Pro poker player suffers heart attack during major Las Vegas tournament - but manages to win $60k

Adam Rude walked away with $60,000 from this year's World Series of Poker Main Event in Las Vegas after reportedly having a heart attack just hours beforehand.

The American pro poker player felt tired and unwell in the shower, hours before competing for $10million on Day 5 of poker's most prestigious event, which took place from July 3rd to July 12th.

'I woke up shivering, I just had the chills, and I decided to get in the shower to heat up because I thought I was cold, and then I was just standing, and I woke up and I was on the ground like this,' Rude told Poker News. 

'So I went to the hospital and it was registering as a heart attack,' he continued while referring to his defibrillator. 'So, I mean, [doctors] didn't see any damage, they did what they could do.   

'They got my vitals, everything, looking good. And they gave me some strong medicines to get me through the day.'

Rude eventually arrived at the table in the middle of the two-hour level and began the session with under 20 big blinds although he quickly found a double-up with pocket aces against ace-rag, according to Poker News. 

He ended up finishing in 117th place out of 360 players who were still standing from an initial pool of 10,112 participants at the tournament. 

The Nashville, Tennessee native thinks his heart issues stem from a virus he got that was 'very similar to COVID' and also attacked his liver in 2014. He has been ordered to wear a defibrillator ever since then.

But, despite his health scare, Rude was adamant to himself out as a winner and even raised a few eyebrows when he showed up.

'I am getting a little feedback at the table,' he told PokerNews on the first Day 5 break. 

'One guy is a little outspoken that I shouldn't be here. The reason I'm here - the only reason I'm here is because I have two boys, and I want to give them $10million.'