Logo-PGT

When Scott Vener turned $200 into $800 during his first ever session of poker, drunk in the middle of the night at the Commerce Casino in L.A., he probably never thought that he’d one day be coasting to the dinner break on Day 4 of the WSOP Main Event.

On this tenth attempt in poker’s greatest event, Vener finally managed to overcome the hurdle of making the money, and now that he’s crossed this off his list, all bets are off.

“I want all of it, and if I make the final table I’m going to have the best rail anyone’s ever seen,” Vener said after bagging up chips after making the money on Day 3.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bk9r1AHBlcj

 


“Do you want to go to a casino and play poker?” Vener’s good friend Joe Weinberger said on that drunk night many years ago, well past the last call at the Chateau Marmont Hotel.

Drunk, confused, yet intrigued, the man behind the music of shows such as Entourage, Ballers and How to Make it in America obliged and that night, with a basic understanding of the game he picked up a new passion that’s been a strong force in his life ever since.

“I had no idea what I was doing, but I from that point onwards I was hooked and I wanted to learn more,” Scott Vener said during the second break of the day on Day 4 of the 2018 WSOP Main Event.

Learning more about the game quickly turned into many nights of falling asleep to the sound of timing out on hands of online poker, ultimately leading to his first result in a live poker tournament in March of 2008. With plenty of experience at the WSOP under his belt, Vener now sounds like a seasoned vet who’s ready for the moment.

“For me, it’s all about playing my game and figuring out how to navigate my table and not think about everyone else around me.”

Focusing just on his own table and tuning out the circus around him, Vener likes to think of the tournament as a series of single table sit & gos. But while his narrow focus helps him concentrate and staying in the moment, it goes without saying that he’s aware of the gravity of this moment and the potential heartbreak that comes along with it.

“The thing I fear the most right now is getting knocked out and seeing everyone else still having fun and not being included anymore. I’m not looking forward to that part.”

The deeper Vener will go in this tournament the more frequent the questions will become from his music followers about what’s going on. Vener loves the support and happily dumbs down his posts to include as many people on his journey that could ultimately lead to a life-changing moment.

“Some of my non-poker friends on Instagram think that the chips in front of me is the amount of money I’ve won,” Vener laughed.

“Poker is a fun hobby for me, and I think it could be exciting for a lot more people. Maybe me talking about the game gets more people excited about it.”

The road to the final table is still long, but after making the money for the first time in this event, Vener looks relaxed, focused and ready to play poker for another seven days.

Follow Scott Vener and all your other favorite players live on PokerGO and ESPN until a winner is crowned on July 15th. Subscribe to PokerGO right now and enjoy more than 100 days of live poker action as well as an extensive on-demand library of content. Relive the 2017 WSOP Main Event final table right here. 

Scott Vener, 2018 WSOP Main Event