Mastering the poker face

Senior Daniel Kelly isn't a typical college student. Yes, he goes to class, hangs with friends and enjoys a night out from time to time.  And, yes, he looks as ordinary and threatening as a freshman in ACS. But in a world outside the small Villanova community, this mechanical engineering major is a shark and a legend.

Kelly plays poker, but not the kind of poker that friends play in the dorm on a night when there's little else to do. Kelly plays high-stakes tournament poker where the buy-ins range in the thousands — and he's better at it than most. 

This summer, while the rest of us were hitting the beach and unwinding from a long school year, Kelly was in the gambling capital of the world, Las Vegas, where the best in the game gather for a marathon series of poker tournaments known appropriately as the World Series of Poker. Fifty-four events. Millions of dollars at stake. 

"I was planning on winning," Kelly says. "I was confident."

At age 21 and in his first World Series, Kelly left a champion.

In Event 52, the $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed Event, one of the more prestigious of the series, Kelly took home the win, defeating a field of 190 of the biggest names in the game. His prize? A sponsorship, a coveted World Series bracelet and just over $1.3 million. 

Heading into the final table as chip leader, Kelly grinded until he found himself heads-up with Shawn Buchanan. It was a match that wouldn't last long. Kelly was dealt an Ace and a 10, a quality hand with just two players left. After Buchanan raised, he had a decision to make. He could re-raise and basically put everything on the line, or just call and see if he connected. At the time, he still had the chip lead.

"I knew I was four-betting," Kelly says. "I wasn't thrilled about it, but I pretty much knew I was going with it."

After Kelly announced a re-raise, his opponent pushed the rest of his chips in the middle, leaving Kelly with no choice but to call. Buchanan showed a pair of Jacks. If they held up, he'd all but have the tournament wrapped up.  After no help from the first four cards, Kelly needed one of the last three aces on the river to steal the win. Steal it he did. 

"Shock and excitement," Kelly says about his initial feelings when fortune fell in the form of an Ace. "I think I jumped out of my chair a little."

It's a moment every player who sits at the felt dreams of.

But how exactly does a college student from Potomac, Md., reach the pinnacle of poker so quickly?

"It started around freshman year of high school," he says. "The game was really popular then. It was on TV, so we just played a lot of home games. I've put a ton of time into it and a lot of hours."

This past decade, the poker world witnessed a boom unlike any other. After amateur Chris Moneymaker won the 2003 Main Event at the World Series, unknowns from all over came to learn the game in hopes of that life-changing cash. Once the Internet allowed anyone to play anywhere at any time, there was no looking back. Like most young professionals in the game today, Kelly made the transition from those home games to the Internet. 

"At first, I'd have success," he says about his online origins. "I'd win a lot, then lose it. I did that for a while. It took me a few years to learn bankroll management."

Whatever he learned, he learned it well, because starting in 2008, Kelly began raking in serious cashes. That year his two six-figure victories, in addition to a couple other wins, propelled him into the top-10 in the online poker rankings. 

The run of sustained success made it clear to Kelly that a career in poker was where he was leaning. He just had to explain that to his parents.

"At first they really didn't like the idea," he says with a laugh. "But I sat with them to do my taxes and once they started seeing the success and realized it was a viable career, that changed."