Hong Kong to Wolverhampton: Steicke Swaps Poker for EPL
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Poker players love to wear sports gear. You could walk into any casino in the world, and there would be dozens of people sporting shirts and hoodies of their favorite teams and athletes. Greg Merson, Ryan Riess, and Joe McKeehen have all become world champions while dressed in their MLB, NFL and NBA jerseys. Even the defending Aussie Millions Main Event champion Bryn Kenney has a long history of sports-related dress.
But it's not so often that one can spot the colors of Wolverhampton Wanderers. Even less so, when it comes to Australian players.
However, David Steicke has been proudly showcasing his support for the soccer team from England's West Midlands. On Day 2 of the Main Event, Steicke's outfit was gold and black from top to bottom. The hat, the shirt, the shorts, all featuring the Wolves logo. There's no doubt Steicke truly holds the Wolverhampton Wanderers dear.
An Unlikely Connection
While cricket might dominate the TV screens at Crown Melbourne all day, Steicke found his passion for a sport that might be tops in Europe, but not in Australia. Still, Steicke's passion for soccer started more than 40 years ago.
During one of the first games of English football he ever watched, Steicke connected with the Wanderers.
"It's been a 40-year wait for me and, being a lifelong supporter through thick and thin, I'm glad I'm still alive to see this"
"I decided to choose a team, and I went with the underdog, which was the Wolves," he said, recalling the last game of the 1975-76 season which propelled him to make the decision. "Wolves had to win the game to stay up, and Liverpool had to win the game to take the title."
Wolves went 1-0 up, but eventually lost 3-1, and got relegated.
"Then we were sort of below-average team for the next 40 years," Steicke admitted.
While the international fans usually pick some of the most achieving sports teams to associate with, Steicke has remained loyal to the Wolves ever since.
"I have a box at Wolverhampton, which seats about 10 people," he said. "And I go to maybe every second game. I go almost once a month to the United Kingdom, and I try to punch up the games together."
"I've Swapped Out Poker for Wolves"
Originally from Murray Grounds, where he'd grown up, Steicke now resides in Hong Kong. That's a 6,000-mile trip to Wolverhampton��one way.
Well known in the poker community, Steicke used to appear in the super high roller fields before those events became every-week regularities. But with his time-consuming travels to the Molineux Stadium, poker doesn't occupy as much time in Steicke's life anymore.
"I've swapped out poker for Wolves, basically," he said. "It's been that way for the last four or five years."
Indeed, Steicke has cashed just five times total since 2016, after typically having many per year before that.
This choice has proved very rewarding recently, though. Wolves currently sit in sixth place in the Premier League, tied in points with Manchester United and ahead of the likes of Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal. They've also made it to the spring stages of the Europa League.
Who'd have thought that only seven years ago when the Wolves suffered their second consecutive relegation, dropping to the third tier of the English football system.
"It's been a 40-year wait for me and, being a lifelong supporter through thick and thin, I'm glad I'm still alive to see this," the 57-year-old said.
At the 2020 Aussie Millions
Supporting the Wolves from his box at Molineux has become a priority in Steicke's life, but he still found time to compete in Aussie Millions, which he called his top poker priority along with the World Series of Poker. The demise of the Macau scene cut down on his local options.
His efforts so far in 2020 have been met with some success. Before entering the Main Event, in which he's advanced to Day 3, Steicke played only the 8-game event, notching a 3rd place finish for A$22,050 to add to his $3.8 million resume at The Hendon Mob.
Steicke used the benefit of the extended late registration in the championship event, skipping the starting flights altogether. The reason was obvious: soccer in the early morning, with NFL playoff games following.
"They've done a pretty good job in this establishment"
Steicke has been regularly attending Aussie Millions for over a decade, and seeing the tournament to evolve into these proportions might remind him a little of the Wolves story.
Aussie Millions, like Wanderers, have undoubtedly earned their place in the big league. Getting an 800-player field for the third straight year has been a great accomplishment. Watching the premier poker event in his home country grow into an international destination event gives Steicke cause to compliment the organizing team.
"In terms of the numbers, it's a pretty sexy achievement because there haven't been online qualifiers for some time," Steicke said. "They've done a pretty good job in this establishment."
The record wasn't broken this year, but Steicke tried to help out at the buzzer.
"I was about 819," he said. "I was trying to be the last one."
While he fell just short of being the last player to walk in, he certainly hopes to become the last one to walk out.
