Ray Ghafari Looking for Big ROI from $230 Satellite Success

By Sean Chaffin

This marks the first WPT event for San Jose’s Farhad (Ray) Ghafari (pictured) and it’s been quite a poker journey. He began playing only about four years ago, but then chose to take a couple years off from the tables. After winning a $230 satellite last week, he gained entry into another $1,000 satellite. Ghafari then won his way into the WPT Rolling Thunder and was continuing a nice run on Day 2.

Originally from Iran, Ghafari, 63, moved to the U.S. at age 18 to attend San Jose State University. He earned a degree in industrial technology but soon realized he might be better suited for another career.

“I worked for General Electric for a while in engineering and then bought some properties,” he says. “The salary for real estate paid a lot more than the engineering job, so I switched to real estate – buying and investing.”

Married with two children, a friend introduced him to poker and a tournament cash at Thunder Valley had him hooked. 

“I have good luck here, but then I just stopped because poker was just distracting me a little bit,” he says. “I love it too much, but now I’m back.”

With a friend heading to play satellites for the WPT event at Thunder Valley, Ghafari decided it was time to return to the action. He had moved his chip stack to about 230,000 by the second break in the day but took a bit of a dip after losing a hand with A-K to J-10.

Despite that setback, he’s determined to keep running deep and is enjoying his first WPT experience. 

“It’s been so fun,” he says. “I’ve met a lot of nice people and the management have done a great job. The organization has been really great. They’ve been clean with sanitizer everywhere because of this coronavirus. The staff have been great and the dealers are nice – so professional.”

Despite being new to the game Ghafari hasn’t been intimidated or afraid to mix it up with some of the more experienced players in the field.

“I haven’t told them that I’m new,” he says laughing. “I just kept quiet and played my game, which is to wait for opportunities and relax.”

Earning his first WPT cash and a shot at a Day 3 would mean a lot to this new player. Even a small cash would be a nice score considering his minimal satellite investment. Just getting to Thunder Valley involved some persuasion of his wife, however, to get away for a few days. 

“That would be great,” he says of the possibility of a WPT cash. “I’d like that experience. I told my wife I’d like to play this tournament because I love poker so much. I told her, ‘Just be good to me and give me your blessing so that when I go there I’m at ease so I can do my thing at the table.’”

Sean Chaffin is a freelance writer in Crandall, Texas, and his work appears in numerous websites and publications. Follow him on Twitter @PokerTraditions.