Level 9 (600/1200/1200)
Total Entrants: 111
We caught up with Baytown, Texas residents Melannie and Johnnie Craig (pictured) during the second break to get the story behind this husband-and-wife poker team.
"We do everything together," Johnnie says. And indeed, they do. Johnnie is retired U.S. Army, and Melannie is a retired Supply Chain Manager from the oil & gas industry. Being from Texas, Melannie tells us, didn't leave them many options for poker other than home games, which they played together once a week.
But they obviously have a passion for the game, and invested in two WPT Boot Camps to improve their tournament games. The first to Aruba, the second to Puerto Rico, at which they were able to study and play with Chris Moneymaker, Todd Brunson, Linda Johnson, Nick Binger, Jan Fisher, and another instructor they only know as "Nicky Numbers."
The investment paid off, with Johnnie winning the bracelet in the 2016 $1,000 Seniors event, along with $538,204.
"We both played in 2013, after the boot camps. But in 2016, I think that was harder on me than on him, because I was on the rail where I couldn't see any [hole] cards. We had the live stream but that was on a delay."
Melannie, who currently has 71,600 at the break, and Johnnie, who has 59,200, are just four levels away from bagging up for Day 2. If they both bag up, it'll be interesting to see who has bragging rights for biggest stack.