We're at the Hollywood Poker Open Regionals Main Event at the Hollywood Casino in Columbus,
Ohio.
And we're interviewing entrepreneur, philanthropist, and professional poker player, Shawn Cunix.
Shawn, tell us how it is to compete on your own home turf here in Columbus.
Well, this is very exciting for me, normally I'm having to travel to play, away from my
family and friends, and to be able to play in my own hometown means a lot, I know a lot
of people in Columbus.
I founded my business right here in Columbus and it's very cool to have so many people
that will be rooting for me today right in my own hometown.
Now, you've already racked up one win.
What's ahead for the rest of the weekend?
Well, obviously with having my friends and family here today I'm very excited, very motivated
to try and pull down a victory for them today and again, just to have so many people rooting
for me, I'm very honored and humbled.
You have a website with a fascinating title, Inspirehappiness.com.
What's that all about?
The Inspirehappiness.com means a lot to me because anybody that spends time around me
knows that I'm always trying to inspire people.
Uplift them.
If I see anybody that even remotely looks unhappy, I kind of take it upon myself to
try to see if there's anything I can do to inspire them, help them, point them in the
right direction.
The other reason I like it and I want to continue to push it more into my hobby, the Inspire
Happiness, when I'm around people at the poker table or even on an airplane flight going
to my trip, I spend my time talking to people, really try to inspire them and on a funny
note, I'm very much into my marriage and a lot of times I find myself talking to people
that have been married a while and trying to give them some pointers on how to keep
the spark there.
And you do that in your personal life and poker playing and your wireless life also.
How does that affect your business and wireless life?
Well, on the business front, one of the top things I'm always striving for is people are
always saying, "Do you think you'll ever be the largest in the world?
Or how big will you get?"
For me, it's not about being the biggest.
I want to be the best and I want the employees in the business to say, this is one of the
greatest companies to work for.
While we're talking about winning, in both in business and in life, tell us about that
big win in Jacksonville.
That meant a lot to me.
My story has been published before, but did not have an opportunity to compete in anything
growing up.
I candidly, for lack of better words, hustling and never getting a chance to compete in any
athletics and sports, it meant a lot to me to actually win at something.
Everybody's always known me for somebody successful and someone that's able to make a great living.
Tell us about that big win in Jacksonville last year.
That win meant a lot to me as most of the people that have read my story know, I never
got a chance to compete in anything growing up, I did not compete in any athletic events
so to finally have something that I could compete at and do quite well at meant a lot.
And then that victory really gives me chills as I start to reflect back, people that watched
it also knew I had just broken my collarbone, and candidly, saved my son's life.
After two weeks of laying in bed, to go and beat 305 guys in a poker tournament just really
meant a lot.
It meant a lot to me to show my family, that I was still a strong guy because they saw
me laying in bed for two weeks and it's not something I've ever done before.
Well thank you Shawn, you've been with us as talk with Shawn Cunix at the Hollywood
Casino and this is a big event, good skill, and good luck.
Thank you.