Sgt. Bret Chevalier’s not only a hero. He’s also a heckuva poker player. Chevalier bested 150 other players Tuesday night at a Poker Players Alliance tournament to benefit USO Metro and injured soldiers at Walter Reed.
Along the way, he busted Greg “Fossilman” Raymer, the 2004 World Series of Poker Main Event champion. As he does every time someone busts him out, Raymer gave Chevalier a signed fossil, as well as a pair of his signature lizard eye sunglasses.
Chevalier also outlasted pros Annie Duke, Howard Lederer, Andy Bloch and Dennis Phillips, TV host Montel Williams and musician Ivan Neville, who sang the national anthem.
Chevalier won two round-trip tickets to Las Vegas and three nights at Caesars. He told us he spent five years on active duty in the 1980s, then spent 16 years as a civilian before re-enlisting to go to Iraq, where he was wounded.
Phillips — who was part of the “November 9” that made the Main Event final table last year — led a group earlier in the day to Walter Reed, where many patients take the thrice-monthly Texas Hold ’Em tournaments very seriously.
The pros are in town this week to lobby for legalizing online poker. “It’s definitely not the profession I want,” said Phillips of his stint as a lobbyist. “But it wasn’t that bad. It’s a very easy argument to make.”
When asked if there’s pressure to be an ambassador for the game now that he’s had success, he said he views it a more of an obligation. “And the new November 9 should consider doing some of these same things,” he said.
“We just keep coming back,” said Lederer.
And his sister, Annie Duke, the most successful woman in poker history, added since they first started coming to Capitol Hill, “We’ve gone from educating [members of Congress] to just giving them the talking points” to make the case themselves.
