For most poker players who had the good fortunate and privilege of entering the $5 Million ClubWPT Gold Freeroll Invitational tournament, it involved a bit of an online grind or a bit of luck. For Poker Hall of Famer Eli Elezra, it was sheer serendipity. All it took was one lucky dip into a lottery drum to pull out a winning Golden Passport.
This wasn’t your average poker tournament; rather it’ll go down in poker history as one of the game’s most unique events to have ever taken place. The World Poker Tour quite literally invested $5 million (of their own dollars!) into this tournament; all people had to do was show up and grab themselves a slice of the pie. There were a total of 2,000 Golden Passports distributed, but only about 75% of the eligible players were able to make it out to Las Vegas to play. Given those circumstances and the fact that one-third of the remaining/starting field would make it into the money, even for a Poker Hall of Famer with decades of experience at the felt, this was something new; a unique conquest to embark on.
Poker Hall of Famer alert!@elielezra1 told me he won a Golden Passport yesterday, here at @WynnLasVegas.
If he manages to win this $5M @ClubWPTGold Freeroll, it would make for Eli’s second million-dollar @WPT score (first was back in 2004, at Mirage Poker Showdown)! pic.twitter.com/hBlmMZGCSG
— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) December 13, 2024
As a seasoned poker pro, Eli is of course no stranger to intense competition and high-stakes games. He’s conquered some of the most grueling mixed game fields in the world and boasts a glittering multimillion dollar poker résumé spanning decades. But this freeroll was different—a low-pressure, high-reward event overwhelmingly surrounded by recreational players, each chasing a share of an enormous prize pool. Make it into the top 500 or so and you’d be guaranteed a mincash of $1,000. Make it into the winners circle and you could score a cool $1 million. Plus, there was quite literally 7-figures worth of additional cash and prizes being distributed from within the tournament, in the form of bounties and 100 free seats into the $10,000 buy-in 2024 WPT World Championship event.
For me, however, Eli’s tournament proved a special experience. As someone who’s been privileged to call Eli a close friend for the past 8.5 years, I had a front-row seat to his charmed run, watching him navigate through a poker player minefield for 15 hours over the course of two days to a 15th place finish. It was one of the most enjoyable poker journeys I’ve ever witnessed–the first time I’ve watched a player’s run from beginning to end–and I’d like to share that story with you.
The first time I met Eli Elezra, back in the summer of 2016
The Journey Begins
I first met Eli at the 2016 World Series of Poker. Back then, I was just another star-struck fan and new-ish poker media guy still getting his feet wet in the live event space. I’ll never forget how Eli spotted me across the Amazon Room and walked over to me with open arms to welcome me “into the poker family”. Over the years, our friendship deepened, having been taken to the next level when I worked closely with him on translating his autobiography Pulling the Trigger into English. Nowadays, I’m honored to call Eli one of my best friends.
That’s why writing up and sharing Eli’s run in this freeroll is so much more than “just another poker story” for me. It was personal. It took place almost entirely over shabbat, while I wasn’t working. Thus, I had the unique opportunity to just be present on Eli’s rail (well, inside the rail, with my media badge) as his friend and supporter.
As the tournament got underway, Eli was in his element. Between hands, he charmed the table with stories, laughter, and his characteristic humility. Most of the players knew who he was, and for them, sitting at a table with a Poker Hall of Famer was a highlight they won’t likely forget anytime soon. These same players whooped and cheered loudly when the bubble broke and they all made it into the money. It might have “only” been a $1,000 score, but to this field, that money was significant! An incredible WPT poker experience AND $1,000 to show for it?! Sign me up!
Eli, for his part, embraced the experience fully. “This is so different from what I usually play,” he told me during one of the breaks. “It’s fun to just relax, enjoy the game, and see what happens. A freeroll in more ways than one!”
Eli’s Deep Run
Eli’s journey through the tournament wasn’t without its challenges. The field was massive, and at no point did he manage to build up a big stack. It was a true rollercoaster and struggle for survival; as most poker tournaments prove to be. Yet, he navigated it with the skill and composure that have defined his career. He picked his spots carefully, avoided unnecessary risks, and steadily maintained his stack, his composure, and his cheery spirits. Despite a lack of big hands, Eli consistently just managed to stick around as players with far larger stacks repeatedly fell by the wayside.
Of course, while all this was happening, Eli was constantly trying to glean any information he could from the players to his left, right, and across the table, using it to advance his cause and build his stack.
There were several instances where he faced difficult decisions—decisions that were quite different from what he might encounter in his usual mixed-game cash sessions. In a tournament, after all, you only get one life. Between hands, when we discussed some of these moments, it was fascinating to see how his mind worked.
For example, there was one hand where he was dealt pocket tens. Someone raised, and then another player re-raised. Eli decided not to call. As it turned out, the two opponents went to a showdown, revealing Ace-King and Ace-Queen, with both a king and a queen hitting the flop. “I felt it in my stomach, I wanted to avoid three overcards” Eli explained to me afterward, clearly relieved by and proud of his fold.
Not long after—about 20 minutes later—he found himself in a nearly identical situation, again holding pocket tens. This time, though, he did make the call. His two opponents turned over King-Jack and a smaller pocket pair of sixes. Eli’s tens held, and he ended up tripling his short stack.
I couldn’t help but ask him, “How do you distinguish between two situations that seem so incredibly similar?” He simply replied, “It’s just a feeling that I have.”
What poker player wouldn’t pay to be blessed with such razor-sharp intuition?!
Image credit: PokerGO
Break-Time Banter
During the breaks, Eli and I would wander off into the Wynn Las Vegas hallways sharing laughs and dissecting hands. True to form, Eli’s humor shone through.
“Robbie,” he said at one point, “you keep telling me about the next payout and the next payout — do you think I give a sh*t?!” His infectious grin made it impossible not to laugh along with him; it became our running joke throughout the tournament. “Only if I manage to make it to the final three tables, then I start feeling something. At the point, it starts becoming more serious money,” he said.
Indeed, for someone who’s used to playing for five- and six-figure pots in high-stakes games, a four-figure cash doesn’t mean much. To more sharply illustrate, $6,000 is the size of a capped bet in his regular $300/600 mixed cash game. As a matter of fact, on numerous occasions where Eli was still alive in the tournament but teetering on the brink of elimination, he was lamenting that he’d have “spent all this time playing in the freeroll and nothing to show for it.”
I asked him at some point, “what would you do if you actually won $1 million in this tournament?” It took him about 10 seconds of contemplative thought, then he shrugged his shoulders and said “probably take it and put it in my box where I play the cash games.” For a player of Eli’s caliber, on his plane of poker existence, only a final table finish would mean much in the grand scheme of things.
Dinner Break
Around 7:30, Eli noticed that the dinner break was coming up. “What the hell am I gonna do for an hour?” he asked me. Half joking/half serious, he mentioned maybe heading to the cash game tables to pass the time. We walked to that area but rather than play he decided he wanted a bite to eat.
Eli spotted a food server he recognized and asked if they could bring him Mongolian beef “pronto; I only have an 45 minutes before I have to get back to the tournament.”
Sure enough, about 15 minutes later, the dish arrived. It cost $40, but Eli handed the server a $100 bill and told them to give $20 of it to the chef with a “thank you.” After the server left, Eli turned to me and said, “You’ll see, he’ll come back quickly with hot sauce. He’ll remember me.”
That led to a conversation about why Eli’s such a big tipper. He’s not trying to impress anyone, he explained. It’s just that he values good service and is happy to pay a premium for it. He likes going places where he can get what he wants, when he wants it, and quickly. It serves his own purposes, of course, but Eli also sees it as a nice gesture—a way to show appreciation to others.
Spending that hour with him gave me (even) deeper insight into who Eli is, and his character. It wasn’t just about the poker tournament, but seeing the way he interacts with people and the thoughtfulness behind his actions. At multiple points while I was railing Eli during the tournament, a number of mutual friends of ours, from dealers to fellow players to floor staff remarked that however long they’d known Eli (some as long as 20+ years) he’d ALWAYS been a class act with them. Always greeting with a smile. Always tipping generously even when down big over multiple sessions. Always treating them as if they were the center of the world for their brief moments of interaction.
That’s the Eli I know and love. Who wouldn’t want to be that guy’s good friend?!
A GTO (Poker) Friendship is +EV to Have
While any good friend would happily root on their buddy in a poker tournament, I’m glad that I was able to give Eli some tangible “poker value”, too. Poker is by definition a very lonely pursuit. You’re in your own head the entire time, so having someone there with you to bounce thoughts and ideas off of is always helpful from a mental game perspective. Moreover, while I’m obviously no Hall of Fame caliber player, I know enough about poker to bring added value to technical conversations if/when Eli would want to have them. It sure was something special to watch him play for 15 hours. It’s just as special a feeling to know that my being there actually helped him to some degree.
Play moved at a frenetic pace throughout Day 1, and a starting field of almost 1,500 players was narrowed down to just 49 when players were told to bag and tag at the end of the night. Eli was still among those players.
We said good night to each other, wished each other “shabbat shalom,” and said we’d see each other in the morning. He jokingly–because he likes to tease me about this kind of stuff–told me to “put in a good word with the Man Upstairs when I spoke to him in my morning prayers. If I win the million, Robbie, I’ll give you $50K” were his final words to me before we parted company.
Let’s just say I prayed REALLY hard when I woke up the next morning! 🤣🤣🤣
ClubWPT $5 Million Freeroll Invitational: Day 2
Eli arrived fresh for the tournament restart at 10 a.m. in 28th place out of the 49 remaining players, fully aware that it could be a big day ahead. He was astonished to quickly realize how many players didn’t grasp the importance of the remaining bounties and factor that into their decision making at the felt. In contrast, with his small stack, Eli was able to navigate the tournament much more carefully than most. It wasn’t until the field got down to about 25 players that things finally slowed down significantly. The first couple of hours of Day 2, however, were chaotic.
By the time the field had been further whittled down by half, Eli had secured two bounties, which gave him a couple opportunities to notch a $100,000 score but eventually only added the minimal extra $1,000 to his haul.
That aside, from my perspective I couldn’t help but notice a remarkable shift in atmosphere. Suddenly there was an increased presence of media and an intensified scrutiny among tournament officials. The breakneck pace of eliminations continued unabated–approximately one player per minute throughout the first level of the day–but this was no longer just a casual event—it was turning into something significantly more serious.
As the field dwindled down to just a couple dozen players, suddenly more friends and fans began appearing on the rail. It was fascinating to experience, as I had been inside the rail since the very beginning, when no one was really paying attention. Now, more and more people were starting to take notice.
Just before the two-table redraw, Eli was asked by ClubWPT Gold reps Thomas Keeling and Alec Rome if he’d do a short video interview. Poker.org‘s Christina Bradfield also asked for a few moments of Eli’s (and my) time. This was getting to be a big deal.
.@elielezra1 on the verge of the $5M FT pic.twitter.com/14jSICpAOK
— ClubWPT Gold (@ClubWPTGold) December 14, 2024
Sudden Personal Tragedy Strikes
Just when things seemed to be going smoothly and looking up, tragedy struck. With only 19 players remaining, Eli received an urgent call from his wife, Hila. She never disturbs him during a tournament unless it’s something serious—and this certainly was. Hila’s brother had passed away. While he was ill, his passing was nonetheless sudden. Even so, she insisted that he continue playing and that she’d be OK. Eli then called his kids to make sure their Imma wasn’t alone in her hour of need.
Though the timing was tough, the tournament was about to break for a two-table redraw, so Eli’s game wasn’t immediately affected. Still, as we went for another quick walk in the Wynn hallways, his thoughts were understandably with Hila. The weight of the news was heavy, and it would be impossible not to feel the emotional impact.
Yet, Eli’s resilience shone through. Despite the emotional turmoil, he was able to refocus and continue playing optimally. His ability to push forward and remain composed under such circumstances is a testament to his mental fortitude and his deep sense of responsibility both as a husband and a player.
A Dream Run Cut Short: 15 Hours for 15th Place
Alas, just as it seemed as though the final table and winner’s circle were within reach, the cutthroat and cruel nature of Texas Hold’em reared its ugly head.
To have reached the final 15 players–the top 1% of the field–was an achievement in and of itself. Guaranteed a $10,000 payout at this point, Eli had enough chips to do damage to his opponents and, while nursing a below-average stack was simultaneously just a double up away from being among the tournament’s chip leaders.
Then, the pivotal moment came. He had done this a few times throughout the day: he looked down at only one card and saw an ace. Everyone else had folded, so Eli decided to move all-in from the button and exert pressure in order to steal the blinds, or at worst have a fighting chance to double up. The small blind folded, but the big blind hesitated, hemming and hawing before ultimately making the call. Eli turned to him and said, “I only know one card. I have an ace.”
The big blind tables his hand—an ace and a nine. Eli then turned over his second card: it was a king. I’m pretty sure I let out an audible “YES!” Eli’s AK dominated with a 72% chance to win the hand. He was on the verge of crossing the million-chip mark for the first time all tournament and would have had over 1.5 million in chips, putting him in prime position to make a final table run.
The flop came down: J-2-2, with two clubs. Eli still held the advantage, remaining over 70% to win. But then the turn card came—a nine of clubs that changed everything. Eli’s chance to win was now down to about 27%, with any club or one of the three remaining kings giving him the pot.
It wasn’t meant to be, though. The river card was a brick, and just like that, Eli’s tournament was over. The emotional weight of the moment was palpable. Poker can sometimes be such a cruel and unforgiving game. Making a run that deep only to have it slip away at almost the last moment was gut-wrenching.
Despite the obvious heartbreak, Eli took it in stride. He congratulated the remaining players and of course remained the consummate professional in the face of such disappointment.
A Poker Experience Unlike Any Other
The ClubWPT Gold $5 Million Invitational Freeroll wasn’t just any other tournament. It was conceived as a celebration of poker’s accessibility, a testament to how the game can bring together players from all walks of life.
For Eli, it was a relatively rare opportunity to step out of the high-stakes streets and prove that “he’s still got what it takes” at age 64 to run deep and clear in a poker minefield. For me, it was a special opportunity to strap in and come along for a one-of-a-kind ride with my buddy; albeit admittedly not the usual way I spend shabbat. 🤣
I accompanied Eli as he cashed out his winnings; two $5K “flags” and one $1,000 “yellowbird”; about a standard-sized pot for his regular mixed cash game.
As we said our goodbyes, Eli told me he was headed home to check on Hila. I wished him–and her–my best and promised to visit if she’d be sitting shiva.
I went back up to my room, and spent the remainder of shabbat contemplating Eli’s run, reading, doing a little more praying, and catching a brief afternoon nap.
For a man whose career has been defined by skill, strategy, and success, this freeroll was a refreshing reminder of poker’s magic. For me, it was another chapter in the story of a friendship I’ll always treasure.
After shabbat ended, I called him to check in on Hila. Eli said that thankfully she was OK… and I distinctly heard the sound of poker chips being shuffled in the background…
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