Morris Co. Card Player Makes World Series Of Poker Finals

MORRIS COUNTY, NJ — A Morris County card player is a few hands away from potentially winning $10 million at the World Series of Poker Championship.

Michael Gagliano, 41, of Rockaway, will be seated alongside eight other finalists in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event's final table next week.

Gagliano has been playing professional cards for roughly two decades, earning four bracelets and taking home more than $2.5 million in winnings.

In addition to playing, the poker pro has spent the last 16 years coaching poker with Gags30Poker, where he says that “learning to play poker is a lot like learning a musical instrument."

This is Gagliano's 17th time in the World Series, and poker.org says while he's not a household name, he is "likely the best player left in the field."

“Just going to see where the cards fall and play my best and go from there," Gagliano told Cardplayer.com. "I mean, it’s going to be hard to be too disappointed. Obviously, I’d be a little disappointed if I get ninth, but again, that’s poker. It might happen. Anyone at this table can very easily get ninth or first, still. It’s wide open at this point. So we’ll see.”

By earning a spot in the top nine, after more than 9,000 players had already been eliminated, Gagliano is guaranteed to take home $1 million, even if he places ninth.

Gagliano heads into the final round with $46,500,000 in chips, or 31 big blinds, the fifth most of the finalists.

The event will take place from Aug. 3 to Aug. 5 in Las Vegas. The first two nights of final-table action air at 9 p.m. on ESPN2, with the finale of the main event airing at 10:30 p.m. on ESPN.

Click here to learn more about the finals and its participants.