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Home / Power Path / Power Path winner might have the best bad beat story you’ll hear…

Power Path winner might have the best bad beat story you’ll hear…

Bob Parkin has won Silver Passes and took down his maiden Sunday Million for $158K. But the 68-year-old retiree also has one helluva story...

February 15, 2024

Power Path

by Jack Stanton

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4 Minute Read

No matter how brutal your worst bad beat is, Bob Parkin can top it. His story involves an earthquake, for crying out loud.

The 68-year-old retiree was playing the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event in Las Vegas but had been card-dead for hours, forced to watch his stack slowly diminish.

After what seemed like an eternity, he looked down at pocket aces. “At that exact moment, the room began to shake and all the scaffolding started swaying and clanking,” Parkin remembers.

Panicked, players throughout the room quickly got up and started heading for the exits, as did the dealer sitting next to Parkin. “I grabbed his arm and – as reassuringly as I could with a small earthquake happening – I urged him to remain seated,” he says.

A few moments later, an announcement was made that the next break would begin early when the current hand was complete. “Obviously, everyone folded,” Parkin sighs. “That was probably the worst tell I’ve ever given off.”

When the WSOP resumed, Parkin fell back into the card-dead abyss and soon after found himself on the rail. “The point of the story is, anything can happen in poker,” he says.

But Parkin has had his fair share of run-good, too.

SUNDAY MILLION WIN AND THREE SILVER PASSES (SO FAR)

Back in 2011, Bob Parkin – known as “Roydon Rock” on PokerStars — took down the Sunday Million the very first time he’d played it, defeating an 8,427-entry field to win $158,054. He’s since won online packages to events in Barcelona, Macau (twice), San Remo, Scotland, and Ireland.

He even won a package to that WSOP Main Event from a $7.50 investment and cashed it for $21,000.

Since PokerStars launched Power Path, Parkin has spent his retirement crushing the qualifiers. He’s captured three Silver Passes so far (each worth ~$2,500) and is using one of his Passes at the France Poker Series (FPS) in Paris.

Parkin is currently playing the FPS Main Event in Paris

“I won the Silver Pass package after buying in for $11,” he says. “So I decided to combine poker with a little romance and take the trip with my wife which makes everyone happy.

“It would be great to win but any cash would be a bonus.”

AN INSPIRATION

Bob Parkin is proof (not that we needed it) that poker isn’t a young person’s game, nor is it a game where only professionals thrive.

Parkin is a self-proclaimed small/medium-stakes player and yet he’s been able to travel the world thanks to Power Path and other online satellites on PokerStars.

“It was the first online site I ever played on,” he tells us. “I’ve tried others but I never stayed away too long due to the superior layout etc.”

Parkin has been playing cards for as long as he can remember. Every family gathering would involve games of Chase the ace or Newmarket.

When he was 14, his Italian brother-in-law introduced his family to draw poker, yet it wasn’t until his thirties that he ever ventured into a casino or card club.

But ever since, he’s enjoyed incredible success for a casual, amateur player.

“The best tip I could give anyone online or live is to stick to playing within your means,” Parkin says. “Play where you’re comfortable losing your stake, and for me, that’s tournaments and satellites. I know exactly how much I could win or lose so I always enjoy the evening.”