A Lake Havasu City man has won a spot in the World Series of Poker, the world's largest annual poker tournament, which is nationally televised and has a $10 million grand prize.

News-Herald photo/Tony Raap Lake Havasu City resident March Schwartz is heading to Las Vegas at the end of the month to play in the World Series of Poker, along with 10,000 other participants.

March Schwartz, a FedEx delivery driver, earned his spot in April by winning an online satellite tournament through PartyPoker.com. Anyone who pays a $10,000 entry fee can play in the World Series of Poker, which runs from July 28 to Aug. 10 in Las Vegas. But because Schwartz won a satellite tournament, PartyPoker.com will pay his entry fee plus a week's lodging at the MGM Grand.

Organizers are expecting 10,000 participants, up from 7,500 last year. The total prize pool will be $100 million with the bottom prize paying $10,000. Players will play No Limit Texas Hold 'Em, a high-stakes game where at any time a player can go all in, meaning he can bet all his chips. This tournament is the Super Bowl of poker, Schwartz said.

“It's basically the only sporting event in the world where Joe Lunch Bucket can compete against Shaq, Michael Jordan, (and) Wayne Gretzsky on almost an even basis,” he said.

Schwartz does not have a poker face. Trying to read someone's facial expression is overblown, he said. Betting tendencies are easier to pick up on. His strategy will be to bet assertively.

“I have nothing invested. I'm going to relax, have fun, enjoy the experience and be very, very aggressive,” he said. “I'm going to try to catch a bunch of scared, nervous people early, see if I can push them around and try to build up some kind of a stack.”

If he can do that, then he will settle into a comfort zone and play like he normally does. He said he has to be careful not to be overaggressive, which may cause him to do something stupid.

“But I'm not going to be standing there with a bat on my shoulder and have an umpire say, ‘Strike three.' If I go down, it's going to be in a blaze of glory,” he said.

Internet players traditionally have fared well. The past two winners, Joe Hachem in 2005 and Chris Moneymaker in '04, got their start the same way Schwartz did. Being a relative unknown can be to your advantage. That way, no one knows your betting tendencies.

“It's an advantage to be an unknown, but it's a disadvantage because of the lack of experience,” Schwartz said.

This will be his first live tournament. He has played poker since high school but has played No Limit Texas Hold 'Em for only a year and a half.

“I got spanked pretty good the first couple months,” he said. “It cost me a lot of money to learn.”

Schwartz said he started winning when he realized that poker is a game of “patience and discipline tempered with aggression.” Contrary to popular opinion, poker is a skill game, not just luck, he said.

“If you watch it on TV, you'll see the same people all the time,” he said. “This tells you it's not about the cards.”

To keep sharp, he plays every day online. PartyPoker.com also gave him $1,000 in spending money. Instead of using it for that, he started playing with it and now that $1,000 is at $2,400. Schwartz was modest about his ability.

“I don't have a clue,” he said of how far he will go in the tournament. “All I know is I won a seat in the biggest tournament in the world. Wish me luck.”

To learn more, log on to www.worldseriesofpoker.com.

You may contact the reporter at raap@havasunews.com.