Five years ago, Joshua Adcock sat in the Christian County Jail facing a 10-year prison sentence. He knew he could either continue down the path of drugs and addiction or he could get sober. He had no other options.
Between 2003 and 2017, Adcock had racked up enough felony charges to be considered a persistent felon under Kentucky law. When he was offered the opportunity to participate in the Substance Abuse Program (SAP) — a six-month treatment program that allows people facing Class C and D drug-related felonies to ego through rehabilitation while in jail to avoid conviction — he agreed. After serving a six months and completing the program, he was released on probation.
That was a little more than six years ago, and he has made the most of his second chance.
“What really woke me up was realizing if I got in any more trouble, I was going to have to do 10 years,” Adcock said.
Shortly after completing SAP, he started to take the game of poker seriously. He had always played poker and enjoyed it. Sobriety only made him better and soon it became more than a game to him. Poker not only became a career path, but it offered an alternative to getting high by using drugs.
“I feel like poker saved my life because you get the same adrenaline rush off it. You get a type of high off of it,” Adcock said.
Adcock, 39, grew up on Paulette Court in the Indian Hills neighborhood. He learned how to play poker sitting around a table at Blackie’s Pool Hall on Ninth Street when he was a boy. His grandfather owned the place, and he spent hours there as a kid.
“Since I was 8 or 9, I’ve been playing but I never thought I was good enough to really play. We used to play limit poker, where for each card that came up you could bet $3 and raise $3. Now everything is no-limit and pot limit, which makes it totally different,” he said.
The poker Adcock plays today is nothing like the games his grandfather and his buddies played.
High-stakes tournament poker is a far cry from a smoke-filled backroom full of men telling tall tales and trying to bluff their way to a few dollars. The pressure of tournament poker — especially no-limit tournament poker where a player can bet all their chips at any time — is intense and requires nerves of steel.
Some tournaments last a few hours, and other tournaments go on for days. This year, more than 10,000 people entered to play in the main event of the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. The tournament lasted more than a week.
If you’re not familiar with tournament poker, it goes like this: People buy into the tournament for a set amount. A tournament’s buy-in can vary widely — from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars. For example, the World Series of Poker’s main event has a $10,000 buy-in. It gets the player $60,000 in chips, which they play until they either lose all their chips or win all their opponents’ chips. There are many variants of poker, but most tournament players play Texas Hold ‘em or a game called Omaha.
After getting sober, Adcock chose to chase his dream of being a high-limit tournament poker player. Since making that decision, he has amassed more than $500,000 in earnings from his time spent on the felt. He went to the World Series of Poker in 2022 and didn’t finish in the money. However, while he was there, he did manage to win more than $30,000 in two tournaments at the Venetian Hotel and Casino.
“I didn’t cash at any of the World Series events but cashing in those tournaments at the Venetian really gave my confidence a boost. I knew I could play with anyone,” Adcock recalled.
Adcock’s next big win came in August 2022 at the Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida. He entered the $2,700 Big 4 No-Limit Hold’em tournament and ended up finishing first and winning more than $150,000.
“Victory gives you such a feeling of accomplishment. It’s very important to validate yourself as a professional in this world,” he said.
That was his biggest win — until July of this year.
At the 2023 World Series of Poker, Adcock entered the $1,500 No Limit Hold ’em Monster Stack event. More than 8,300 players entered the tournament with a total prize pool of $11.1 million. He fought his way to a sixth-place finish and earned $240,695.
Then, he paid the $10,000 buy-in to enter the competition’s main event. He played his way to a 713th place finish, earning $27,500.
This month, Adcock returned to Hollywood, Florida, to play in the $5,300 No Limit Hold ’em Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open. The tournament started with 1,070 players and a total prize pool of roughly $5.2 million. Adcock fought his way to a 35th place finish worth $22,265; bringing his total earnings for 2023 to just short of $300,000.
“It feels great to know I can play and succeed alongside some of the best players in the world,” said Adcock, who recently moved to Russellville with his wife, Jennifer Curry-Adcock.
He hopes that people will see his story and where he came from; how little hope he felt only a few short years ago and know that their future is in their hands.
“Get clean and pursue your dreams,” he said. “Never let anyone tell you that you can’t accomplish your goals or live your dream life.”
Jeremy Stevenson is a Herndon native and 1994 graduate of Christian County High School. He earned a Bachelor's Degree in Broadcasting and Electronic Media from Eastern Kentucky University, where he was recognized by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association for his work in print media. Previously he was managing editor for the Fort Campbell Courier and served as the vice president of community relations at the Christian County Chamber of Commerce. Currently he works in manufacturing as a quality manager.
