Poker Pro Buys Ticket to Space

Professional poker player Jens Kyllonen has purchased a ticket for a flight into space. He reserved his seat by paying EUR160,000, saying “I’ve always been fascinated with space, and now that I have the opportunity to be within the first people going I just felt like I had to do it”.

The flights are still in the testing stage at the moment, but the company will be running real “passenger” flights at the end of next year, and Kyllonen expects to have the opportunity to go in to space in 2014.

Money alone isn’t enough to secure the trip, however, Kyllonen said “There is a three to four day training period at the spaceport in New Mexico, but other than that there isn’t any need for [preflight training]. As long as you don’t have certain diseases you can go even if you’re old or in bad shape”.

Many poker pros buy jewellery, vehicles, or other luxuries with their cash prizes, but Kyllonen’s choice of spending is perhaps the best and most creative of choices – and certainly something that will be remembered for a lifetime!

If you won a big prize in a cash game or a tournament, what would you spend your winnings on? Would you buy a cabin in Alaska, go to space, explore the oceans, or do something else entirely?

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