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After finishing second in scoring on Bundesliga side Borussia Mönchengladbach, Max Kruse was feeling confident about being included in Germany manager Joachim Low’s final squad for the 2014 World Cup. When the roster was announced, the 26-year old striker’s name was nowhere to be found and suddenly the month of June opened up on his schedule.

Taking advantage of the free time, Kruse decided to head to Las Vegas and enter the World Series of Poker. The game was 2-7 Draw Lowball and according to Poker News, it didn’t take him very long to pick it up.

And how's this for a needle: The footballer learned how to play 2-7 draw lowball during a 30-minute crash course from friend George Danzer while watching Germany play against Portugal last week.

”We were getting ready for the 2-7 event and Max liked the game so we just gave him a few hints," Danzer told PokerNews' Frank Op de Woerd on Tuesday. "He seems to have learned really fast!”

That crash course paid off, literally, as Kruse finished third in the pool of 241 players, taking home $36,494. He beat out some big names in the poker world such as Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Hellmuth and Erik Seidel.

Kruse would prefer to be in Brazil with his Germany teammates, but winning $36,000 while in Las Vegas will certainly make the World Cup omission sting a little less.

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