Lucky Brit ranked 19,366th in the world lands $3m at World Series of Poker Tournament

A former financial analyst at Jaguar Land Rover, Oliver made the final table at the week-long World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and scooped the huge $3m third-place prize, much to the delight of his girlfriend, who cheered him on in the early hours on 17th November.

She was the more excited of the two going by Jack’s reaction. “I mean I can’t complain can I?” He said after the incredible third-place finish.

“There’s six thousand and something other people that didn’t make it this far so what have I got to complain about?

In a room full of cool heads, he seemed to keep everything in perspective, adding, “I think I played well and that’s kind of all that matters. “That’s all you can do in this game. “Of course it’s going to change my life in some ways – it’s a lot of money – but as much as it is about the money it’s kind of not.”

It would be harsh to call Oliver an amateur, especially after the historic night he just gave Poker fans, but we love an underdog story at the Poker table.

Remember Shurane Vijayaram, back in 2017? The 33-year-old bagged $1.6 million when he won first prize at the Aussies Millions Poker Championships tournament with pocket fives. He entered with only $160! It was a heck of a turnaround, especially for someone with such little experience sitting around the pro table.

As a highlight of the international poker calendar, the WSOP main event is a crowning achievement in any poker player’s career. It was made all the sweeter by the fact that Oliver had only previously won around $100,000 in prize money — total!

Now he has completely obliterated that amount, blowing any pre-tournament expectations out of the water by finishing third out of 6,650 players.

He made it to the final three with 77,300,00 chips but was knocked out by American George Holmes, who in turn lost to Koray Aldemir, who held two pairs (10’s and 7’s). The German scooped the big $8m first prize and is ranked 67th in the Hendon Mob’s all-time money list.

After falling in love with Poker at University, it seems he made the right decision to follow his passion and mix it with the pros.

To put his victory into perspective, he finished 9th in a student poker championship in April 2020, paying a £275 buy-in that must seem like a spare change now.

Now when you hear the name Jack Oliver, you’ll know exactly what an underdog looks like. It just goes to show that in Poker, anything is possible.