Fatherhood Trumps Poker; Yunis Abandons SHRPO Stack for Birth of First Child
Poker player Nick Yunis surrendered his big stack in the middle of a $500,000 guaranteed tournament. That's not the real story, however. He exited the event with 105 players remaining due to the birth of his child.
The tournament in question is the $1,100 Triple Stack No-Limit Hold'em at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open in Hollywood, Florida. Yunis, who lives in nearby Miami, bagged 509,000 in chips on Day 1, good for 11th place. Salomon Sutton, also from Miami, returned to Day 2 in the lead at 827,000 chips.
First place is set to pay $136,750, and all remaining players have a guaranteed $1,940 minimum payout. Day 2 began at noon ET on Wednesday from the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino where an upcoming World Poker Tour (WPT) Main Tour event will take place (April 19-23).
More Important Things than Poker
Yunis, who has 44 World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet event cashes, determined that the birth of his child is more important than poker. He explained why he didn't show up for Day 2 on X.
Yunis and his wife welcomed their first child into the world Wednesday morning following a last-minute C-section, the reason he didn't show up to compete on Day 2.
"It's been a hectic day," Yunis told PokerNews. "We have a baby boy �� Matthew James �� He's in the NICU but he's stable. He's doing well, and so is mom.
"I had no idea it would be two months before the due date."
"I met my wife in 2022 and got married last year in May. It's a crazy story �� my wife was told she would never have kids, but three months in she felt pregnant.
"The baby was due June 10 this year, so my main worry was that if I made the [SHRPO] final table, that would be in Las Vegas at the end of May. And if it was born a little bit early it would interfere with that. But I had no idea it would be two months before the due date."
Having bagged chips on Sunday, Yunis would have to wait until Wednesday for Day 2. Having already won a trophy this series in the $1,100 Deep Stack for $34,005, Yunis was looking forward to closing out another.
However, after his wife messaged him on Monday, the schedule changed with a caesarean section delivery scheduled for Wednesday. Even then, Yunis hadn't given up on playing Day 2.
"The baby was born at 10:28 a.m. and in order for me to play Day 2 it was like this parlay of everything going well [with the birth], my wife wanting to go and I still want to go.
"But the traffic was terrible. It would have taken 90 minutes to get from the hospital to the casino and by that time �� I did the maths �� I would have had five big blinds. It just felt like it wasn't meant to be."
Numerous poker players issued congratulations to the new father on X, with the proud parents thankful for the support of the poker community.
"The reaction from poker players has been overwhelmingly positive. I have a backer, and he was extremely suportive. Not once did he give me any problems at all. Just exteremly understanding and supportive.
"I think there are a lot of good people in poker as there are everywhere."
It isn't the first time a poker player has abandoned their tournament stack for personal reasons. Jason Koon famously did so in the $250,000 Super High Roller at the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) as his wife entered labor with their second child.
