“I won this for my daughter Jennifer,” Andlovec said.
“I wasn't coming to the World Series of Poker but she sent me $1,000 and said, ‘Dad, please go win the Super Seniors so I can have an elaborate wedding because my 10-year significant other, Shamus, who's a guitar guy, dropped to one knee.'”
In order to pay for his daughter’s elaborate wedding, Andlovec says he planned to play into third and then bust out.
He did a bit better than that though and won $262,220 for taking down the tournament.
Succeeding in the Super Seniors
Andlovec started three-handed play with the lead and then knocked out Charles Havens to bring the tournament heads-up.
Andlovec started the match with a lead of 6 million to Rodney Pardey’s 1.6 million.
Pardey, a two-time WSOP bracelet winner, wasn’t able to mount a comeback.
In the final hand, Andlovec bet enough to put Pardey all-in on a 3♥ 10♥ 9♥ flop.
Pardey, who limped from the button, called with A♥ 8♣ while Andlovec showed 3♣ 7♥.
The turn brought a high spade and then a 3♠ came on the river to end it.
“It's not my first win ever,” Andlovec said. But it is his largest one.
The WSOP on a Budget
Andlovec has won a number of small tournaments throughout the decades but his largest win before today was a 4th-place finish in the 1990 WSOP $2,500 Limit Hold’em event.
Andlovec won $38,100 for that finish, and it still might be his highest ROI.
“I once borrowed $40 in Reno to get to the World Series of Poker,” Andlovec said. “I only had two bucks when I got here.
“I ended up with a 4th place and they quoted me as saying, ‘Hey, I don't bring money with me because then I can only go up.’”
Andlovec, a self-described “walking historian about poker,” says he has lots of stories from the old days.
“[I was here] before Chris Moneymaker,” Andlovec said.
“I was actually there when he was scurrying about trying to sell his buy-in for $8,000 but he didn't know who to bribe and they forced him to play.
“Then poker changed forever. That's that story.”
From Professional Farming to Professional Poker
Andlovec’s story is a bit different. Before poker, Andlovec was a farmer.
“I was one of those broken farmers Willie Nelson was singing about,” Andlovec said. “So I quit farming and started playing professional poker.
“I filed taxes as a pro for millions of years and that’s why I get social security.”
While Andlovec isn’t really millions of years old, he says he’s “pretty old.”
“I’m 70,” Andlovec said. “That’s really old. I never thought I’d get this old.”
While he’s closer to his centennial than the average population, he’s younger than many at heart.
“I’m a hippie,” Andlovec said. “We’re all about drugs, sex and rock and roll.
“I’m gonna go celebrate with the green, I’m legal in three states.”
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