At World Series of Poker, Betting His Shirt to Win

Friday, July 15th, 2005

By Peter Carlson
Washington Post Staff Writer

Steve Dannenmann's shirt may be getting a tad funky, but he keeps winning and that's what's important at the World Series of Poker.

Dannenmann, 38, an accountant from Severn, was in seventh place late last night in the annual tournament in Las Vegas. That meant he was guaranteed to win at least $400,000. If his luck holds out, he could win as much as $7.5 million.

But Dannenmann is a superstitious poker player, so he keeps wearing the same tan, short-sleeved dress shirt he wore last Saturday, the first day of the tournament.

"He airs it out," says his wife, Anita, speaking by phone from their Vegas hotel room. "We have a window and he hangs it out at night."

That's not his only superstition. Every day, he takes an even-numbered cab to the tournament because he rode in an even-numbered cab on the first day. And he won't let Anita watch him play because she wasn't watching that first day.

"Every morning, I walk him to the taxi stand and put him in a cab," she says, "and I think, 'I'm putting my little boy on the school bus and sending him off to school.' "

The World Series of Poker is a rough school where lessons can be painful and expensive, and Dannenmann didn't expect to enrolled this long.

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