Hoover (right) Waits to Act After Cho (left) Raises
Poker attracts a lot of different people and two new Borgata tournament players are strikingly different. Jaeik Cho and Gerry Hoover are both at table 6, but the their contrasts are world's apart.
Cho is a 22 year-old from Japan, Hoover is 54 and originally from Louisiana.
Cho is an on-line pro, Hoover is a live player, who's a semi-pro.
Cho is visiting East Coast friends, Hoover is visiting from Baltimore.
Despite the differences, both are playing their first "real" Borgata tournaments.
Hoover emphasizes "real," because he's previously played at Borgata, but never for more than six hours at a time. "I wanted to see if I would have the stamina in a two day tournament," he says.
But for Cho poker is old hat. "I play a lot in Asia," says Cho, who's truly making his first trip to the casino. He adds, "the games are tougher here. They're a lot softer back home."
And so far, so good as both players are top ten in chips with Cho at 65k, while Hoover's 75k leads the way.
Another stark contrast has Cho sitting on his economics degree from William & Mary College in Virginia to play professionally. Meanwhile, Hoover is earning a few dollars at the tables as he's a tooling sales engineer who's in between jobs.
But when you're at the poker table age, ethnicity and careers don't matter, it's all about the cards and chip stacks.
Jaeik Cho
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