The 2009 World Series of Poker $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em champion is Mike Eise, from Troy, MO.

He's known as "the Force" since a group of poker friends gave him the nickname because he is one of the toughest players in local poker games.

Eise came to this year's WSOP with a group of friends who are members of a St. Louis-area poker club called the "Wanna Be Poker Series." Membership in the club requires regular dues to be paid. Every year, the club holds a few small tournaments to determine which members get to fly to Las Vegas and play in the WSOP. Four members of the club entered this tournament, one of them being Mike Eise.

He's won numerous daily poker tournaments held at casinos located in the St. Louis area. He plays poker mostly at Ameristar Casino and Harrah's. His regular poker game is $1-3 blind No-Limit Hold'em and some $5-10 blind No-Limit Hold'em.

Understandably he has not had time to consider the full impact of his victory and $639,331 in winnings. However, he stated that he plans to continue working and remain very much as he was before the victory.


Winner Quotes (Mike "the Force" Eise) --

* On how it feels to win a WSOP gold bracelet: "It's surreal. It’s something I always wanted to win."

* On how he got into this tournament: "I always wanted to come to Las Vegas and play in the World Series. I had one chance to get into this event, and here I am. I won the bracelet."

* On how his goals changed as he went deeper in the tournament: "I had benchmarks. I just wanted to reach benchmarks (last the first day, making the money, etc.) and as I reached them I made a new benchmark and then I reached it again. With 2,600 people (who entered) you can't expect first. But you hope for it."

* On his poker club in St. Louis: "Its called the "Wanna Be Poker Series." I guess it's the "To Be Poker Series" now, since I'm not a wanna be anymore."

* On what his plans and goals were before his WSOP victory: "This is the only event I played. This is the only event I wanted to play. I wanted to concentrate on this. So, I didn't play any other ones. I figure 'one event = one win' really means something."

* On what he plans to do with the money: "I have a wife and kids to take care of, and health insurance, and I plan to keep going at what I'm doing. But my three little girls are going to be excited because I'm going to take them to Disneyland."

* On if the win and $639,331 in prize money is life changing: "Definitely."

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by Nolan Dalla