One of the “x-factors” in this year’s World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event is Wichita, Kansas native Brandon Steven. Steven has been able to keep a level head about his deep run in the WSOP Main Event and was the final table’s bubble boy.
In a report from his hometown newspaper, the Wichita Eagle, written by Carrie Rengers, many of his family and friends thought that reports of his demise at the WSOP Main Event were imminent when it was reported online that he was sitting on 121,000 in chips. “They just missed a zero,” Steven is quoted as saying in the report; he was actually stacked with 1.21 million in chips and was in the middle of the pack during Day 6.
Steven has been a part of the tournament poker world for at least the last half of the 2000s, earning his first cash in 2006 at the Five Diamond World Poker Classic in a $5,000 No Limit event. The occasional high-stakes Las Vegas cash game player has been able to earn at least one cash each year since then, with a high mark being a 30th place finish in a $1,500 No Limit event in 2007. Although he only has career earnings of $55,056 according to the HendonMob database, it can be extrapolated that Steven has done quite well in the cash game arena.
The 36 year old father of five has been a veteran of four WSOP Main Events, but 2010 is the first time that he has cashed in the tournament. He also seems to have the philanthropic side that epitomizes the world of poker; he was the leading money raiser for research into leukemia and was named Man of the Year for his efforts. The minimum $635,000 payout for 10th place will probably not only benefit Steven’s future poker endeavors, but also a highly deserving charitable organization.
Poker News Daily caught up with Brandon Steven for an exclusive video interview.