“Winning my seat has been my biggest score in life.”

Dean Morrone is living every online poker satellite qualifier’s dream. A player from Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada, Morrone earned his way to the 2019 World Series of Poker Main Event by winning a $100 satellite. On dinner break of Day 5, there are 259 players left from the WSOP Main Event’s second largest field ever and Morrone is one of the biggest stacks in the room. He’s guaranteed just less than $44,000 and is thrilled with the experience.

“I won a $100 satellite on 888poker that gave me a ticket into the [WSOP Main Event],” Morrone told PocketFives. “888poker flew us here, gave us some spending money, a week in a really nice hotel, and if I’m the last qualifier standing I get to come do it all over again next year. 888poker has been really good to us. I highly recommend trying to satellite online to get into this tournament.”

Morrone admits to being a losing player when he first started, and let’s be honest, most of us were to start off. Just like others who have progressed in the game, Morrone began to take poker more seriously and increased his studying.

“It changed my game completely,” Morrone said.

The studying allowed Morrone to develop as a player and his chops have shown in the 2019 WSOP Main Event. He may not have the live poker experience of some of the others in the field, specifically when it comes to this tournament, but countless hours of honing his craft online have given Morrone the confidence he needs for a deep run.

“It was the biggest celebration I’ve had to date,” Morrone said of winning his seat on 888poker. “I’ve won more money than the seat was worth before, but never celebrated like I did because I really manifested me playing this tournament. For me to get a chance to actually play, it means everything. Winning my seat has been my biggest score in life and I truly appreciated that score.”

Morrone’s hometown has a population of less than 13,000 people. It doesn’t have a casino, so Morrone focused his poker-playing efforts in the online space after first learning the game from his dad.

“Getting into poker, in general, started with my dad and home games,” Morrone said. “He used to bring some buddies over every couple of weeks and they weren’t very good at cards. But they taught me how to at least read the hands and play the hands, so that’s where I first got into it. After that, it was a lot of online poker because I’m from a small town and there are no casinos.”

Entering Day 5 of the 2019 WSOP Main Event, 354 players remained and Morrone was atop them all. Although he lost a sizable pot a couple of hours into Wednesday’s Day 5, Morrone still has a very healthy stack.

“It’s unbelievable,” Morrone said. “It’s obviously tough before the money when you’re in satellite position because you want the min-cash, so I had to do a lot of folding before the bubble but so did a lot of other people. But after the bubble, it’s a whole different game. As long as you have chips, you can spin it up, play some real poker, and try to take it down.”

Back home, many are rooting hard for Morrone. From friends to family members, they’re intently following his progress and sending him positive messages that is causing his phone to blow up every few minutes. Even though he’s deep in the greatest poker tournament in the world and focusing hard on keeping the run alive, the love and support Morrone has received isn’t lost on him.

“I’ve said it to a few people now, but my support back home has been the most unbelievable support I could have imagined,” Morrone said. “Messages every few minutes with how I’m doing or how they want me to be doing. It’s crazy. All my buddies, even the ones I haven’t talked to in a long time, have all been very supportive and I really appreciate that. I really feel the support.”

Morrone said that poker isn’t his profession, although it could be one day. He’s worked in oil and gas industry as a fabricator, but winning the $10 million first-place prize could certainly change everything.

“I’ve never really found a passion of a career,” Morrone said. “Poker is my number one passion, but obviously you’ve got to be really good to make a career out of it.”