Medford man wins fourth place in World Poker Tour contest
By SARAH LEMON
Mail Tribune
Patrick Hocking didn’t earn his nickname playing poker. But it fits.
"The Hawk" played a killer small-stakes game for 20 years before swiping the fourth-place title from many a seasoned professional in last week’s World Poker Tour contest in the Bahamas.
Hocking earned the Texas Hold ‘Em tournament bid after posting $160 and winning an Internet contest in early December. Betting on spending a dream vacation at the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island, Hocking little dreamed he would end up at the tournament’s final table and take home $207,700. PokerStars.com paid his airfare, food and lodging.
"I just assumed I’d go over there and get my butt kicked, and we’d have a fun vacation," he said.
Instead, the patient Hawk maintained his own tight, conservative game through five grueling days of play, striking when he felt the time was right. Initially suffering a sore back and neck, Hocking said he found each 10-hour day got progressively easier. His best investment was a pair of wrap-around, prescription sunglasses that he wore, not to intimidate, but to hide his nervousness.
Hocking’s strategy included calculating pot odds and the likelihood of hitting a hand — combined with gut instinct. He bluffed at several key junctures, but never when his entire stack was at stake, Hocking said. He was slightly surprised to win several large hands with just an ace-high — a risky collection of mismatched cards and one ace.
"It’s a game that has a tremendous amount of science involved," said the 43-year-old former certified public accountant, now turned Asante department head.
Hocking was tickled to land among the top 80 players, each of whom takes home $11,600. He was amazed to win $200,000 pots against the likes of Erick Lindgren, a former World Poker Tour player of the year. Hocking will appear on the tour’s Travel Channel broadcast in May. Back home in Medford, his family wasn’t a bit surprised to hear the news.
"He’s just as smart as any of those other people," said sister Terri Parker, 41, of Medford.
Hocking’s three daughters avidly followed their father’s rise once they wore themselves out on the resort’s water slides. As minors are barred from the poker room, Jessica, Hannah and Abigail listened to each play via speakers in the hotel hallways. But the girls spent the last day in a discovery camp while Hocking’s wife, Natalie, cheered his efforts at the final table.
The stakes rapidly increasing, Hocking struggled to get a hand in the final round. Holding an ace and a seven as his highest cards, he was knocked out.
"I was just blown away to even qualify for it," he said.
He figures to pay about $75,000 in taxes on his winnings, yet said he will likely donate some of his take to charity and maybe start a college fund for his daughters. While calling the whole experience an incredible product of luck, Hocking is now setting his sights on the Las Vegas World Series of Poker this July.
Given just a little more luck, the Hawk may fly again.
Reach reporter Sarah Lemon at 776-4487, or e-mail slemon@mailtribune.com
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