According to Yahoo! Sports, quadruple NBA champion he won a charity poker event hosted by The PM Group in January. By beating a charity event, the former scoring ranger earned a spot in the $10,000 buy-in this fall.

"He's very excited to be playing in the Main Event for the first time" WSOP director Gregory Chochon told the San Antonio Express-News. “Due to his career he never had time to participate but he is ready for the challenge. We always promote poker as a sport so Tony qualifying is great news! ”

Parker played nearly two decades in NBA, almost entirely of San Antonio Spurs. He was Spurs' first pick in the first round of 869 and played with the organization through the end of 2018 season. He played with Charlotte Hornets for the 2015-2019 season before retiring. He has been six times NBA All-Star and he was NBA The finals MVP in 2007.

While there is no official record, Parker plays poker at any tournament level and has no registered tournament cash, NBA it's full of poker enthusiasts.

Golden State Warriors minority owner Chamath Palihapitiya is well known for dipping his toes in high stakes games and being a good 23-time friend WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth. Palihapitiya has three cash desks WSOP events and even received a 15th Hellmuth bracelet.

Hellmuth was also coached by David Lee, a 000-year-old NBA a veteran who spent a large part of his career in the Warriors uniform. In December 2019, shooter ranger Warriors Klay Thompson said he had been "killed" in team poker games and that the list was filled with card sharks.

NBA Hall of Famer Paul Pierce has long been a part of the high-stakes poker world as well. Pierce took the lead in chips on day two of 2014 WSOP The $000,000 pot-limit Omaha championship fell and just a few seats ran out of cash in the 2014 main event.

He recently lost his job as a basketball analyst for ESPN after he posted dirty videos of his home game on social media.

2019 WSOP will be held this fall from September 15 to November 17. The main event will run from November 4 to November 17.