DANIEL KEPICH NEVER LEFT

If you frequent the Borgata Poker room, you'll recognize the name, and definitely recognize the face. But unless you know him, you probably wouldn't be able to put the two together unless properly introduced.

Landscaper Dan, as he is known around the circle here is playing in the main event. Some might say against all odds.

On September 4th, Dan was in Colorado hunting elk. Driving through the Rocky Mountains he was pulled over by a state trooper for driving recklessly and taken into custody for what appeared to be suspicion of DUI. "I had nothing to drink, and I wasn't sure what they were making a fuss about. They never indicated to me that I was being investigated for DUI. I just thought they were upset because I was driving a little erratically."

After being at the station for a while, the troopers came in and said he was good to go as far as the DUI was concerned. But his driving was a concern. Especially since Dan didn't recall driving anywhere out of the ordinary. They took him to a local hospital and did a cat scan. That cat scan revealed a tumor about the size of a golf ball in his brain. Within 2 hours he was flown to Swedish Medical Center in Englewood, CO where doctors performed brain surgery to remove the tumor.

Dan humorously remarked, "I told them I must have made a mistake, because I came here for the massage." His good nature, and amazing outlook got him back to the Philly area a week after that surgery. His return was just in time to make it to the Poker Open. He won the first night's 2cnd Chance Cash Tournament, and then played in a survivor tournament to earn his seat into the main event.

Right now, Dan sits on a small stack of $27k, but if his outlook carries over to his play, you can pretty much bank on him getting deep throughout the week.

We wish him the very best.