On Poker Night in America one amateur and seven pros sat down to play a high-stakes game. Before the first hand was dealt, amateur Gene Drubetskoy put down a brick of $10,000 worth of 20 dollar bills. It was his first high-stakes game on the made-for-TV poker game as a Washington Post article states. Drubetskoy is a 33 year old from Maryland and works his day job as a mortgage consultant. The amateur got on Poker Night in America through the open casting call sent out by the show.
The producers of the show had invited professional poker players from all around the world but to add another dimension to the storyline they sent out the casting call to print in an amateur as well. Nolan Dalla, creative director for Poker Night in America, mentioned that they wanted to make the television good by bringing in the best of the best but the show is also aiming to create new stars.
Drubetskoy had played at the Maryland Live poker room on many occasions but usually at stakes from $2 to $10 on no limit hold’em tables. While the amateur joked that not much was different, “it’s just poker,” the stakes were much higher than he has ever played before. Situated at $25 and $50 with a minimum buy-in of $5,000 there was a total of $68,500 up for grabs on the table when the cameras started rolling.
The amateur was sitting amongst some of the best in the world including Greg Merson, winner of the main event in the 2012 World Series of Poker. Amongst the seven pros at the table there were nine World Series of Poker championship bracelets spread among them. Drubetskoy felt honored to sit with such esteemed individuals.
By the time the cameras stopped rolling, Drubetskoy had lost his $10,000 in a $30,000 pot when he held two kings and professional David Baker held two aces. Drubetskoy put another $10,000 in before the broadcast came to a close.
