That, folks, is a 10-6 unsuited. In poker jargon, that hand is known as "garbage." But for Jack Tretton, the CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America, they were the winning cards at a pro-am poker event earlier this week.
Tretton was one of several executives entered in the World Poker Tour's Silicon Valley Poker Challenge, played at Bay 101 in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday. He prevailed in a final table that included Phil Hellmuth, the 11-time winner at the World Series of Poker.
Tretton came to the final table wearing a PlayStation Move bowling shirt and carrying a heavy chip advantage. His 368,500 allowed him to muscle up against the other five. First Tretton forced the issue with Andy Raab, another local exec, by going all in with a King-8, and picked up top pair on the King-4-3 flop. The turn provided Raab (holding a 5-3 unsuited) a gutshot straight draw, but Tretton survived when the river showed an eight.
Tretton went all-in with a King-7 to eliminate his next victim, Steven Metzger of the Silicon Valley firm VTT, but the outcome was a little more harrowing. In the showdown Metzger paired his Ace-10 with a 10 on the turn, but Tretton picked up a King on the river to close out his foe.
That left Mike Scanlin, of the venture capital firm Sierra Ventures. Scanlin had eliminated Hellmuth, and heads up against Tretton doubled his chip total twice. But Tretton's stack was too much in the end. Forcing Scanlin all-in, Tretton paired his aforementioned 10-6 when the flop came up 8-6-5. Scanlin still had a shot at an open-ended straight draw, but a 10 on the river gave Tretton two pair and the title.
Kotaku contacted SCEA for a comment on Tretton's poker moonlighting and asked if he would be leaving the company to turn pro anytime soon. A response was not received as of presstime.
Jack Tretton Wins Silicon Valley Poker Challenge! [World Poker Tour, thanks Casey]