Spanish student, 29, becomes millionaire with online poker

RAUL MESTRE, a 29-year-old man from Valencia has become a millionaire after betting €80 on internet poker using a mathematics method he learn in a strategy book.

He has created a virtual school which already has 50 members of staff and more than 60,000 registered users. He dropped out of his university studies to concentrate his efforts on making money with online poker. His luck changed six years ago when a friend of his let him borrow a poker strategy book which sparked his interest.

“I used to play strategy and card games and I have always been pretty good at it,” he told Spanish daily El Mundo. “But my friend thought I could be good at poker so suggested I start playing, although I did not listen to him because I wasn’t convinced about putting my money online,” he said.

However one day Raul decided to spend €80 on an online poker ‘room’ which in those days was a lot of cash for a student, and started to win. “Two months after winning money I withdrew the €80 as I figured that at worst I would lose time, but not money. Nevertheless, after a few months I was winning quite a lot of money and I started thinking about doing it professionally,” he said.

He took a one year sabbatical to concentrate on the game, and he says it went so well he started showing friends who were unemployed or whom had recently finished their university degrees how to play. After a few months “we were 17 people playing in the dining room of my home,” he said.

Raul says he is now ‘retired’ although he dedicates much of his time to his company.

Photo credit: PokerRed.com