On Friday night, in Baltimore, pro wrestler PJ Black will face off against a handful of villains in an attempt to earn some gold at Ring of Honor‘s Best in the World pay-per-view. The minute it’s over, he’s going to jump aboard a plane and make his way to Las Vegas to face off against the best in the world in pursuit of a very different type of gold.

Black, who is scheduled to be part of the six-man tag team championship match on Friday against Villain Enterprises, has been dabbling in poker for the past five or six years and will make his World Series of Poker debut this summer.

“I’ve been meaning to (play the WSOP) for years, but just schedule-wise, unfortunately, wrestling has to come first,” Black said. The 38-year-old South Africa native, who casual wrestling fans might remember as Justin Gabriel from the WWE, recently signed a full-time deal with Ring of Honor and one of the most appealing parts of working for ROH was the schedule would allow him to pursue other passions, namely poker.

“One of the main things I actually looked at when I signed the deal was the schedule, and it just worked for me,” Black said. “Especially as I’m getting a little bit older and all these aches and pains are catching up to me, so it’s good to have a little bit more time off because I like to go 100% in the ring when I have events.”

Black was living in Florida until recently and liked to play at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood and Tampa, focusing almost exclusively on tournaments. He found some of the skills he’d developed over a 15-plus year career in the ring had some use at the poker table.

“Being a wrestler is kind of like stand-up comedy, you kind of read crowds, so I figured out that I knew how to read people from wrestling and then I was like, ‘Wow, I can make some money out of this,'” Black said. “Two years ago I took some time off wrestling and I just focused on poker for a little while. Even when I went on the road, I would find local casinos and just play in these $100 or $200 tournaments, these small ones just to play.”

While his in-ring work relies heavily on his physical ability, he loves being able to sit down at the table and battle it out in a very different way.

“I love being there at the table and trying to read people, and I do get it wrong every once in a while, and I kind of go back and you replay the hand in my head,” Black admitted. “The strategy and the psychology of the game, that’s what fascinates me most.”

Like a lot of players, Black is choosing to dip his toe in this summer in some of the lower buy-in events on the schedule rather than jump into the deep end that can be the $10,000 Main Event. The 10-day long Main Event actually conflicts with a couple of things he has booked already, so it made his decision easier.

“I’m trying to play the (lower buy-in) ones that are two or three days for now. No Limit Hold’em is my game. I’m not really good at any of the other games, I wish I was,” Black said. “I’ve been watching Daniel Negreanu‘s vlog every day of him playing just all kinds of stuff, and I watched the highlights of the 50K tournament, which seems fascinating to me. Maybe I should broaden my horizons and learn all these other games to play that because that seemed like a lot of fun to me.”

Having worked in the wrestling business for over 20 years, including five years with WWE, Black is used to being in situations where nerves become a factor. All of that is easy for Black, but he admits that there’s a chance the butterflies in his stomach might be more of a factor when he takes his seat for the first time.

“I hope the nerves don’t get the best of me since this is the first time I’ve played a World Series, but I feel like it’s good practice for future and hopefully in the next couple of years I’ll get super confident in the Main Event,” Black said. “That’s my goal, right? My dream is to just get to a final table of the Main Event, that’s my dream.”

Now, if Black wins the ROH World Six Man Tag Team title on Friday, he promises to bring the belt with him to the Rio.

“Oh, hell yeah. I’m going to wear it everywhere, maybe that will intimidate some people, I don’t know,” joked Black.