Two-time WSOP Circuit winner Joe Rice went viral last Thursday after showing off his prowess off the felt.
Rice was featured on SportsCenter as well as many other television outlets for his celebrations at halftime of the Siena-Saint Peter’s men’s basketball game.
Rice, who won the 2022 WSOPC Turning Stone Main Event as well as a $400 Hold’em event the week prior, was chosen from the crowd for a chance to win a 30-rack of Miller Lite every month for a year.
Rice would go on to sink a layup, a free throw, and two three-pointers in quick fashion to clinch a whopping 360 beers in his fridge.
While the feat was impressive enough, he made the headlines for his antics after winning, whipping off his shirt and celebrating with his beer gut flying.
Given that it was a February MAAC matchup between two sub-.500 teams, it’s safe to say that this was the most fun the crowd had all day.
“I got caught up in the moment,” Rice told the Times Union (Albany).
“I’m a super-competitive person. Like all my friends, we used to have a thing called AMBO — Annual Male Beer Olympics — and every time I won an event, I ripped my shirt off.
“I had a couple of beers last night, too. It’s like when you get caught up in the heat of the moment, you kind of get excited.”
Notable Upstate New York pros Shaun Deeb and Jesse Lonis were quick to notice Rice’s viral display and give him his due props.
On top of displaying peak male athletic performance, Rice has $428,101 in career live poker tournament earnings to his name. He clearly knows how to play Texas Hold’em.
On top of his two WSOP Circuit rings, he notably finished second in the 2019 WPTDeepStacks Main Event at Turning Stone for $47,580.
2024 WSOP Main Event runner-up Jordan Griff 7th in that same event for what was just his second-ever recorded tournament cash ($10,465).
With his recent luck, we definitely suggest that Rice fires up his favorite poker apps and grind some online poker tournaments. He’ll probably ship those too.