In the Dough: Former Baker Hopes to Make Most of ClubWPT Showdown Entry

By Sean Chaffin

Life as a full-time poker player isn’t easy – the days on the road, the financial swings, managing the bankroll, avoiding life traps that might derail a career. Kevin Oliveras (pictured) knows the ups and downs first-hand. He began playing in the early-2000s during the beginning of the poker boom.

“I was mostly playing online,” he says. “I did play a lot of home games. My brother and I ruled at our friends’ home games. Eventually, he quit having them because we won too much. I think we won four weeks in a row and they eventually put a stop to it.”

As his skills at the table increased, Oliveras even gave it a shot full-time in Las Vegas, but decided a regular income was a little more convenient. However, poker had always been in his family and he decided to keep playing. His mother taught him games like Five Card Draw in low-stakes games with family.

“I really enjoyed playing online,” he says. “I never had any huge successes, but I did take second place once in a $550 rebuy that was about $5,000 for second. That was a big deal for me.”

The nice wins continued recently after winning a ClubWPT qualifying tournament, Oliveras is among those in the field for Day 1b of the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown.

Batter Days in Kansas

The 37-year-old from Manhattan, Kansas, has a degree in computer engineer but his career took a different turn after graduating from Kansas State University. He worked and managed a bakery for nine years, and found a passion for being in the kitchen.

“We did a little bit of everything – cookies, pastries, anything from scratch,” he says. “A customer could bring in a recipe or we could get one for them.”

Much of his job involved mixing doughs from scratch. He liked the work pleasing a customer’s sweet tooth.

“I enjoyed it,” he says of the job, “and I really had a hard time getting into the computer engineering field, especially staying in Manhattan, Kansas, because it’s kind of a small college town. There’s not a big engineering market. I’m a homeowner in Manhattan and I didn’t really want to leave. It’s kind of a small big town.”

After leaving his job at the bakery, Oliveras worked in technical support to make use of his degree, but found he didn’t enjoy it. He’s driving for Uber and Lyft until he finds a job that more suits him – that may include heading back into kitchen, but he’s also looking into programming and development.

When not playing poker or working, Oliveras enjoys playing another card game, Hearthstone, on his phone. The strategy game involves otherworldly heroes, creatures, and spells. He’s also gotten into playing darts the last six months. He practices daily and watches competitions on BBC.

Oliveras now brings that competitive instinct to the tables here in South Florida.

Mixing It Up in Vegas

In 2014, Oliveras and his brother moved to Las Vegas to give full-time poker a shot. They found out the glamorous life of a poker player wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. He placed in a few tournaments but ultimately decided poker should be more of a side occupation than a full-time gig.

“It’s a hard life,” he says. “And there are a lot of people with more money than me. You just have to have a big enough bankroll to go through the ups and downs because you might hit a low that’s going to burn through that if your bankroll isn’t big enough.”

He also found focusing wasn’t easy with so many distractions in Vegas. After his Sin City adventure, Oliveras returned to Manhattan to his regular life and became more of a recreational player again.

Since 2011, he’s been a player on ClubWPT, the tour’s sweepstakes poker site offering players a chance to win $100,000 worth of cash and prizes each month for a $24.95 monthly subscription.

“I like that it seems like you’re getting more of a fair shake than some of the other online sites,” he says. “On some of the other ones you see some sequences where you just don’t know if you’re getting real random hands. You never know for sure. ClubWPT seems a little more fair and it seems like true randomness.”

“Once I moved back here, I kind of took a little poker break. I played some ClubWPT here or there, and then a month ago I signed up for the big one on Sunday.”

That proved a choice and Oliveras topped a field of 1,357 players to claim his $3,500 and all-expenses-paid trip here to the Seminole Hard Rock.

“Once I made it to the final table, I just had this feeling that I knew I was going to win it,” he says of his win. “I was actually the short stack when the final table started. And then when it got down to three, I was also the short stack. But I still had that feeling like I knew I was going to win. When I finally won, I was just awestruck. I couldn’t believe I did it. It’s something I’ve dreamed about doing for so long.”

As play continues here at the Seminole Hard Rock, Oliveras is determined to keep that dream alive. He may not play poker as much anymore, but he’s got a strategy to help make the most of his ClubWPT freeroll.

“I kind of want to evolve as the play goes on,” he says. “I want to be like Bruce Lee – the best style is no style. Sometimes you’ve got to be more aggressive, and sometimes you’ve got to sit back and play tighter. I just want to be able to adapt and change as needed.”

Looking to win your way to a World Poker Tour event for your shot at becoming a WPT champion? Play for your chance on ClubWPT.com, where eligible VIP Members can play for over $100,000 in cash and prizes each month, including seats to WPT events, no purchase necessary.