On the eve of Alan Keating's 21st birthday, he and his friend Ryan Rapaski were talking about what to do to celebrate while they had some downtime at work.
Both avid poker players, they joked about going to the World Series of Poker, but when Rapaski said he would give Keating half the $10,000 tournament buy-in, they flew to Las Vegas that night.
"I didn't pack anything," said Keating, a marketing senior. "I didn't have a place to stay. It was kind of funny … I didn't have anything planned out."
Most of his friends thought he was crazy, and his mother tried to stop him from leaving, he said.
But a short time later, Keating's mother and two of his friends found themselves flying to see him compete with some of the biggest names in poker, on his way to winning $58,570 July 14.
On the fifth day of the main event, after playing no-limit Texas Hold'em for more than 70 hours, Keating was eliminated, finishing 102nd in a field of 6,358.
At his high point, Keating said he had about the sixth-highest chip stack with about 120 players left.
"I thought I was going to win," said Keating, a Bloomfield Hills resident. "I was playing … the best players in the world, but I felt very comfortable that I was the best person at the tables I played at."
For Rapaski, going all-in on his investment with Keating was not a hard call to make.
"He's the best live tournament player I know, and I'm also trying to hit it big in cards, so I can afford to lose $5,000 to try and make a life out of it," said Rapaski, a finance senior. "He would trust me with the money just as I would trust him."
Keating's chip stack took two major hits on day four - both times his pair of aces lost to a set of kings.
"He was distraught about it happening to him twice in one day," Rapaski said. "I calmed him down and told him he could still double up and come back the next day."
Keating started day five short-stacked with about $400,000 in chips. He was eliminated by Maria Ho when he went all-in.
Had he held out for two more players to be eliminated, Keating would have been guaranteed about $10,000 more.
"I could have played a little sissier and made a little more money," he said.
The two friends plan on splitting the winnings and using the money to further their poker careers. After they graduate from MSU next May, they expect to fly to Las Vegas to compete in numerous World Series of Poker tournaments.
This time, Keating will come a little more prepared, as he plans to move there and start his career as a full-time poker professional.
"It's not a bad lifestyle because you have time to do whatever you want," he said. "Nine-to-fives, you go to work, and you're supposed to be at work. I can take two weeks off and go do something, play for a week straight or work at three in the morning."
Keating won $3,000 Wednesday while watching SportsCenter and playing online, he said. But the lavish lifestyle comes with risks, he added.
"If you're a good player … you're going to make more money in the end, but even the best players have huge downswings because luck is a factor," he said. "Those downswings can really affect you when you lose thousands in a day. They're unbelievable sometimes."
Keating's mother, Pat Harvey, said she has mixed feelings about him pushing all his chips toward his poker career. However, she said she has confidence he will be able to cope with the ups and downs.
"I don't think it will matter to me too much whether he's on an up- or a downswing, so long as he's a stable and happy human being," Harvey said.
Speaking like a true mother, Harvey said Keating's recent winnings have not changed the way she views her son.
"I love my son, but that didn't change any more or less," she said. "I just want him to be happy. I don't care if he's rich, just happy."
