Greg Mueller, a three-time WSOP bracelet winner from Vancouver, has described his run to the final table of this year’s $10,000 buy-in WSOP Main Event as the standout moment of a poker career stretching back more than two decades. The 55-year-old finished third for $3.75 million after entering the final table fourth in chips, with Lucas Jumalon holding a commanding stack advantage over the remaining eight players.
Mueller’s supporters, known to chant his nickname “FBT” – short for “Full-Blown Tilt” – packed the rail throughout the televised finale on ESPN. More than 100 friends, family members, fellow poker players and former hockey teammates travelled to Las Vegas to watch him compete, with many wearing matching hats and shirts featuring his image.
“It was unreal, I’m still not even really over it. There were so many parts of it that were just amazing. My rail of support I would venture to say was the best, biggest, loudest rail in WSOP history.”
Mueller said the logistics of housing his supporters fell largely to a friend after his poker room host arranged a block of hotel rooms. He explained that he had not actively recruited people to attend, but word spread quickly among his network until the group swelled to around 100.
Despite falling short of a fourth bracelet, Mueller said the experience surpassed every other achievement of his poker career, including appearances on Poker Night in America, Poker After Dark and the NBC Heads-Up Championship. He said the run stood alone as the pinnacle of his time at the tables.
Before turning to cards, Mueller spent eight years as a professional ice hockey defenceman in Germany after moving there at age 19. He played in the 1992 Spengler Cup, the oldest invitational club tournament in the sport, and won a German championship during his time abroad. He retired from hockey prematurely following the death of his mother, after which his focus shifted fully to poker, a game he had first picked up during long bus journeys between hockey matches.
Mueller’s tournament career, dating back to 2003, now stands at $7.3 million in live earnings and 73 WSOP cashes. His breakthrough result came in 2006 with a fourth-place finish in the WPT World Poker Challenge for $142,285, followed a year later by a runner-up finish in the WSOP’s $5,000 mixed hold’em event for $328,554.
