Lincoln man to compete in World Series of Poker
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BY CINDY LANGE-KUBICK / Lincoln Journal Star
Josh Pitstick has poker dreams. In his dreams he’s sitting in a big Vegas casino with the big boys playing for the big money. Recently the 32-year-old Lincoln man moved a little closer to that final table. He won a spot in the World Series of Poker.
“I took down a hundred of the top players on the Web site. Almost all of my poker dreams came true on that one night.”
When the three-and-a-half hour online tournament was over and he came out on top, the man from Modesto, Calif., let it all hang out.
“Honestly, I’m a 6-foot-3, 300-pound man and I just started crying.”
Pitstick loves Texas Hold ‘Em, the seven card poker sensation that has stolen the hearts and bankrolls of thousands.
For six or seven hours a day he’s in his office at home in north Lincoln, dialed into Poker Host, one of dozens of online poker sites in the country.
“It’s a second job that I love.”
He started playing poker while in the Navy in the mid-’90s. Now he’s all about the cards.
He doesn’t consider playing poker a gamble.
“It’s an acquired skill.”
He met his fiance at 2 a.m. one night, playing Hold ‘Em at Harrah’s Casino in Omaha.
She sat across the table. He liked her smile. He liked her personality. He took all her money.
He proposed to her in that same poker room, got down on one knee and everything.
He and Stephanie Findley are getting married in August. But first they’ll go to Binion’s Casino in Vegas where Pitstick will compete with 3,000 other poker players for a chance at the big bucks.
All the big boys — and girls —should be there.
Poker Host is paying his way to Nevada and his entry fee into the game.
The top 100 players will take home cash, says Pitstick whose day job is at a collection agency.
Poker king Phil Ivey should be in the top tier. So should Doyle Brunson. Daniel Nagraneu. Annie Duke. Phil Hellmuth.
The big man from Modesto is confident he has the skills to compete with the big names.
“I’m the life of the table,” he says. “I’ve yet to make a top tournament where I didn’t make the money.”
Reach Cindy Lange-Kubick at 473-7218 or clangekubick@journalstar.com.
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