Richard Trench is just another regular, 39-year-old guy from New Lenox, Illinois who is getting the chance to live out one of his dreams thanks to our friends at DraftKings.
Married with two young daughters, Trench spends his days working as a communication electrician for Black Box Network Services in Chicago, and much of his free time playing fantasy sports. A regular player for the past 20 years, Trench says a lot has changed – for the better – since he first started. “We used to look at the box scores and keep track by paper because there was no Internet back then. I remember the first Fantasy Football league I got into that was organized and nationwide… you would call and make changes over the phone, and every week you would get a print out in the mail as to how you did the previous week.”
As technology improved, Trench took his fantasy gaming online where he eventually discovered DraftKings after hearing about them from another player. “I tried them and I’ve been playing here ever since,” he said.
The decision has worked out well for him, earning him a $10,300 entry into today’s WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond Poker Classic where he’s getting to put his poker skills to the test against some of the game’s top players including Daniel Negreanu, Antonio Esfandiari, and David “Doc” Sands.
“I am really excited about this opportunity. One, this is the biggest prize I have ever won in fantasy sports and two, playing in a big tournament in Vegas has been on my bucket list for about 10 years,” he said. “Since my second daughter was born, I haven’t had much time to play cards, so that makes this opportunity even more exciting.”
You can follow Trench’s progress throughout the event with our Live Updates, and you can check out DraftKings to see how you can win your entry into January’s WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open.