Luongo, who plays for the Vancouver Canucks, has been in the NHL for 15 years and is one of the winningest goalies in the history of the league. He also helped win a gold medal for Canada on the men’s Olympic hockey team in 2010.
He was one of the over 3,000 players who registered for Day 1c of the $10,000 buy-in 2013 WSOP Main Event. Over 6,000 players are expected for the overall tournament. He began the day sharing a table with former Full Tilt pro Perry Friedman.
A poker aficionado, Luongo finished 634th out of 6,598 runners in last year’s tournament, which was enough to earn him $19,227.
Luongo Repping Online Poker Site PlayNow.com
Luongo is playing as an ambassador for PlayNow.com, the only legal, government-run online poker room in British Columbia, Canada.
Meanwhile Luongo is at the center of a controversial off-season deal that saw teammate and fellow goalie Cory Schneider traded from the Vancouver Canucks.
Luongo was expected to leave the team but will now have to resume his #1 status if he wants to continue earning his 12-year $64 million contract.
The Montreal-native has yet to officially confirm whether he’ll return to the Vancouver Canucks.
We’ll be following him closely in our live coverage of the WSOP Main Event. He was already up to over 40,000 chips at the first break.
Check below for photos of Luongo in the 2013 Main Event:
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