Poker Player - Lee Watkinson
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Lee isn’t a stranger to Las Vegas or to the World Series of Poker championship games. On July 13, 2006 the won his first WSOP gold bracelet, winning the $10000 buy-in-Pot-Limit Omaha tournament. He also earned $655,746 for his victory and came back the next year to play in the 38th Annual Tournament.
Born on October 18, 1966, Lee comes from Cheney, Washington. In the 20004 SWP, Watkinson finished 2nd in the $5,000 pot limit Omaha event, and finished in the money, placing 113th. He went on the back-to-back World Poker tour and made it to the final tables in its third session. The 20005 WSOP finds Lee there and he finishes 45 out of 5,619 entrants. This earns him a prize of $235, 390. By the time he has been in the money in 2007, his total earnings have come to more than $3, 200,000.
Like Lee Childs, he too is a former wrestler; both men shave their heads, have the same sort of muscular frame, and speak the same language. Surfing is another passion of his. It is a rather lone pursuit for a man who doesn’t indulge crowds unless a tournament is involved. A humanitarian, Watkinson shares a deep affinity for animals with his fiancé, Timmi DeRosa. They are committed to rescuing and retiring captive chimpanzees which have been misused in research laboratories, kept as pet, and used in movie productions. The plight of these intelligent creatures often being held on conditions that amount to nothing less than torture motivated Lee and Timmi to work on their behalf.
With his air of quiet confidence and disdain of the spotlight, it shocked no one when Watkinson came onto the poker circuit in 1994 and disappeared after that. However, the lure of poker brought Watkinson back to the poke scene in 2003 and he’s been there ever since. He has made several cash-ins with lucrative finishes. He was named “Player of the Year” in 2004 by Card Player. At the 2004 WSOP he played against some tough competition: Daniel Negreanu, Jeff Lisandro, and Howard Lederer.
He plays aggressively, with a no hold bars demeanor and outlasted more than 200 players in the 2006 WSOP. He won the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event that year. He defeated many of the world’s Pot-Limit experts including defending champion Rafi Amit.
So what happened in at the WSOP in 2007?
In 2007, Watkinson finished a strong eighth place and earned $585,699 for his masterful play. The formidable Jerry Yang eliminated Watkinson by calling his all-in bet just as Lee was making an effort to gather enough chips so that he could make a run at the title. His poise and grace in accepting his defeat marks Watkinson as a classy player, the kind other professionals are always happy to see sit down at the table.
Having a degree in economics may give Lee Watkinson a better perspective than most on the poker world. The ebb and flow of money is no stranger to him; after all, he’s been playing poker since high school. He is a humble man without a fancy veneer – what you see is what you get.
Watkinson now represents www.Full TiltPoker.com. He spends several hours online a week helping amateur players learn the game. About 45 other top poker professionals play at this site, helping new players by sharing their deep knowledge and love of the game through real- time chats at virtual time- tables. Raising the skill levels in others who may well be his competitors may seems a bit strange, but an old adage comments that poker players are the most generous of all gamblers.
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