UFC's Mike Swick finishes 10th of 2,521 in World Series of Poker event No. 42

kickass32 · 06-26-2010, 10:13 AM

UFC's Mike Swick finishes 10th of 2,521 in World Series of Poker event No. 42 | MMAjunkie.com

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UFC's Mike Swick finishes 10th of 2,521 in World Series of Poker event No. 42
by MMAjunkie.com Staff on Jun 26, 2010 at 12:00 pm ET
Although best known as UFC welterweight contender, Mike Swick is finding his other job lucrative, as well.

On Friday Swick finished a remarkable run in the World Series of Poker event No. 42 – a three-day no-limit hold'em tournament with a $3.4 million prize pool.

Swick made the final day of competition and finished 10th among the event's 2,521 competitors. The showing allowed him to turn a $1,500 buy-in into winning of $34,748.

Michigan pro Dean Hamrick won the event and a first-place prize of $604,222.

The Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas hosts this year's WSOP event.

Swick, a sponsored player of online site Full Tilt Poker, actually played in his eighth WSOP event and cashed in his second. (In addition to the "main event," each annual WSOP now includes more than 50 other, smaller events.) In 2007's event No. 25 ($2,000 buy-in no-limit hold'em), Swick finished 151st out of 1,618 competitors and earned $3,828.

On a recent edition of MMAjunkie.com Radio (MMAjunkie.com Radio | MMAjunkie.com), Swick said he spends a large amount of time playing poker, especially after his MMA training sessions, and plans to play professionally after his fighting career. He specifically plays a lot online, where he's earned a reputation as one of the game's better (and winning) players.

Swick also said he plans to enter this year's WSOP main event – a $10,000 hold'em event that in 2009 produced a staggering prize pool of $61 million and a first-place award of $8.5 million. The first day of this year's tourney is July 5 and coincides with UFC 116.

Swick (14-4 MMA, 9-3 UFC), who hasn't competed since a February loss to Paulo Thiago, had been sidelined with an arm injury. In fact, the injury, which left Swick unable to extend fully his arm, spoiled a planned April bout with Matt Serra. He recently returned to training and plans to fight later this year.

Good for him, maybe a potential lucrative source of income.