By his own admission, it had been some time since Las Vegas by-way-of Ohio pro David Peters made the trip to a World Poker Tour stop outside of Sin City. Historically, Peters has had plenty of success at WPT events, with a resume that includes three final tables and nearly $3.9 million in earnings. However, in the years since his first WPT cash, back in 2007, Peters has evolved into one of the most prolific poker players in the world, filling trophy cases with a variety of high roller titles worthy of future Poker Hall of Fame consideration.
But with the poker room at Thunder Valley Casino Resort being such a short flight away from Vegas he simply figured he’d make the trip back to the WPT, hop in the field, and see what happens.
After all, it may be one of the last poker trips this year he’ll be able to make before his life takes a rewarding turn of a different kind. The 34-year-old Peters and his fiancée are expecting their first child in the first week of June. And Peters lights up at the mere mention of it.
“Oh yeah. I’m super excited,” Peters said. “It’s going to be a very interesting experience. I’m looking forward to it all, everything that comes with it. And it’s my fiancé’s first child as well, so we’re both just looking really forward to it.”
One of the things that has already arrived is the notion of “baby run good.” Poker players have long joked about the cosmic heater that comes to a couple when they are expecting. Whether you believe it’s real or not, Peters is currently experiencing it.
“2024 has been going pretty well,” he admits. “Won a couple of tournaments at Aria during one of those series. Yeah, I think the baby run good has already kicked in, so hopefully it kicks into more with this tournament. But yeah, the run good is real.”
The Aria tournaments Peters mentioned took place in late January/early February and the pair of wins added more than $450,000 to his career earnings. From there, in early March, he made the trip to Jeju for the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series where he cashed three more times, including a second runner-up finish in the $30,000 NLHE for $790,000. In total, he left Korea with more than $1 million in earnings, sending him north of $45.5 million in career cashes – good for 10th on poker’s All-Time Money List, just above the likes of Phil Ivey and Fedor Holz.
But for Peters, while his current place in poker history is nice, he says he doesn’t spend too much time worrying about where he sits on the list.
“I wouldn’t say I care too much, but it is cool,” he admits. “It is something that you try to climb the rankings of and it kinda feels good for all the hard work and all the years of grinding. So it’s cool to a certain degree, but I don’t care too much, I guess. But it would be nice to catch some people and climb the rankings and maybe someday get to number one, but I don’t put too much emphasis on it.”
World Poker Tour events are an eclectic mix of players, both in personality and experience. It’s not going out on a limb to say that when Peters took his seat at WPT Rolling Thunder, he would instantly be counted among the most experienced. Peters says while he studies solvers quite a bit, depending on the field, he’ll “incorporate other live aspects to my game” when the time is right. More GTO in the high rollers, less in the bigger, more recreational fields.
When asked how he navigates a variety of player types, as opposed to the smaller fields of high rollers, Peters thoughtfully notes that he’s experienced reactions from across the board.
“I think it can have a wide range of effects. Some people might try to come after me more or maybe some people shy away more and try to avoid playing pots. Or maybe they think I’m just going crazy. It’s kind of like a wide mix.”
“And then a lot of people don’t really know me very well, so aren’t changing their game at all. It’s an interesting dynamic to try and see if people are making drastic changes or playing a certain way because of that. It’s something that I always try to keep an eye out for.”
Ultimately, Peters exited WPT Thunder Valley late on Day 2, but there’s still a little time left for him to potentially capitalize on his hot start to 2024.