At this past summer's World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, Penn State senior Michael Martin found himself at the ESPN feature table early in the $10,000 No Limit Hold'em Championship event with one of the most volatile personalities in poker.
"Just muck your cards Phil."
Martin said that phrase, which is slang for not showing your cards, to one of the biggest poker celebrities in the world -- Phil Hellmuth.
In front of cameras and masses, Martin sat there and played his game, eventually knocking heads with Hellmuth in a hand that has found its way onto recent ESPN broadcasts.
He would finish in 232nd place, winning $42,882. But one misplay, where Martin, with pocket aces, called after Hellmuth raised with pocket kings, still lingers.
After a flop in which both players feared the other had hit some sort of hand, both checked. When the turn made it so any jack would make a straight, each player once again checked.
The river brought a harmless two, and Martin put out a small bet that was called by Hellmuth. When the cards were exposed, Hellmuth went into his usual rant saying, "Look they're trying to bust me."
"Just muck your cards Phil!"
"The announcers went crazy," Martin said. "Norman Chad was like, 'this kid doesn't want to hear it.' All my buddies wrote on my facebook wall 'muck your hand Phil.'"
The brief encounter, which occurred during the roughly two-and-half hours Martin and Hellmuth were at the same table, is still fresh in the then 21-year-old's mind.
Having the opportunity to play with one of the most successful tournament players in the world, and the chance to be on TV, would seem like a dream for most casual poker players. Not for Martin.
"I would rather not have been on TV, because the table they put together was kinda tough," Martin said. "The first day of the main event you're expecting to play some really bad players. I could really care less about being on TV."
Even though Martin wasn't caught up in his time in front of the cameras, his friends and fellow card players were excited to see him have the opportunity to play in front of a national audience.
"It's awesome he was on TV," said Adam Lustig, Martin's friend from back home in Newtown. "I actually spoke to him right after the hand. He said he played it awful and he disliked Hellmuth. I know he wasn't happy with the way he played on TV, but I made sure to watch it."
After leaving the feature table, regaining concentration on the tournament that had a record field of 8,773 players and a first-place prize of $12 million wasn't difficult for Martin. Deeper in, he implemented an attack strategy that eventually brought him to his peak of 180,000 in tournament chips.
However, an unfortunate run of cards left Martin short stacked on day four. Finally deciding to move all in with Ace Queen pre-flop, he unluckily ran into pocket kings and was sent to the rail in 232nd place. Martin's finish, which was six places higher than Joseph Hachem, last year's 7 million-dollar champion, netted the Penn State senior just less than $43,000.
Even though Martin was playing to win, placing deep into a tournament that lasted a total of eight days was an accomplishment for the World Series of Poker rookie.
"That's a lot of money still. I was not disappointed," Martin said, recollecting four days and six hours of poker. "I was tired, so you're almost happy to be done."
Even with a successful run on poker's biggest stage and entering five other tournaments in addition to the main event, Martin, who is an English major, still doesn't view himself as a professional player. Not yet at least.
"I wouldn't consider myself a pro," he said. "But do I play on a professional level. All my income is from poker, but I'm still a student."
While the success can change some card players, Martin has still remained the same guy he was before poker, according to his friends.
"Mike has a level head; he's a genuine guy," Lustig said. "He just loves playing poker and even though he's playing at really high stakes, he's still the same kid."
Another friend has seen at least a little change.
"When he first started, I didn't think he was that serious, now he's playing [poker] all the time," Matt Emmerling, a member of the Daily Collegian business staff, said. "Whenever I go over his place it's a surprise if he's not playing."
Resuming his usual 30 hours a week on the computer, playing some of the highest stakes offered online, Martin is still taking classes at Penn State this fall. However, he won't be losing any focus on his goals of wining a World Series of Poker bracelet and establishing himself as a regular on the circuit. He has two large tournaments scheduled for January -- an $8,000 World Poker Tour event in the Bahamas and a $12,000 tournament in Melbourne, Australia.
Martin said he would not be doing anything with his degree in English after graduation. Stacking lots of chips seems to be the future.
"Any way to get out of a 9-to-5 job, I'm going to try to do," Martin said.
As it looks now, the only 9-to-5 Martin will be seeing is the pair of whole cards, and his friends don't think that's such a bad idea.
"Mike is a really dedicated kid," Lustig said. "I could definitely see him winning a bracelet. After he graduates, the sky is the limit."
It seems the career path of the no limit hold'em specialist could yield more time in front of the camera.
"These online sites offer like $30,000 just to wear a hat," Martin said. "But I don't really want to sell out like that; my buddies would be pushing me to do it. I would get Penn State in there somewhere, like my card protector would be a Lion."
