BY LYNNE SNIERSON
Five players from
the poker room at Rockingham
Park, who each won a seat worth
$10,000 to the World Series of
Poker, already know what they
will do with the multi-million
dollar prize up for grabs.
“The jackpot last year was
$8.5 million, and of course I
have dreams about the money
if I win it all,” said Billy Carrier,
a 25-year-old wireless phone
salesman from Salem.
“All of my friends expect to
be flown out to Vegas to party
non-stop for a week. Then I’ll
retire from my job and try my
hand at playing 
professional
poker.”
When Carrier and Myles
McDonough, Kay Sweeney, Jay
Murphy and Dennis Rainville
get into the World Series of Poker
at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas
over the July 4 weekend, they
will be playing against the pros
and some of the biggest names
on the circuit will be among the
7,000 contestants from all over
the planet.
But even though none of
them has ever played in a tournament
of this magnitude before,
not one is intimidated.
“If you don’t expect to win,
don’t even bother going, said
Murphy, who lives in Goffstown,
and manages the poker
room at another venue. “If I
win, my wife and I won’t have
to worry about sending our two
girls, aged 7 and 10, to college.”
Rockingham’s Fantastic
Five each won their seats at the
World Series of Poker tables
through single-day tournaments
with a $150 buy-in at the
racetrack over the winter and
spring.
All have turned down offers
from other players to purchase their seats and explained
that for their investment of only
$150, this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
is priceless.
“I’ve already talked to my financial
planner about investing
all of the money I’ll make from
endorsement deals after I win
it all,” Sweeney of Acton, Mass.,
said with a big grin.
“I’m already thinking about
all of the famous players and big
celebrities I’ll meet and hang out
with. Then I’ll turn pro and be
one of them.”
Rainville, who hails from
Carlisle, Mass., would also like
to retire and join the professional
poker tour, and McDonough,
a retired computer programmer
from Watertown, Mass., has
dreams of traveling around the
world should they be the last
one standing at the final table.
“The ultimate goal for any
player is to be at the final table,
and to win it all would be unreal,’
said Carrier.
For these five players from
Rockingham Park’s poker room,
the possibility is now very real.