At the time of writing there are 325 players left in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event and one of them is the WSOP bracelet holder Ronnie Bardah. The IveyPoker team pro has made a little bit of history as both him and his IveyPoker team mate Christian Harder have both equaled Chris Bjorin’s record of four consecutive WSOP Main event cashes. Harder crashed out of the competition in 608th place but Bardah is still going strong.
I first met Bardah in Venice back in 2011 where he was playing in his first-ever World Poker Tour (WPT) event on European soil. He was travelling with the former WPT Champion Taylor von Kriegenbergh. Both Americans cashed; Bardah in 13th and von Kriegenbergh in 20th.
Both of them were traveling around the world, and they would find a spiritual home in Rawai, Thailand. They would spend several weeks in a Muay Thai-Boxing training camp learning how to fight, how to relax and most of all how to be grateful for the position that poker puts them in.
“I lost a lot of weight and got into decent shape and that kept the mind fresh. Seeing kids boxing for their lives…most of them are orphans…makes you so grateful for things. It was humbling. It cleaned me up a lot.” Said Bardah.
The training did Bardah the world of good. He returned to the States and promptly won his first WSOP gold bracelet after victory in the $2,500 Limit Hold’em – Six-Handed event. This year he came close to winning his second bracelet when he took third in Event #37: $5,000 Limit Hold’em.
“It’s been great year and one where I have had a lot of fun. I tried to win another one this year and came third in another limit event. I was the chip leader with six remaining, but finished third, had another cash but I’m now here in the main. I’ve played 16 tournaments in two years and I have two final tables, two main event cashes and a bracelet.”
Once the chapter closes on this series, Bardah will once again spread his wings and fly away. His choices of nests will depend on where he cashes, but he already has a lot of ideas on where he would like to go once the poker is put to bed.
“I’m going to go back to Florida for the $10m guarantee. Then I’m going to Thailand, maybe to Israel, go down to Rio and party, go to Amsterdam for the first time, check out the south of Spain and go to Morocco where My Mum was raised. I like to come here each summer and make enough money to go travelling and it seems to be working for me.”
Then it’s back to the WSOP to see if he can break the record and make if five consecutive WSOP main event cashes.
