Accountant wins All In freeroll
Gaetjens, an accountant by trade, made excellent use of the invitation that his All In Energy purchase afforded him. The freeroll, which was staged at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino alongside the other WSOP tournaments, included the top 1,200 "winners" from All IN's customer appreciation and sweepstakes contests. Payout was divided amongst the top 300 players. The tournament was designed so that lots of players got a piece of the prize money. Gaetjens has chosen to donate a portion of his winnings to the United Way.
"This is my biggest win by far," said Gaetjens, who actually resides in the Miami suburb of Kendall, FL. "I'm very proud of the lay-down I made of two jacks that cost me 20% of my stack, but I knew the other guy has aces. It left me alive to come back and win. I look forward to having that big $20,000 chip stack to start the Main Event! And I am very grateful to All In Energy for this opportunity."
The 26-year-old, who was recently married, came to the U.S. from Haiti as a 12-year-old and is a naturalized U.S. citizen. Known in the Miami poker rooms as "The Great White Shark," he learned to play poker at the family table, but raised the stakes when he entered college at the University of Florida and began playing cash games on the side. At his first job out of college at the Ernst & Young accounting firm, Gaetjens discovered that the company had a program to support the United Way with contributions and he has continued making regular donations ever since.
"We are pleased that Michael Gaetjens is the first of our patrons to win an All In Energy Invitational Tournament and that he will be making a contribution to charity," said Rod Jao, Vice President. "And we are thankful to all of our other loyal and enthusiastic customers. We look forward to our next event later this year."
All In Energy has found great acceptance in the poker world. Johnny Chan is one of the founders of the company as well as a terrific spokesman. He has brought on a stable of celebrity poker pros including: Scottie Nguyen, J.C. Tran, Freddie Deeb, Layne Flack, Chris Moneymaker, Tuan Le, Phil Gordon, David Singer, T.J. Cloutier, Clonie Gowen, Steve Dennenman, Tim Phan, Cindy Violette, Bill Baxter, Eli Elezra, David Ulliot, Scott Frischman, Robert Williamson III, David Williams, Dewey Tomko and Patrick Antonius, among others.