Amongst all the other news, we missed this sad item from last week: Jack Ury died at his home in Terra Haute, Indiana. Jack is fondly remembered in the poker community as being the oldest-ever participant in the World Series of Poker Main Event. His first trip was in 2007 when 94-year-old travelled to Vegas with his grandson. Despite being wheelchair-bound and only having only 20% of his vision in one eye, he managed to take on the first day’s 16-hour marathon with nary a blink.
He was eliminated from the tournament early in Day 2, but everybody who was there remembers his words as he left. “I can’t walk, I can’t see, can’t hear, but I can still play poker! I’ll be back again next year… if I’m still alive!”
And he was. The affection the poker world had for him only grew when he slow-rolled Stephen Friedlander in the 2009 WSOP Main Event on day 1D with a superior full house and got coverage on the World Series of Poker broadcasts that year.
Jack was married to his wife Elizabeth for over 60 years before her death in 2008 and the two had an extended family that ran into great-great-grandchildren. He served in the Navy during World War II and afterwards became a postal worker.
Rest in Peace, Jack. If only we all get to experience what you did in our lifetimes.
Play online poker at Bodog and you can qualify for a WSOP Seat 2011.
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