Fernando Pons is a little-known poker player with enough guile to make it into the prestigious November 9 of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) 2016. At 37 years of age, he has plenty to look forward to with a guaranteed $1 million in poker prize money. The illustrious contest is the most highly anticipated of the world’s major poker tournaments. But the story of Fernando Pons is unique; he converted a paltry €30 into a guaranteed $1 million and the best part is he has not played professional poker anywhere near this level before. Before he made it into the final leg of the tournament, he had turned his €30 into €250, but decided not to walk away. The first prize is a whopping $8 million, and this 888poker ambassador is going all out for poker glory.

The WSOP is played at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino and it attract thousands of players from around the world. The contest culminates in the November 9 where the top 9 chip leaders compete for the prize pool. For Fernando Pons, this is already a dream come true. For now, he is assured of becoming a millionaire when he goes head-to-head against the top players at the contest. He currently works as an account executive in Spain, but he will be returning to Las Vegas Nevada for the 2016 WSOP Main Event. All in all, this year’s contest attracted some 6,737 players, but it is Fernando Pons who really stands out. He was one of 148 players qualifying for the contest at 888poker. More importantly, he outlasted his opponents after a grueling 7 days of play. This marks the first time that 888poker qualifiers have made it through to the November 9.

What Does it Take to Qualify for the WSOP?

For someone like Fernando Pons, qualifying for the WSOP was not even on his radar. He began playing poker socially just 6 years ago. As a late bloomer in the poker arena, he is up against some pretty stiff competition at the WSOP. He readily admits to enjoying the game from the get go. He quickly learned the rules of play and decided to apply his poker playing smarts to an online poker contest at 888poker.es. Since he doesn’t speak much English, he frequented the Spanish site of the 888poker platform where he paid €30 to enter a satellite. He won a €250 seat into the next leg of the competition. Instead of walking away with almost 9 times his buy-in, he decided to sit and play in the next step of the contest. In the prestigious November 9, he is in last place – the ninth member of the million-dollar club. Many poker players liken his meteoric rise to fame and fortune to that of 2003 poker celebrity, Chris Moneymaker.

The story of Moneymaker is legendary: he converted $39 into a whopping $2.5 million prize pool by winning the Main Event of 2003 World Series of Poker. The rest is history. Fernando Pons will be seated in last place on 6.15 million chips, 68 million chips less than the chip leader, but that may work to his advantage. Since everyone will be targeting the big money, Pons can afford to sit many hands out and go all in when everyone else’s chip stacks have dwindled. This marks the first time since 2014 that a fellow Spaniard has made it to the final stage of the contest. Pons readily admits to all the fears and frustrations that accompany a big money poker contest like the WSOP. In his grueling preparation for the November 9, Pons waited for several months before he had a shot at competing for the big money. He decided to forego hiring a poker coach in favour of playing his natural game and competing in 888Live poker contests. Now that he’s guaranteed of a million-dollar payout, it’s guts and all glory to the end!