Nadeem Hirani Looks to Put his Name in the Books Two Years after Injury at WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open

By Kevin Taylor

Nadeem Hirani is living a dream here at the final table of WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open. The self-proclaimed amateur has only been playing poker for a few years, but he has already made a splash with this result. Coming into the day, he had just $6,411 in live tournament earnings. By making the final table today, he has already locked up nearly $100,000. 

“I just started playing poker maybe two or three years ago. I was just playing with friends after work, and then there’s a casino near my home town in Cherokee so I started playing cash games over there,” said Hirani.

He continued, “I started to get good results in those. I heard about the WSOP Circuits and WPT. I’ve made one final table at Biloxi, and I got fifth on that, but this is the biggest one for me so far.”

Hirani told us that he had previously played one $3,500 event, but that this was the biggest prize pool for an event he had ever played. He started to play poker because he was looking for a change in his everyday life.

“Money was never the part for playing for me. I just wanted to do something different in life. Poker gives me a sense of taking the right decisions every time, and I’ve taken that in my life all the time. It would mean a lot to me to put my name in the books,” said Hirani.

Hirani already knows what he wants to do with the money he has earned in this event. He has pledged 10% of his earnings to charity, something that he says he always does when he plays.

“I really don’t have a reason why it’s important to me, but technically whatever my earnings are after taxes I always donate 10% no matter what. That’s always been a habit. I’m in business, so employees have always been a part of my life, they are family to me. I’m fortunate to do important things in my life,” said Hirani.

In addition, Hirani will be giving 5% of his earnings today to the dealers here at the Seminole Hard Rock. He says he has massive respect for all the hard work the dealers put in, and feels similarly for them as he does his employees.

“Dealers are the same for me, they are working all day long, doing hard work and the same thing over and over again. I think they need to be appreciated,” said Hirani.

Just two years ago, Hirani had no plans on making a huge WPT final table. In fact, he was simply focused on being able to walk again after a horrific accident he suffered at work. Hirani was inspecting some work being done on scaffolding on the roof of a gas station, when he hit his knee on a metal bar.

“The impact hit some nerve in my knee, and my legs went numb. I fell on my back from 35 feet or so, splitting the back of my head, and breaking my back. The doctors told me that I likely would never be able to walk again. I was shattered,” said Hirani.

Hirani went on to talk about the extensive rehab that he went through to get back on his feet once again.

He continued, “Luckily my beautiful wife is a physical therapist, so she did so much research and made a few phone calls, and gave me a few key points on how to think about recovering. She told me sometimes you might not see your leg moving, but if you think about moving your leg like you used to you might not see it, but internally a few nerves might be moving.”

Hirani went through three months of heavy rehab at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Six months after the accident, he was able to walk on his own power, unassisted. He told us about the very first time he was able to move his leg again.

“One day I was trying to move my leg, trying to throw it in the air, and it just flickered, it moved for the first time, and I was so happy. I knew at that point that I was going to walk again,” said Hirani.

Hirani said that making this final table is already a dream come true for him, and if he is able to take down the title, he would accomplish the goal he has set for himself since he started playing poker.

“That would be amazing if I could do that. It would mean a lot, my purpose was to make a name for myself, and this would put my name in the books. It would be awesome,” said Hirani.