Patrick Huse graduated from the University in May with a degree in finance. Unsure of what to do next with his life, and spurred by an already lucrative side-career in online poker, Huse headed to Las Vegas for the summer.

The Omaha native turned a victory at a satellite, a smaller tournament that feeds into a bigger one, into a spot at the $10,000 buy-in World Series of Poker Main Event. Huse then became the latest Internet whiz kid to take a run at the game’s most hallowed title, peaking as the tournament’s chip leader on the second day, before finishing 128th and winning $58,570.

Huse came to the University as a novice in poker. He began playing competitively in cash games on the third floor of McCollum Hall. He soon began playing cash games online.

“I really enjoyed playing poker when I was in college because you can play whenever you want,” Huse said. “You don’t have any responsibilities as far as going to work.”

Huse quickly accumulated tens of thousands of dollars.

“My friends and I have all bought some crazy things,” Huse said. “We all have big screen TVs. One thing poker players are extravagant about is their computers. My computer is really expensive. It’s stupid. It’s like buying a Ferrari to drive down your neighborhood street or something like that.”

Huse said he would be responsible with the winnings from the tournament.

Garrett Beckman, a 22-year-old former University student from Garnett, has lived with Huse for the last year and stayed with him in Las Vegas. He said saving money after big wins was difficult.

“It’s very weird to know you can buy about whatever you feel like; expensive computers, TVs, electronics, cars, whatever,” Beckman said. “Sometimes it is hard to not spend a lot right after a big win. The toughest part about making money young is keeping a hold of it.”

Huse estimated that 80 percent of the college-aged poker players he knew that had success at online poker had dropped out of school.

“That is one of the worst drawbacks of poker,” Huse said. “I know a lot of kids that have dropped out of college due to poker. My grades suffered, definitely. I graduated with an OK GPA, but I would have had a lot higher GPA if I didn’t play poker. I win $5,000 or lose $5,000 in a day and I don’t feel like doing my homework some days.”

Homework was not a major concern for Huse at the 12-day Main Event in Las Vegas.

Huse said the most intimidating aspect of the Main Event was its mystique.

“It’s kind of a surreal experience because when I started playing poker I watched the World Series telecasts,” Huse said. “So it was kind of surreal being at that tournament and playing in it, especially late when I had so many chips in front of me.”

Despite playing in his first Main Event, Huse didn’t set out with a strategy.

“Experienced players know that you can’t really have a strategy,” he said. “Obviously in tournament play you have to be really aggressive, but you just have to see who is at your table and what the players are capable of.”

“In this tournament there are so many amateurs, I just never really felt like I wasn’t one of the best players at the table.”

Huse ended day one of the Main Event with about $40,000 in chips, when the average player had about $55,000. Day two would be much more lucrative and give Huse the highlight of his tournament, courtesy of poker star Gus Hansen, nicknamed, “The Great Dane.”

“Late in the day, I had just won a really big pot and I was up to about $455,000 chips,” Huse said. “They came over the loudspeaker, and they say, ‘We have a new chip leader, his name is Gus Hansen.’ They said he had $445,000 chips and I am sitting there with $455,000 chips. Then everyone at my table was kind of like, ‘Hey we have the chip leader!’”

Day three wouldn’t prove as kind. Huse was two-outtered on two occasions, poker vernacular for when all the money is in the pot and a trailing opponent only has two cards remaining in the deck that can win the hand and beats the odds.

Huse battled back more than $500,000 in chips early on day four. But he could not avoid misfortune when he called an all-in late in the day with pocket kings. His opponent flipped over aces, which held. Huse’s charmed run was over.

“Anyone in the world would have done what I did, so I can’t really say that I played bad,” Huse said.

Beckman is a full-time Internet poker pro and said he believed Huse’s laid-back demeanor helped him in the WSOP, where some players become overwhelmed by the large number of players and variances of luck.

“He is more calm and collected than most poker players I know,” Beckman said. “Patrick is an all around nice guy who will be very successful in the future.”

Huse said he would take some time off before deciding on a job. In the meantime, he will be working on his poker game and dreaming about the $8.25 million dollars that went to this year’s WSOP winner.

— Edited by Joe Caponio