of £1k is an incredible amount for me. At that moment I was just buzzing with that as I assumed I'd be out first.

"Then when Lukas dropped the bomb, my face just dropped, probably the most shocked I've ever been. It is definitely one of the happiest moments ever for me and I celebrated for the rest of the night with plenty of beers."

The night before the tournament, Ryan had featured in a charity boxing match, raising money for the mental health charity MIND and was sporting a scar and a black eye from the fight.

Ryan's face after the charity boxing match
Ryan's face after the charity boxing match

That's the least of his worries though, as he will now be jetting off to Sin City in November to play with some of the biggest names in poker including GGPoker ambassador Daniel Negreanu, and Phil Ivey.

Previous winner of the WSOP Main Event, Hossein Entan won a huge $10,000,000 with second place collecting $6,000,000. 8,569 players took part in the 2019 WSOP and whilst the 2020 WSOP was cancelled due to COVID, this year's tournament is set to be the biggest one yet.

After the week he's just had, anything is possible in Vegas....

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Topics: UK News, Community