Isai Scheinberg, considered one of PokerStars' founders, won a poker tournament last weekend. The UKIPT tour made a return stop to the Isle of Man where Scheinberg and 14 people post £2,200 apiece for the danger to win the £13,850 first prize.
Scheinberg's victory would've been a narrative by itself. He's only some weeks far from selling the corporate that under his direction became the world's largest online poker room. It was he who moved all of the company to the Isle of Man and made PokerStars one of the vital island's biggest employers.
But there has been something else that came out of that moment.
For many years, media world wide complained that they might find no recent pictures of the PokerStars founder. Scheinberg preferred to stick within the background and let the cameras deal with the players.
But now, with the corporate in someone else's hands, Scheinberg was just that a poker player who had won a poker tournament, person who was expected to take a seat for a winner's photo.
And that's really where this story is.
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Something happened many years back. I WILL NOT say when it started exactly, but my first memory of it was when Alex Gomes won Brazil's first WSOP bracelet in 2008. As he took a seat for his winner photo, every Brazilian within the room rushed to be within the shot. It was a person achievement, certainly, but for the rustic of Brazil, it was a milestone. They celebrated together in what could be an historic photo for Brazilian poker.
In the six years that experience passed since that day, the crowd winner photo has become standard. The photographers on scene take a regular usual snap after which stand by for the assembly of the gang shot. Countrymen, friends, crews, entourages, and hangers-on crowd in to join the instant. Each smile in each frame says something: "We were rooting for you the entire way."
So, when Isai Scheinberg won the UKIPT High Roller last weekend, this happened.
You need to look closely to even find Scheinberg. For those who search for the sparkle of the trophy within the light, you will discover the smiling man holding it. Around him, heads poke out in every direction, straining to look the lens, wanting greater than anything to join that moment. One of the crucial faces you can also know. A few of them you will not. They all are individuals who owe their smiles to Scheinberg and his vision. They're players, friends, and PokerStars employees who trusted Scheinberg to guide them and PokerStars at the right path. He didn't steer them wrong.
All along, Scheinberg let others have the limelight, or even when it was time for him to step up and collect his trophy, he let himself be surrounded--engulfed, even--by the folks he trusted enough to allow them to join PokerStars. Yes, he's within the picture, but true to his way, it is the crowd around him that gets the distinction.
Each of these faces represented hundreds more people around the globe who wished they could've been there to celebrate the instant. Indeed, it was a comparatively small field and a comparatively small first prize, nevertheless it was a moment Scheinberg deserved.
In the probably the most literal way, that picture said, "We were rooting for you the entire way, Isai."
Event results
1. Isai Scheinberg (Canada) £13,850 2. Vicente Delgado (Portugal) £9,230 3. Scott Margereson (UK) £5,950 4. Mickey Petersen (Denmark) PokerStars Team Online £3,950
Brad Willis is the PokerStars Head of Blogging
Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: PokerStars news]
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