Adam Rude took home $60,000 from this year’s World Series of Poker Main Event in Las Vegas after reportedly suffering a heart attack just hours earlier.
The American professional poker player felt tired and unwell in the shower, hours before competing for $10 million on Day 5 of poker’s most prestigious event, which took place from July 3 to 12.
‘I woke up shaking, I had chills and I decided to get in the shower to warm up because I thought I was cold, and then I was standing up and I woke up and I was on the floor like that,’ Rude said. Poker News.
“I went to the hospital and was diagnosed with a heart attack,” he continued, referring to his defibrillator. “The doctors didn’t see any damage, they did what they could.”
“They took my vitals, everything was fine. They gave me strong medications to get me through the day.”
American professional poker player Adam Rude was taking a shower when his heart defibrillator was activated.
Just hours after his health scare, Rude emerged to win $10 million on Day 5 of the tournament.
Rude finally came to the table in the middle of the two-hour level and started the session with less than 20 big blinds, though he quickly found an option to double up with pocket aces against ace-rag, according to Poker News.
He finished 117th out of 360 players still standing from an initial field of 10,112 entrants into the tournament.
The Nashville, Tennessee, native believes his heart issues are due to a virus he contracted that was “very similar to COVID” and also attacked his liver in 2014. He has since been ordered to use a defibrillator.
Rude said he has been suffering from heart problems since contracting a virus “very similar” to COVID in 2014
But despite his health issue, Rude remained steadfast in his stance as a winner and even raised a few eyebrows when he appeared.
“I’m getting some feedback at the table,” he told PokerNews at the first break of Day 5.
“One guy told me outright that I shouldn’t be here. The only reason I’m here is because I have two kids and I want to give them $10 million.”
