— When John D’Agostino Sr. was approached by John Jr. in 2003 and told that his son was quitting college to become a professional poker player, the elder D’Agostino did his best to talk his son out of it.
John D’Agostino Jr., who grew up in Seymour, ignored his father’s plea to stay in college. Nearly $2 million in earnings later, the elder D’Agostino, who now resides in Ansonia, just shakes his head, smiles and admits, "It’s tough as a dad to admit to your son you were wrong."
D’Agostino Jr., who moved to Egg Harbor Township, N.J., to be close to Atlantic City casinos, will make his sixth appearance on television tonight when the Borgata Poker Classic will be replayed on the Travel Channel at 9. The event was held at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City on Sept. 22.
"It’s been an amazing ride," said D’Agostino Jr., who finished fourth in the tournament and earned $350,000. "I was lucky when I started as a pro in 2004, and I’ve done well. There are a lot of ups and downs in poker, but I’ve been fortunate to have more ups than downs so far.
"There is a lot of strategy and skill involved, but luck is what makes poker so popular. Any random person can win an event with the right luck. Even your best skilled player will lose a good portion of the time."
D’Agostino, 23, has actually earned $1,646,420 and is ranked 10th in the country by Card Player Magazine. His best finish was in February when he earned $591,312 for second place at the Borgata Winter Poker Open.
D’Agostino never thought of poker in high school and never gambled on anything. He played four years on the baseball team at Seymour High and earned All-Naugatuck Valley League honors his senior year. He went on to Central Connecticut State, where he majored in accounting.
He started playing poker for fun with some friends in college to kill time between classes and started winning regularly. One weekend in 2002, he said he cleaned out his friends and won $1,500. When he turned 21, he started playing on weekends at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville. The weekends turned to Thursday-Sunday stints and his winnings averaged nearly $2,000 a week. The summer of 2003, he said he earned $20,000.
His third year (2002-03) at Central didn’t go well, and in August 2003, D’Agostino went to his parents and decided to "take a shot" and become a pro poker player.
"I tried to talk him out of it, but he’s always been steadfast in his beliefs," D’Agostino Sr. said. "It ended up being a great decision on his part."
The first professional poker tournament he entered was the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, where he finished fifth and won $99,450 on Jan. 24, 2004. He has finished as high as second three times. His next event is April 6-9 in the Foxwoods New England Poker Classic at Foxwoods Casino in Ledyard. The event has a $10,000 buy-in and a first-place prize of $1 million. He is looking forward to playing in the annual World Series of Poker event at the Rio Casino in Las Vegas from July 28-Aug. 10.
While playing on the poker tour is exciting, D’Agostino said he makes most of his money playing in non-tournament "cash games," primarily at Atlantic City casinos. Instead of playing with chips like one does in tour events, one plays with actual cash.
"The reason I’m successful is I’m very aggressive when I play," said D’Agostino. "I’m willing to go broke at any time. You have to have a feel for the way other players are playing and thinking. Based on how other people are playing, you can win a lot of pots with nothing in your hand.
"I’ve proved I can play with the pros. The next step for me is to win my first tour event. That would be the most exciting thing for me."
His appearances on television have included ESPN, YES, NESN, FoxSports and the Travel Channel. |
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