John Ott, who plays poker regularly at Tampa Bay Downs’ Silks Poker Room, finished eighth in the Main Event and then emerged as the runner up of the $350 buy-in Black Chip Bounty Tournament. As a result, the title of PPC Poker Tour Season 2 Player of the Year was bestowed on him.
Recently, PokerNews.com interviewed Ott to find out more about his views about the game. Ott, who was born and brought up at Cincinnati in Ohio, migrated to Columbus and graduated from Ohio State. Sixteen years back, he moved to Tampa.
For the past 18 years, Ott works as a business development manager at Sysco Foodservice.
Although Ott began to play poker seriously from the past 10 years, he had learnt the game long back by playing it with his friends and family members. He began playing at home and then began playing at local casinos and race tracks.
He learned more about the game by discussing strategies with friends, interacting at online forums, and reading poker books.
When asked about winning the POY race against Parry Shaw, he said that the “POY race was indeed very tight” (Final standings shown on the left)but he hadn’t focused much on it throughout the year. He said that he began thinking about it only when he found himself in the second position in September.
Ott is very fond of the Silks Poker Room, where he plays poker regularly. He said:
I have had a huge outpouring of congratulations and support through texts and social media. I did play the PPC event at The Silks last Thursday and they all seemed to be very proud to have one of their own bring back the trophy.
He said that his PPC POY trophy will be displayed at the Silks Poker Room.
Sharing his opinions about the PPC, he said that Bryan Oulton and Sandy Swartzbaugh have designed a player friendly tour, which presents an excellent opportunity for poker players to interact with one another.
Ott isn’t the only player who enjoyed success at this year’s Aruba event. Aristoteles Neto, a truck driver in Boston, defeated a 138-strong player field and won the $2,200 buy-in Main Event of the PPC Aruba World Championship of 2014. He won a prize of $62,764 for beating a 138-strong player field. His achievement is noteworthy considering the fact that he qualified for the Main Event by taking part at a $65 buy-in satellite run by Foxwoods Casino.
