Campbell Looking for Some Extra Cash

[user101598]

Level 7 : 150/300, 25 ante

Arizona Cardinals defensive end Calais Campbell

On the last break, we spotted a few railbirds talking with a giant of a man. Standing at 6'8", 300 pounds, we assumed that he was a professional athlete of some kind. At that point, the camera phones came out, and the group started talking about the Arizona Cardinals.

"Carson's our guy," the man said, referring to the team's new quarterback Carson Palmer.

He then hinted at his age, saying that in his rookie year he played in Super Bowl XLIII against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

After a few clicks at the PokerNews Live Reporting desk, we discovered that the gentleman is Calais Campbell. Campbell, who is entering his sixth season as a defensive end for the Cardinals, has recorded 262 tackles and 27.5 sacks in his career. As a senior at the University of Miami, Campbell was named to the All-ACC team and earned MVP honors at The U.

Campbell has one small cash in his Hendon Mob profile, and according to WSOPdb.com, this is his first WSOP appearance. He currently sits with 9,000 chips - double the starting stack - and appears to be having a blast at the table.

“I love playing poker and I always watch it on TV so I wanted to take a shot and play in an event. It’s so far tons of fun," he told PokerNews during a break. "I’ve seen a lot of players here at the Rio that I’ve seen on TV so it’s been surreal for me. There are a lot of great players and it feels good to get some reads on a few of them. In my first flight I was intimidated because it was my first event. I lacked confidence so I think it messed with my game and I ended up busting early."

"Now, in my second flight I feel like I can be a professional poker player in my mind. If I played more often I think I would be doing better but it’s definitely not a game I play enough to know advance that far; maybe if I get lucky. I do think I’m making good reads now, making good calls, good folds, and playing how I normally play, just a lot more relaxed the second time around."

When asked if he would be playing in another event, he said, “I plan on playing in maybe three other events, all in no-limit. I’m not sure which ones yet. I have to look at my calendar and plan it out but I will definitely be back for more action.”