Kings dethrone Monessen man's poker dream

LAS VEGAS -- An opponent's pair of pocket kings ended John Swann's hopes of being poker's next millionaire.

Swann, 32, of Monessen, made it into the sixth day of play at the 2006 World Series of Poker Tournament at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino Wednesday.

Playing for more than six hours on Day 6, Swann was dealt a pair of queens on his tournament-ending hand.

"Once the flop came up with three little cards, I pushed all in," he said. "I got one caller and he had pocket kings. It was kind of disappointing."

Swann started Wednesday's play with approximately $10,000 in chips and had his stack as high as $20,000. He had approximately $15,000 in chips when he was eliminated.

The winner of the tournament will take home more than $11 million. The top 900 in the field of more than 9,500 players will receive money, with the lowest payday being approximately $15,000.

For his efforts, Swann finished somewhere around 1,200th in the field.

"It was fun. It was a great experience," he said. "I wish I could have caught better cards, but I did the best I could.

"The pocket queens were one of the best hands I got in the whole tournament."

The tournament will be televised on ESPN later this month. Swann says he may have a couple of opportunities to get on television.

"The first day, there was this guy from Switzerland sitting next to me and for some reason he stood up and started singing and the cameras came over," he said.

"Then, (Wednesday) I went all-in on one hand and had a caller and the cameras were there for that. I won that hand."