Las Vegas barista wins more than $900K in SuperContest

In a scenario reminiscent of amateur Chris Moneymaker winning the World Series of Poker in 2003, a Starbucks barista in Las Vegas won the Westgate SuperContest and a farmer from Illinois finished second.

Incredibly, Mark Jorstad, a farmer from Morris, Illinois — a small town of 14,000 located 60 miles from Chicago — finished second in the nation’s most prestigious NFL handicapping contest despite not watching an NFL game on TV this season until after he finished his corn and soybean harvest in late November.

“Farming for a living until Thanksgiving, you don’t really get to see football games on TV because you’re out on a tractor and combine all the time,” said Jorstad, 61. “I’m sure that’s got to be a little unique from the rest of the contestants.”

Only a little more unique than continuing to make vanilla lattes at your $15,000-per-year job at Starbucks for a few hours after learning you had won more than $900,000 as the 2016 SuperContest winner.

That’s exactly what Damon Graham did Sunday after Pops2008, one of his two $1,500 entries, went 5-0 against the spread in the morning games and held on in the afternoon to beat Jorstad by one game.

Graham, 32, topped a record field of 1,854 entries with a 54-28-3 mark (65.8 winning percentage) to pocket the grand prize of $895,482. He also won a $10,000 mini-contest bonus for tying for first the final three weeks with a 13-2 record.

Jorstad, whose alias was Orange Crush, entered Week 17 in the lead before going 2-3 to settle for second place — worth $358,193 — with a 53-29-3 mark (64.6 percent).

“I don’t feel like I lost it. I feel like that guy won it,” Jorstad said. “He went 5-0 and 13-2 the last three weeks. He didn’t exactly back in.”

There was a six-way tie for third place, with each entry taking home $116,200, including James Salinas, the 2015 SuperContest winner who finished 52-30-3 (63.4 percent) this season.

A Maryland native who moved to Las Vegas in 2008, Graham said he slept in and watched only the fourth quarters of the morning games before starting his Starbucks shift at 2 p.m.

“I just wanted to go to work to take my mind off it,” he said. “When I went to lunch, I saw that I won. Then I went back to work and did what I had to do. I was kind of in disbelief.”

Entering Week 17 with both of his entries tied for fourth place, Graham said he entered opposite sides of five games for the first time all season to try to maximize his value. The plan worked to perfection, as his top plays — Houston (plus-3) at Tennessee, Buffalo (minus-3½) at New York Jets, Baltimore (plus-2) at Cincinnati, Dallas (plus-4) at Philadelphia and Miami (plus-9½) vs. New England — went 0-5 on his entry, Pops3284, thereby propelling Pops2008 to a flawless finish.

“That was the best 0-5 in my life,” he said.

After Jorstad went 1-3 during the day with a winner on Kansas City (minus-6) and losers on Indianapolis (minus-4½), Washington (minus-7½) and Seattle (minus-9½), he won with Green Bay (minus-3½) in the Sunday night game for sole possession of second place.

“It was the difference between winning $100,000 and winning $360,000,” he said. “For me, it’s like a bucket list thing. I feel like I was walking across the street and got hit by lightning.”

A longtime Illinois football and basketball season-ticket holder, Jorstad said he had only bet on college basketball games during trips to Las Vegas for the NCAA Tournament before his oldest son introduced him to the SuperContest four years ago. Using a Las Vegas proxy to submit his picks each week, he said he finished in the top 12 in his first year in the contest in 2013 to win about $12,000.

“I rationalized that it’s $1,500 for 17 weeks,” he said. “That’s pretty good entertainment for $100 a week.”

The humble Graham, who finished around the .500 mark in the contest each of the past two years, said he saved about $100 a week last year from January to August so he could afford the $3,000 for the maximum two entries.

“I didn’t want to put a lot of pressure on one entry,” he said. “I saved my tips and a little extra from each check.”

Other than the SuperContest, Graham describes himself as a casual bettor who typically makes $50 wagers. A New York Giants fan, he said his keys to success this season were taking emotion out of the equation, and he also made many of his picks based on line moves from the time the contest spreads were released Wednesday until the picks were due at 11 a.m. Saturday.

“I went with the trends and kind of had good timing,” he said.

Graham said he picked six or seven different games each week and put two or three of his best bets on both cards. He won an additional $2,217 for tying for 40th place with his other entry, bringing his total winnings to $907,699. He said he plans to keep his job at Starbucks, where he has worked for six years.

“I don’t want to have that much free time in Vegas with that kind of money,” he said. “But I don’t know if I’ll have a tolerance for angry coffee customers when I’ve got that type of money in the bank.”

Jorstad, who listened to the games on satellite radio while working 16-hour days on his 3,000-acre farm, said part of his weekly strategy was to narrow the field to 10 games to choose from before the spreads came out. He also didn’t bet on any of his beloved Bears’ games. Finally, the consistent Jorstad — who didn’t go 5-0 or 0-5 all season — said he always bet against a certain SiriusXM NFL Radio host.

“I’m not going to say who it is, but when it’s his lock, I go the other way,” he said, laughing. “I kind of go with my gut feeling. I’m not your normal football (handicapper). I’m certainly no professional or anything like that.”

Much like the World Series of Poker since Moneymaker won it, the SuperContest has exploded in popularity in recent years. The field has increased almost sixfold from 2009, when there were 328 entries, and $2.57 million in prize money will be paid out Friday to the top 54 places.

“As the contest has grown, you start to see some unknowns pop up,” Westgate sports book director Jay Kornegay said. “The so-called average Joes-slash-novice players have been dominating the winner’s circle for the SuperContest as of late. If you put a hot streak together, anybody can win.

“I can only imagine, because of who finished in the top two, it can only gain in popularity.”

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0354. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.