partypoker Qualifier Ro Sharma, King of the Free Online Satellites

Photo:  Ro Sharma (center) spent time at last night’s WPT Players Party chatting with Poker Hall of Famer Mike Sexton (left) and WPT Raw Deal Analyst Tony Dunst.

As if to prove there’s more than one way to enter a World Poker Tour event, Rohan “Ro” Sharma (named after legendary cricket player Rohan Kanhai) has won three packages into live WPT events by playing on partypoker’s play-for-free site, partypoker.net.

In 2011 and 2012, he won free online satellites to the WPT L.A. Poker Classic in Los Angeles and the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown in Hollywood, Florida. Now Sharma has done it a third time, winning his package to this week’s partypoker WPT Canadian Spring Championship, and he’s in the Day 1C field today.

Sharma almost made it three years in a row when he made a deep run in 2013 to win yet another free WPT package on partypoker.net, but he came up just a little bit short.

Sharma then took a break from poker to focus on his education — with a background in business marketing, Sharma went back to school for real estate. Poker isn’t a career for Sharma, though he hopes it could be someday. At this point, he simply enjoys playing the game.

Sharma is from the GTA (Greater Toronto Area), and he came to Montreal with his sister Barabara Ali, and her son Sahid Ali. Sahid has already followed in his uncle’s footsteps by winning a partypoker WPT package of his own to play in the 2015 WPT Fallsview Poker Classic.

It’s refreshing to see a player like Sharma enjoying the game with a smile, and it would be great to see him make a deep run to finish in the money and possibly reach the WPT Final Table for a shot at having his name engraved alongside all the other WPT winners on the one-and-only WPT Champions Cup.

Photo (Below):  Ro Sharma poses next to the WPT Champions Cup and the Playground Poker Club Championship Belt alongside WPT Commentator Mike Sexton.