As the clock hit midnight, turning Thursday into Friday on an August night, Jeremy Pruitt sat at a casino poker table in Cherokee, North Carolina, with stacks of chips in front of him. The most chips, in fact, of anyone at his table, which included seasoned players.
The no-limit Texas Hold ’em tournament began at 11 a.m. Pruitt received 30,000 in chips for his $1,100 buy-in. Half a day later, his stack housed several hundred thousand chips.
This marked Pruitt’s first entry into a World Series of Poker Circuit event, but other players at the table learned Pruitt was no novice.
“He played like an experienced player,” said Daniel Pearlman, 48, an avid poker player from Miramar, Florida, who sat two seats to Pruitt’s right that night.
“Most players are passive and weak. He did not play weak. He played a game of strength, and aggression often wins in poker.”
Less than two years ago, Pruitt looked out of his element as Tennessee’s floundering football coach on his way to a firing. Anemic offenses plagued his tenure. But at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino, Pruitt played assertively. He built his chip stack and kept the pedal down. He looked like he belonged.
“He was actually pretty relentless at the table, in a good way,” said Preston McEwen, a 34-year-old poker professional from Murfreesboro, Tennessee. McEwen, who placed fourth in the event, played at Pruitt’s table for much of the tournament’s first day.
“Honestly, we had a table full of professionals,” McEwen said, “and he was definitely holding his own, putting a lot of pressure on people and taking down a lot of pots.”
Pruitt finished the two-day, 415-entry event in 23rd place for $2,964 in prize money. His chip count took a hit about a half-hour before stopping time on Day 1, when Pearlman bested Pruitt with pocket 10s to win a big pot. Pruitt had Ace-King off the deal but didn’t catch a pair.
Relaxed, friendly demeanor at the poker table with aggressive bets
Pruitt arrived at Tennessee as a defensive guru. When he exited, the guru had become “Gump” or “Cornbread” in the lexicon of some Vols fans. But I never bought the bumpkin persona Pruitt sometimes displayed as UT’s coach, and I’m not surprised he managed his cards better than he developed quarterbacks.
Pruitt took a shine to Gen. Robert Neyland’s maxims that form the Tennessee football canon. He particularly liked the maxim stating: If at first the game – or the breaks – go against you, don’t let up … put on more steam. A useful mantra in poker, too.