Don't invite Sandpoint builder Mike Kinney to your next poker game. He might walk way with your house.
That's essentially what he did last week when he participated in the World Poker Challenge in Reno at the Hilton.
Kinney beat 5,209 contestants to walk away with $604,469 in prize money. In addition, his winning run will be televised on June 23 on the Travel Channel.
As it became obvious Kinney was going to make the finals, he called his sister and brother in law at 2 a.m. on Thursday, and asked them to fly to Reno for good luck.
"We debated for a second or two and said we are going," said Kinney's sister, Sheila Martin. She said the environment at the tournament was electric and "unbelievable."
"The whole thing was thrilling," she said
He is also headed to the World Championship of Poker April 19-21 in Las Vegas -- his $25,000 entry fee waived because of his win last week.
Kinney has been playing poker for a few years but started getting serious the past few. The Kinney Construction boys still have their weekly poker games with 10 or 12 players, but Mike raised the ante two years ago and started playing in satellite poker games in Spokane and other, smaller tournaments.
After Kinney defeated the last table full of competitors in Reno -- most of whom were professional gamblers -- and was crowned the winner, he, Mistie and his entire winnings were pulled through the casino in a wagon pulled by a team of horses accompanied by cowgirls.
"It's Reno," Sheila deadpanned.
The reason we don't have any comments from Kinney is that he and Mistie aren't back yet. They had planned a trip during spring break and left Reno for a warmer climate. One guess is they are probably trying to figure out how best to spend $604,000.
Now, if this couple just knew any good house builders or Realtors ...
