Age is No Barrier – Perry Green wins pro poker tournament 35 years after his last
It’s fair to say that plenty of water has flowed under the bridge in the poker world since the 1987 Pot of Gold NLH tournament. Anyone who was around for that event 35 years ago might remember that it was won by Perry Green, a 51 year old fur trader from Alaska who was one of the old guard, having been around the WSOP circuit for as long as such a thing has existed.
It was the last of a handful of tournaments that Green won during the 1970s and 80s, which included three WSOP bracelets. Last week, he astonished the world by finally adding one more tournament win – at the age of 86.
Class is permanent
Appropriately enough, it happened at the 30th Anniversary Los Angeles Poker Classic (LAPC) at the Commerce Casino just outside Los Angeles. Green was one of 91 entrants competing for a $30,000 prize pool in the $400 Mixed Omaha tournament. With more players using resources like Tight Poker to get into the game and progress, it is comforting to know that the old pros who first put the WSOP on the map can still cut it at the top of the game.
Green started his poker career back in the days when Dwight D Eisenhower was president and TV game shows were still handing out cartons of cigarettes as prizes. But while his status as an elder statesman of the game is beyond doubt, he can’t quite lay claim to being the grandfather of poker.
That title sits squarely on the shoulders of Doyle Brunson. The ten-times WSOP bracelet winner announced his retirement in 2018, and predictably enough, all the poker sages who should have known better fell for the bluff. Granted, Brunson is no longer the permanent feature of the tour that he had been, but even with his 90th birthday looming, he’s still showing up at occasional events. In a rare interview with WSOP News, he told Tiffany Michelle: “I’ve been home for a year, I’ve only been out a few times. I’m glad to get out, and I’m just going to play poker and see what the cards bring.”
Keeping up with the modern game
That’s a sentiment with which Perry Green is in complete agreement. Like Brunson, he picks and chooses his events these days, but is still a regular sight and as last week’s win shows, he is still playing at the highest level. He still turns out for WSOP events and last year he placed 71st in the $1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or Better.
Perry says he enjoys his poker as much today as he ever has. He added that while he participates in senior events too, he enjoys the Main Event as he takes extra pleasure taking on “the younger fellas.” He added: “Poker is a good stimulus for my brain. When you get to be over 85, you’ve got to do something to keep abreast of what’s going on, especially in this changing world that we have.”
