Brett Parise, a student from the University of California studying economics and political science, beat out over 200 other competitors to win the first leg of the famous Poker Stars Poker Tour Monday in Manila. Gambling for high stakes for three straight days, the 22-year-old student managed to take the win after much difficulty and extended play. Aggressively beating out his opponents, Brett managed to come out ahead and take the $180,000 prize as well as a seat in the Sydney final game. Parise has been a successful poker player since the age of 18 and won a seat in the Poker Stars tournament via a competition hosted for free online. The poker tournament has drawn attention from all over the world and players have traveled from all around to compete against each other for the $500,000 prize that is shared between the nine finalists. This attention is considered to be healthy for the sport, as the more exposure that poker receives from the media, the more new players tend to start playing for the first time. Encouraging new players to join and begin playing poker is a highly beneficial side effect of hosting such lucrative poker tournaments, both for the player and for the establishment.

With young players such as Brett Parise winning and garnering attention from the public, poker can continue to draw younger and younger sponsors to the unique entertainment offering that poker represents. With the success of the World Series of Poker Tournament in Las Vegas, the National Poker League and the Asia-Pacific Poker Tour as well as the multitude of other poker championships and poker tournaments, it is easy to see that the popularity of poker is far more than just a passing phase and that the emphasis on playing games and skills such as poker has become more and more popular as time goes by. With the wealth of televised events and media fascination with young new players such as Brett, the exposure of poker to the mainstream can only continue to blossom.

Brett’s mother was quoted as saying that she had no idea he had won the seat in the poker tournament, commenting that his father would have to accompany him to Sydney, Australia. Brett said he enjoyed playing poker but it would very likely not be his full-time occupation, considering it would not be in line with his education and degree.

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