Eric Goldstein Qualifies for 2022 World Series of Poker Main Event While Sleeping

Anyone who has ever had a parent or teacher tell them it's impossible to make money while sleeping never met Eric Goldstein.

Per David Schoen of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Goldstein earned a spot in the 2022 World Series of Poker Main Event while sleeping.

The Las Vegas resident was watching a stream of the Poker Players Championship $50,000 buy-in on June 29 when a friend messaged him about the Main Event satellite that cost $80 to participate in.

According to Schoen, Goldstein decided to register for the satellite but was "worn out from working late that day and went to sleep, forgetting that he signed up."

This particular satellite event required players to go all-in on every hand until a winner was crowned from the field of 126 participants.

Goldstein's cards remained live, and he won nine straight all-in hands to win a seat at the Main Event. It wasn't until he woke up the next morning that he realized what happened.

"I was just like, 'There’s no way,'" Goldstein told Schoen. "And then I looked at my email, and there’s an email from WSOP.com saying come get your chips. Kind of a little surreal."

The 2022 World Series of Poker Main Event began at Bally's and Paris in Las Vegas this week and is expected to run through July 20.

So far in the Main Event, according to Schoen, Goldstein got up to 93,000 chips on Thursday before losing "a sizable chunk of his stack" before the dinner break.

Per Donnie Peters of the Sporting News, the total prize money in this year's event was up to $80,000,000 with late registration still open for a period of time on Friday.

Koray Aldemir, the 2021 Main Event champion, took home $8 million after 223 hands at the final table.