Family Fun: Marie Harrell and 21-year-old Son Trey Play Main Event
For Marie Harrell and her son Trey, playing in the Main Event was a family affair. She’s been playing for the last seven years or so, and started playing tournaments last year. Marie didn’t make it through Day 2AB, but Trey continues to play in Day 2C and is hoping for a deeper run. Not bad for a 21-year-old in his first WSOP Main Event.
“I encouraged Trey to play even though he is in college, because he has a strategic mind,” Marie says. “He was a chess state champ as a young boy and has always excelled at games.”
That might be an understatement. Trey didn’t plunk down his own money to enter, or his mom’s. The junior at the University of South Florida won his entry in the Tampa Bay Elite Poker League.
Trey battled it out with about 30 league members every Thursday for 20 weeks. The top four in points at the end of the season received a Main Event package, and Trey came out on top.”
Proud mom moment.Congrats to my son Trey who won a $10k WSOP MainEvent seat last night after 20 weeks of tough batt… https://t.co/ou6Gl7dnVd
— marieh (@mbharr35)
How did that first hand feel when he took his seat in the Rio on Wednesday?
“It was exciting,” he says. “I was actually pretty calm. I didn’t get very nervous.”
At the first break in the action, Trey had about 55,000 chips. In the second to last hand before the break, he lost about half his stack. He had two pair and his opponent rivered a straight flush. It was a tough blow, but he’s determined to battle back.
Trey: “I’m just taking it one day at a time and trying to figure it out."
“I can battle back,” he says. “I’ve got plenty of blinds.”
In college, Trey is studying business but admits he’s not the best student and does just enough to get by. At the poker felt, however, he’s found that he excels. Back in Tampa in the poker league, he was nicknamed the “Fedor of TBEPL” for his poker skills, but also for his resemblance to the poker legend.
In the 200th week of the league, Trey was in sixth place but won the final tournament to leapfrog five other players for the championship. It was his second win of the season. Trey and his mother Marie are the only card players in the family – his brother and sister don’t play. Mom and son often talk poker and bounce hands and strategies off each other.
As far as his career goals, he’s still not quite sure. He’s studying business and poker so far is just a side pursuit.
“I’m just taking it one day at a time and trying to figure it out,” he says. “I’ll probably do something in the business world.”
This Floridian got into poker playing micro stakes and for free online and with friends.
“For me it just came naturally,” he says. “I play a lot of chess and a lot of those people graduate to poker and so it just happened like that.”
Surprisingly, he hasn’t played with his mother very often, so the experience at the WSOP has been a nice one. Marie has a bit over $43,000 in tournament winnings since she started playing tournaments. Her best finish came in a $1,500 buy-in WPTDeepStacks Jacksonville Main Event where she finished ninth for $11,428. She got into the game when her ex-husband hosted a home game and decided he didn't like playing. She took his spot and loved it – and winning helped.
At the dinner break, Marie took Try out for a bite to eat and is proud of his accomplishments.
"It's been great," Marie says of their time at the WSOP. "A mother and her son playing, it's a dream."
As he continues into Day 2, has Marie been giving him tips?
"No, he much better than I am," she says, "in a very short time."
Trey says he definitely has a cool mom. Along with school, he also works as a cashier at a grocery store to make some extra bucks. If he can build his stack up and keep advancing, he’s hoping he’s on the other side of the cashier this week.
Sean Chaffin is a freelance writer in Crandall, Texas. His work appears in numerous websites and publications. Follow him on Twitter @PokerTraditions. He is also the host of the True Gambling Stories podcast, available on iTunes, Google Play, TuneIn Radio, Spotify, Stitcher, PokerNews.com, HoldemRadio.com, and TrueGamblingStories.com.
