With his shaggy, brownish-red hair, Ryan Riess sorta looks like Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford.
But Riess -- a 23-year-old native of Waterford, Mich. -- went with a Calvin Johnson jersey at the final table of the World Series of Poker's Main Event on Monday night.
The No. 81 jersey seemed fitting as Riess kept catching the cards that took him into Tuesday night's final (9 p.m. on ESPN) against Jay Farber. There were eight players vying for those two spots Monday.
The tournament, with a $10,000 buy-in, got under way with 6,532 entrants. The winner takes home an $8.4 million prize. The runner-up gets $5.1 million.
Riess, who attended Michigan State, got a shout-out Monday from Spartans athletic director Mark Hollis via Twitter:
Good luck tonight to #Spartan @RyanRiess1 in the finals of the World Series of Poker and a shot at $8.3 million. I struggle with euchre!
— Mark Hollis (@MSUAD) November 4, 2013
Inside The Rio in Las Vegas, Riess' fans -- who wore "Riess the Beast" T-shirts -- shouted time and again as he took down opponents like Johnson brings down alley-oops in the corner of the end zone.
Megatron would be proud.
