56 years old Steven Gee is the eldest player to take his seat on 28 October at the WSOP 2012 Main Event Final Table. The experienced grinder is not primarily a tournament player but a skilled cash game specialist without any major tourney results from before 2010.
Gee was born in China but his family moved to Sacramento, CA, United States when he was 6 – the city he considers his hometown. His parents working hard, Gee looked after their apartment and his younger siblings as a child.
Steven Gee
His family becoming to get on well, Gee progressed with his studies, eventually gaining acceptance to California State University to study business. He got employed by the Department of Transportation in his home state.
Beginning to play in the ‘70s, Gee left his job after a couple of years of poker to be a professional, specialising in lowball games. After a short career, he moved on to another profitable job in the software industry. Keeping playing for a hobby, Gee returned to the professional field in 2008 and has been making a living as a pro player ever since. He can be found at the Commerce and the Bellagio for most of the time, with an increasing number of appearances on different tourneys.
With a series of minor results behind his back, the year 2010 bought about the great breakthrough for him, as far as tournaments are concerned, winning the WSOP $1,000 NLHE event for $472,479 and a golden bracelet. With a shot at being the 2012 Main Event champion, he now has the opportunity to become part of poker history. Also, he admittedly has the drive to become ambassador of the game.
„The champ has the responsibility, has the platform and must make himself available for interviews and appearances to educate the public about poker. We have taken a lot of public hits recently with the scandals at AB, Ultimate Bet, and now Full Tilt. Poker is a microcosm of life, there is the good, bad, and ugly, just as in rest of society. I want the public to know that poker is not associated with crime, drugs, loan sharks, robberies. That poker is a game of skill, a competition, and that there are a lot of good people in poker. There are a lot of charity tournaments and that poker has given back to society. I play poker with doctors, lawyers, accountants, engineers, and we should all have the right to play poker in any state and at home,” Gee said.
Struggling through the first five days of the WSOP Main Event, Gee had a brush with elimination on more than one occasions.
“I never thought about the final table until end of Day 5, when I finished 41 out of the 97 remaining. I never had any chips in previous days, finishing in the bottom ten percent of the field every day, so I was in survival mode. During Day 6, a guy played ABC poker all day; then we got on the TV table and he pulled a hero bluff on me. He raised me on the flop and fired a three-barrel bluff and I mucked top two at river –- a six-million pot. I finished 22 out of 27 remaining for Day 7. I couldn’t sleep that night as I thought that six-mill pot cost me a chance at the final table. Day 7, I didn’t give up and clawed my way back and when I tripled up with 8-8, that was the critical hand that vaulted me back into the pack for the final table. After that hand, I was thinking more of chipping up for final table and not just trying to qualify. With 12 left I think we all tightened up a bit at our table as we all had decent stacks. We knew that there were three short stacks at the other table so it was a waiting game for short stacks to bust out.”
The 6 million pot causing Gee the sleepless night was played against WSOP 2009 Main Event 11th finisher Jaime Robbins, who dropped out in 19th place this year.
Gee is currently 5th in the finale with 16,860,000 in chips.
Gee was born in China but his family moved to Sacramento, CA, United States when he was 6 – the city he considers his hometown. His parents working hard, Gee looked after their apartment and his younger siblings as a child.
Steven Gee
His family becoming to get on well, Gee progressed with his studies, eventually gaining acceptance to California State University to study business. He got employed by the Department of Transportation in his home state.
Beginning to play in the ‘70s, Gee left his job after a couple of years of poker to be a professional, specialising in lowball games. After a short career, he moved on to another profitable job in the software industry. Keeping playing for a hobby, Gee returned to the professional field in 2008 and has been making a living as a pro player ever since. He can be found at the Commerce and the Bellagio for most of the time, with an increasing number of appearances on different tourneys.
With a series of minor results behind his back, the year 2010 bought about the great breakthrough for him, as far as tournaments are concerned, winning the WSOP $1,000 NLHE event for $472,479 and a golden bracelet. With a shot at being the 2012 Main Event champion, he now has the opportunity to become part of poker history. Also, he admittedly has the drive to become ambassador of the game.
„The champ has the responsibility, has the platform and must make himself available for interviews and appearances to educate the public about poker. We have taken a lot of public hits recently with the scandals at AB, Ultimate Bet, and now Full Tilt. Poker is a microcosm of life, there is the good, bad, and ugly, just as in rest of society. I want the public to know that poker is not associated with crime, drugs, loan sharks, robberies. That poker is a game of skill, a competition, and that there are a lot of good people in poker. There are a lot of charity tournaments and that poker has given back to society. I play poker with doctors, lawyers, accountants, engineers, and we should all have the right to play poker in any state and at home,” Gee said.
Struggling through the first five days of the WSOP Main Event, Gee had a brush with elimination on more than one occasions.
“I never thought about the final table until end of Day 5, when I finished 41 out of the 97 remaining. I never had any chips in previous days, finishing in the bottom ten percent of the field every day, so I was in survival mode. During Day 6, a guy played ABC poker all day; then we got on the TV table and he pulled a hero bluff on me. He raised me on the flop and fired a three-barrel bluff and I mucked top two at river –- a six-million pot. I finished 22 out of 27 remaining for Day 7. I couldn’t sleep that night as I thought that six-mill pot cost me a chance at the final table. Day 7, I didn’t give up and clawed my way back and when I tripled up with 8-8, that was the critical hand that vaulted me back into the pack for the final table. After that hand, I was thinking more of chipping up for final table and not just trying to qualify. With 12 left I think we all tightened up a bit at our table as we all had decent stacks. We knew that there were three short stacks at the other table so it was a waiting game for short stacks to bust out.”
The 6 million pot causing Gee the sleepless night was played against WSOP 2009 Main Event 11th finisher Jaime Robbins, who dropped out in 19th place this year.
Gee is currently 5th in the finale with 16,860,000 in chips.
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