YouTube Tutorial: Gardens Satellite Qualifier Learned to Play Poker watching WPT Videos Online

By Sean Chaffin

Growing up in Cuba, chess was the game of choice for Dayron Huertas-Carballo (pictured). The situation in his home country was certainly a struggle. Most of the island’s population live in poverty and chess was a nice way to pass some time and stimulate his mind.

Huertas-Carballo even got the chance to travel to Mexico a few years ago to play – giving him the chance to defect and leave Cuba behind. Mexico offered him few opportunities to advance and better his life, he says, and he yearned for something better. Three years ago, he was able to move to the U.S. and now lives in Downey, California.

Learning the language and making the cultural shift hasn’t been easy, but Huertas-Carballo continues to work on it. He drives for Uber and Lyft in his full-time job and plays poker regularly at the Gardens. He learned how to play a little over a year ago and won his way into the championship event as part of the Gardens Casino Satellite Spectacular.

The promotion offers some added value to tournament players. They earn points for registering, cashing, and playing sit and go’s over the last month. The property then ran a $20 tournament for all those who earned points. The more points a player accumulated, the more chips he started with in the tournament and the top players were awarded WPT Gardens championship buy-ins.

As Day 2 commenced, Huertas-Carballo entered the field with 35,900 in chips and moved that up to 85,000 on the third break.

“It’s funny because I learned to play poker watching the WPT on YouTube,” he says. “It’s amazing. Now I study a lot.”

Those efforts have paid off and he’s hoping this tournament has as spectacular an ending as well.

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

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