Any reigning poker star of today will tell you how their glamorous performance in the game once had its roots in dingy underground clubs, off the radar of pistol wielding law enforcement officers. The brothers Ralph and Aaron Massey are no different, although they had their fair share of rough days even before they went down the Texas Hold’em lane.
Their childhood went on a downward spiral when their parents decided to separate when Aaron was barely three and Ralph about five, asking for them to move from the fleeting suburbs to a cramped attic in their grandmother’s abode. This was the first instance where the brothers realized how fortune could be lost in a fleeting glimpse, sampling what was in store for them in the later parts of their lives too.
Aaron recalls how their childhood had the most inopportune elements in it, from alcohol and drugs to gory violence. While their estranged father still dropped in a couple of times a year, he had now entered into the drug dealing foray. There were times when he’d leave them with his dealer buddies without a second thought while their mother worked on two jobs to make ends meet, says Ralph.
The brothers were mad at the turn of events and Aaron confesses how he was involved in the most unfathomable situations when he was ten, from run-ins with law enforcers to facing school expulsions. To add to it, their father did not win a prospective inheritance following which he abandoned them in full flourish. It was then that Ralph, who was eighteen, moved out of the house and landed a job. Well, there was a light at the end of the tunnel, and the brothers would not even realize when it hit them.
Stepping into Texas Hold’em
Ralph took student loans to attend the DePaul University, where he met a friend who could pull a few strings. By now, Ralph was exhausted between juggling school and his 40-hour-week retail job that payed peanuts. He decided that this wasn’t going to cut it for him and began hustling. In two years time, Ralph gave up on education and moved into hustling full-time, while Aaron continued his college years majoring in finance, while picking up on a random game called Texas Hold’em no-limits.
The Masseys soon began to realize that street salesmanship wasn’t the best of survival tactics, and began to look elsewhere to make quick money. In 2003, Aaron, who was a sophomore at NIU, had his first stint with poker when Mike Costello, a roommate brought home a briefcase filled with poker chips and taught him the basics of the game. He started contesting in local tourneys which had shockingly low stakes, and slowly began dominating the games held in pubs and bars for a prize pot of pints and pitchers.
Little did he know that the skills he picked up now while earning mugs of beer would one day help him earn his bread. He was quickly moving in poker circles in both the campus and off-campus casinos. NIU was merely an hours ride from home and Aaron would even travel to Chicago every month during summer. Brian, a friend told him about this tourney called “Wednesday Game”, something that would turn around Aaron’s life for the better.
Aaron graduated from college in 2008 landing a plum suit-and-tie job, that he would hate for the next two years. He continued playing poker tourneys, making meager amounts that did not suffice the bills, without a leg-up from their hustling gimmicks. Aaron lent Ralph a hand in running the shop, channeling any extra bucks he made in various underground Chicago card clubs, including the Wednesday Game. Needling and slow-rolling were mandatory norms for all players. George, who ran the Wednesday tourney, put his faith in Aaron offering him a generous $1800 bankroll to play in an upcoming WSOP Hammond Circuit stop.
The event took off with $345 and more than 1400 players. Aaron didn’t disappoint George and took home the $ 50,000 prize pot landing the second spot, to kick off his professional poker days in style. One of George’s friends was a famous poker pro, Kevin Saul, who had to his honor the WPT title with a $1.3 million win, aside from scores of bat-shit crazy moves up his sleeve.
Kevin would prove to be a mentor to Aaron in the coming years, and with his bankroll receiving a boost, it seemed like there was nothing that could stop his poker career from taking off in all its glory. Sadly, Aaron’s personal life came crashing down just then, as his girlfriend of six years left him guided by the callings of her biological clock and the need for a husband with a stable, secure lifestyle. Aaron grew resilient, and decided to chase his dreams of being a poker pro, to be harshly dissuaded by his growing waistline and a disappearing bankroll by March 2010.
Two individuals- one dream
George and Kevin started backing Aaron from 2010, and he started winning again, although in small amounts. By summer he had broken even, although the experience he gained was far more worthwhile. By fall Kevin helped Aaron get on board online poker tournaments and mentored him along with it. When Aaron appeared in the 2011 WSOP final table at the $1000 NHLE poker event, his drive to be a poker star landed a fair reception as he finished in the 8th place with $44,138.
Aaron shifted back to live poker when the online version was scrapped in the U.S, and then came his much anticipated breakthrough. It was August 2012 at the World Casino River WinStar Poker Series’ Main Event when Aaron made the coveted six-figure score that every poker star dreams of achieving. With more than 14,000 entries with scores of poker stars gracing the playing field, Aaron managed a staggering $651,559 win! It was at this moment that Aaron exhaled saying everything is going to be okay, and his words rang true.
In two months time, Aaron had to his credit the circuit grinders list who can take claim of any ring in the WSOP Circuit. Following his win, Aaron even indulged in a role reversal and taught Ralph the finer essentials that poker tournaments demand. Ralph dove in to tournaments head-on to make over $200,000 since 2012. Ralph reminisces how Aaron’s poker mentoring sessions from 2004 burgeoned into playing in big-scale live tournaments. Despite snagging many victories before the WinStar tournament, Aaron was still in debt.
The brothers then chalked out a deal where Ralph would continue carrying him on his shoulders until he had enough money, so they could make legitimate investments to begin a new secure life. However, things took a different course after Aaron’s WinStar win, as he began coaching Ralph for NHLE tourneys to have him as the poker pro rather than the backer. Ralph snagged the 28th position in the Main Event, after which he bagged the 11th place in 2013′s Chicago Poker Classic I, with the 8th place during the main.
Last October, Ralph bagged the top honors for another tourney in the WSOP circuit and an NHLE Turbo event where he landed $10,170. What made it more memorable was the fact that Aaron was the event’s defending champion, and he was more than glad to hand over the victory staff to his big brother. Aaron looks back and talks about how he could get his act together back in college by picking up on basic values like hard work, sacrifice, discipline and integrity that helped him get back on track. He says he owes these qualities to Jerry Ruffino, his wrestling coach, and of course Ralph. Aaron who is among the seven other poker stars who have been named as the WPT Season XII’s “Ones to Watch”, now has his eyes set on this summer’s WSOP bracelet. The brothers certainly deserve every ounce of unbridled success that comes their way, what with having each others’ back through the toughest of toughest times and facing life’s challenges with a resilient frame and no questions asked.