Just a few weeks after winning the NBA Championship, Jordan Farmar is taking on a new game.

He has been invited to participate in the World Series of Poker Main Event. After starting with 10,000 in chips, the latest count during day two shows Jordan with 160,000 in chips. This is quite impressive for a man who claims to have never played poker before.

Before we get into the poker life of Jordan Farmar, I’d like to make a few quick points that give me my claim to fame!

Jordan attended Portola Middle School, I attended Portola Middle School.

Jordan attended Taft High School, I attended Taft High School.

Jordan plays for the Lakers, I cover the Lakers.

Thats about all I have in common with Jordan, but I have been quite lucky to follow his growth from the day that he ran around the Portola blacktop and eventually as a Toreador playing for Taft. He is one year older than I am and it’s been a real pleasure following him every step of the way. When he went on to UCLA, I truly enjoyed watching him knowing that way back when, I use to talk to him!

And then, draft day came around. Jordan Farmar was picked by the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round. As a huge Lakers fan, I couldn’t have been more excited for both my team and one of my favorite players. I knew that both were headed in the right direction.

Jordan had won a city title at Taft High School. He led the UCLA Bruins to the National Championship game losing to the Florida Gators. He was also a big part of the Los Angeles Lakers run to the title just under a month ago.

Today, he sits at the WSOP taking down one man after the other making the game look so easy. Some would call it luck, but once again, I have to argue skill. Jordan’s resume speaks for itself and his work ethic has already guided him through so much success. Why not give him a WSOP bracelet. Of course, we’re quite some ways from the final table, but I can’t help but love this story.

According to PokerListings.com, Jordan Farmar has little to no poker experience. 

“I’ve never played online,” he said. “I played one day before I came here. The day before I flew out to Vegas I went to the casino in L.A. and played just so I knew what was going on at the table.”

“I got lucky early and now I’m starting to get the hang of it.”

“I know poker hands, I know what beats what, but I never sat down and played,” Farmar said. “I didn’t know what a small blind or a big blind was, none of that. I just learned.”

Amazing, simply amazing. I’d say the best part of Jordan Farmar isn’t his life accomplishments, but more his persona and his morals. Jordan is clearly one of the most down to earth celebrities out there and is surpassing expectations day after day.

Farmar’s opinons of poker seem to be quite similar to that of being drafted by the Lakers. “I’m just lucky,” Farmar said. “They invited me here to have a good time.”