Student Nets $1M During Poker Tournament

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Newly minted poker millionaire Mike Schneider has one regret about how he spent his spring break: He didn't get to see much of the Caribbean.

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But Schneider has a million other reasons to be happy. The 22-year-old University of Minnesota student won $1 million in a high-stakes Limit Hold'em poker tournament on a Caribbean cruise last Friday.

Instead of exploring the Cayman Islands with the other passengers during the eight-day cruise, Schneider holed up on board, slept in and relaxed in the sun so he would be in good form for the nail-biting tournament, which lasted five to eight hours a day.

"I can take another vacation now to make up for it," Schneider said Wednesday, when he was back in class working on his journalism degree.

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The soft-spoken student from Eagan has been playing poker professionally for a couple of years, but he took the cruise with a group of buddies to relax — not play. He ended up borrowing some of the $10,500 he needed to buy into the PartyPoker.com Million V tournament.

In just his second high-stakes tournament, he became the youngest player ever to win the PartyPoker.com event when his queen-10 combination beat the jack-6 hand held by veteran Kenna James. Schneider wore mirrored sunglasses and a baseball cap turned backward.

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The eight-day cruise went from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to Jamaica and the Cayman Islands and back. Some 528 players entered the tournament to compete for $5.28 million in prizes. It's the world's biggest Limit Hold'em tournament, according to the PartyPoker.com Web site.

Most champion poker players don't bring along a posse of friends to root for them — but Schneider traveled with 15 of them. As he advanced in a shrinking pool of players, they stood on chairs and cheered like he was a sports team.

When he won the final game, they erupted.

"He was absolutely blown away by winning," said Warren Lush, a spokesman for PartyGaming.com, the parent company of PartyPoker.com.

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Schneider expects to net about $600,000 after taxes. A cut will go to the eight friends who fronted money for him to play. He said he plans to use some money for now and put the rest in savings until he decides where to invest it.