The Curious Case of Pauly "Walnuts" Bianchi

Some players look forward to partaking in the World Series of Poker Main Event, even planning their trip a year or more in advance. Then there is Pauly "Walnuts" Bianchi, a Chicagoland player who didn't decide to play until late last night.

You see, late Sunday night, a group of Chicago players were deep in a poker game when the idea was floated of getting someone in the 2014 WSOP Main Event. The problem was there was only one remaining starting flight beginning in less than 12 hours and they had only managed to pool together $1,200, well short of the $10,000 buy-in.

After the game broke earlier this morning, the motley crew decided to do what any true degens would do and headed to the local casino to try and spin it up playing blackjack. The problem was the closest gaming venue, the Rivers Casino, closes their table games at 7:00 a.m., so by the time they got there, they literally only had time to play three hands.

With a "go big or go home" attitude, the group promptly placed a $1,200 bet, which they won. The next bet of $2,400 turned into $4,800, and on the third hand they let it ride. The group ended up making a 20 with the dealer showing a seven, and Bianchi literally started dancing and yelling, "I'm going to Vegas."

The 20 held, and the group left the casino with $9,500 — still shy of the buy-in, but close enough to drum up a couple thousand more from another investor to cover expenses. Just like that Bianchi was on the first flight out of Chicago and now finds himself inside the Rio playing in poker's most prestigious tournament.

Obviously he's not playing on a lot of rest, so we'll have to see how he does here on Day 1c.