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“ It ca n be fu n when you’re winning [poker], but you ca n get into a bad rut of mistakes. I guess you’re always learning from it ”
17
Age at which Mitch McIntyre started playing poker
3
Number of tournaments he has taken part in
30th
Place out of 400 in first poker state championship
BECOMING A POKER PRO
When he’s not writing home loans, Mitch McIntyre is either rising up the ranks of competitive poker, or kickboxing to keep fit
AFTER WATCHING the World Series of Poker on television in his teens, Mitch McIntyre, now broker and director at McIntyre Finance, learnt the card game himself, playing with friends and then in local pubs. At around the age of 19 he qualified for the Queensland championship, when he placed 30th out of about 400 players. His second tournament lasted three days,
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playing from morning to evening, and out of a huge field of 1,500 competitors he came 150th. “It’s not super serious; it’s just for fun. But one day I’d like to go over to the States and go into world poker there, just as a fun thing to do,” McIntyre says. Not just a keen poker player, McIntyre is also trained in kickboxing. This started as a way of improving his health when he
was overweight; then, after losing 40kg, he took part in a six-week kickboxing camp in Thailand. “It was awesome; it was a great experience,” he says. “Doing that training makes you feel good because you know you’re healthy and can achieve things. I’ve come from being hardly able to do anything, being a real unfit guy, and I just put my mind to it and it really paid off.”
www.mpamagazine.com.au
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