Steve Dannenmann's shirt may be getting a tad funky, but he keeps winning and that's what's important at the World Series of Poker.
Dannenmann, 38, an accountant from Severn, was in seventh place late last night in the annual tournament in Las Vegas. That meant he was guaranteed to win at least $400,000. If his luck holds out, he could win as much as $7.5 million.
But Dannenmann is a superstitious poker player, so he keeps wearing the same tan, short-sleeved dress shirt he wore last Saturday, the first day of the tournament.
"He airs it out," says his wife, Anita, speaking by phone from their Vegas hotel room. "We have a window and he hangs it out at night."
That's not his only superstition. Every day, he takes an even-numbered cab to the tournament because he rode in an even-numbered cab on the first day. And he won't let Anita watch him play because she wasn't watching that first day.
"Every morning, I walk him to the taxi stand and put him in a cab," she says, "and I think, 'I'm putting my little boy on the school bus and sending him off to school.' "
The World Series of Poker is a rough school where lessons can be painful and expensive, and Dannenmann didn't expect to enrolled this long.
"I just pretty much wanted to come out and experience what it's all about," he said before yesterday's play. "I never expected to go this far."
Last week, he was one of 5,619 players who shelled out $10,000 to enter the tournament. Late last night he was one of 13 still playing and he had the seventh-highest number of chips: 4.1 million. The leader, Aaron Kanter, had approximately 8.8 million. Another Marylander, John Howard of Lexington Park in St. Mary's County, was eliminated late last night, winning $350,000 for finishing 16th.
The top 10 percent of players, 560 people, win money, with No. 560 taking home $12,500, a $2,500 profit. The winner of the last hand, which will probably come in the wee hours of Saturday morning, will win $7.5 million.
At this point, those players with lots of chips, like Dannenmann, have a huge advantage because they can force players with smaller chip stacks to bet everything on the turn of one card.
"It's been a good ride, and I've had fun," Dannenmann said, "and I figure what happens, happens."
