In a TLB competition held as part of the Full TiltOnline Poker Series (FTOPS) and PokerStarsSpring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP), Julie JRisk17Risk outlasted her boyfriend, Jeff jshark4Sharkey, in their respective stakes. As a result of a unique prop betforged between the two, Sharkey must now work at McDonald’s for 30 hours. His first shift kicked off before dawn on Thursday after Sharkey unsuccessfully bought out of the bet despite offering $1,000 and later $2,000.
Sharkey explained to shanetrain22, “My first day is supposed to be just training videos, safety videos, and paperwork, so I might just get a few paper cuts, but I’m sure you will kiss them to make them all better.”
PocketFives.com caught up with Risk following Sharkey’s first day at his McJob. She gave us the breakdown of what her beau had experienced: “He started at 5:00am, watched training videos for four hours, and did paperwork. I guess they didn’t think he was qualified to just start and clearly needed training. He got home around 10:00am and has been sleeping ever since. He goes in Friday at 5:00am to help them open and pre-make the greasy food.”
Sharkey once chopped the Full Tilt Poker $750,000 Guaranteed for over $100,000 and won the UB.com$200,000 Guaranteed for nearly $50,000. He’s also a Triple Crown winner.
Risk finished 10th in the low-stakes tier during the leaderboard competition, while Sharkey turned in a 27th place effort in the mid-stakes version. Risk denied all attempts by Sharkey to buy out of the bet and commented, “He applied like anyone else would. It’s amazing that he got hired because he has never worked a day in his life. He was debating telling them about the bet, but was afraid he would get fired.”
Sharkey’s pay is somewhere around $6.50 per hour, meaning that he’d need to work over 7,000 hours to earn the equivalent of his UB.com $200,000 Guaranteed payday. That’s over three years at a standard 40-hour work week.
Risk has been highly successful in her own right. In December, she finished as the runner-up in the Nightly Seventy Grand on PokerStars for $11,000. In the last six months, Risk has taken down the Full Tilt Poker $10,500 Guaranteed and PokerStars $15,000 Guaranteed for a combined $6,900.
As you’d expect, Risk attributes many of her accomplishments on the virtual felts to her better half. She told PocketFives.com, “I had no game before Jeff. I didn’t even know suits or anything. He started teaching me with $1.10 nine-man Sit and Gos on PokerStars. I was horrid, but kept trying. Jeff has really taught me everything from blinds to push/fold strategy to what a flush is. I’ve only been playing for a year and a half and the reason I’m even semi-decent is him.” BBOY3110 (pictured at left) has since helped her become “sickly aggressive.”
The PocketFives.com community has been weighing in left and right on how Sharkey should make his exit from McDonald’s. Should he simply quit or go out with a bang? Member joeschmosuggested in the thread in Poker Discussion, “I really hope you go out with a bang. I suggest cooling your feet in the McFlurry machine or putting a special ingredient in the Big Mac sauce. Could also show up for work wearing a Burger King uniform.”
Others looked past the 30 hours, noting that Sharkey may fall in love with his temporary employer. Bill Crazyhorse76Slaght questioned, “What if they offer you a chance to climb the corporate ladder? Totally out of the question?”
Check out updates from Sharkey’s McDonald’s adventure by heading to Poker Discussion.