Professional poker player, Paul “Smalls” Kitsos, was reported dead following a heart attack on a flight from New York to San Francisco. The 55 year old Kitsos planned to take a joining plane to Las Vegas in a bid to take part in this year’s World Series of Poker event.
The morbidly obese Kitsos had serious health issues and was found with prescription medication in his travel bags. Around 20 minutes after he boarded UA flight 863, the poker player started to feel ill and asked for assistance from the flight attendant. Soon afterwards, he began to have trouble breathing and within a short while, he had no pulse. He was attended to by a doctor on board who had no choice but to pronounce him dead at 6.20 last night.
The flight turned around back to JFK to have the body removed, and it took the strength of four policemen to carry Kitsos off the plane.
Paul “Smalls” Kitsos had been a regular player on the World Poker Tour for over five years. He came fifth in the Borgota Summer Open in 2009 and earned close to $400,000 across the 18 professional events that he took part in.
Kitsos owned a successful woman’s clothing company and had played professional basketball for Greece in his younger years.
Kitsos’ dream was to take part in this year’s WSOP, and he was financially prepared for the adventure, with $11,000 in cash found with his belongings. In 2008, he finished 320th in the WSOP, earning himself $32,000. However, his biggest paycheck came after winning the 2009 Borgota event at $103,500.
Speaking of her late husband’s love for the game of poker, Kitsos’ wife of 20 years, Stella said: “He fell in love with Texas hold’em when it became popular after 9/11. He was always a very, very sharp card player and he became addicted to it. He read a bazillion books about it. He was a character. He lived large and that’s the way he went out – Frank Sinatra, My Way. And that’s the way he did it.”
RIP Kistos.
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