Poker Pro Dies on His Way to the WSOP
News broke that professional poker player from Long Island Paul “Smalls” Kitsos died as he was on his flight heading to the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. Kitsos was a 5′ 11″, 350-pound man and other passengers described that he began “sweating profusely and breathing heavily” 20 minutes after the flight had taken off.
The poker pro called the flight attendant for help and soon after she could no longer feel his pulse. A doctor on the plane pronounced him dead and the flight returned to JFK Airport immediately.
Kitsos became a professional in the year 2000, and he was an avid player who played against the top names of poker in the world. He also managed to rank 320th in the 2008 World Series of Poker amongst other accomplishments.
He also left a loving wife who said “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.” The poker pro was a loving husband and father to an autistic son. We send our condolences to his family and we also send a lot of strength to them from the poker community.