Poker is a haven for offbeat personalities that don’t quite fit into other parts of society. A glance at history shows that Stuey Ungar and Mike Caro found success as misfits in an unfit world. Preston McEwen might be the next generation’s offbeat, wayward success story – part rock star, part clutch finisher and one hell of a snazzy dresser.
McEwen is hard to miss in a poker room – he stands 6’3”, with long, curly hair worthy of a shampoo commercial. Before professional poker, McEwen was a professional musician. He toured the country playing drums for a rock group and then the trio Ghost Town Blues Band, opening for national acts, gaining decent radio play while headlining weekend festivals.
The Memphis, Tennessee native’s journey to the top of the mid-stakes tournament scene wasn’t easy. There were thousands of bar gigs just to break even, sleeping on his in-law’s couch for months, and a stretch driving for Uber.
I caught up with McEwen near his hometown in Tunica, Mississippi, where the WSOP Circuit was hosting a series. Where else would he be? McEwen has won eight Circuit rings overall and is one of the more feared regulars on the tour. He has racked up $2.4 million in tournaments overall.
Living Out Of A Suitcase
Of course, being on tour is nothing new for McEwen.
“Being a touring musician had its highs and lows,” McEwen said of his time behind the kit. “The dopamine rush of being deep in a big tournament is the only thing that compares to playing in front of 20,000 people.”
“It was just fucking awesome, man,” he continued. “We headlined the Montreal Jazz Festival, it was crazy. We landed and somebody was waiting on us at the airport with our name on a sign. Canadians will treat you like royalty.”
While McEwen focused on drumming as an adult, he also took piano lessons as a kid and picked up the guitar in his teens as a fan of punk music.
“I’m one of eight siblings and my mom made us all take piano lessons, but we’re not a musical family,” he said.
“My parents split up when I was 12 and I got really into Green Day and Blink-182 and loved the tone of the drums,” said McEwen. “I begged my mom for a drum kit for Christmas and then just started playing in bands.”
For 18 years, music dominated his life. He played in a couple of touring bands, and spent time as both the frontman and the backbeat, but as he got older, he wanted different things from life. For all the highs he experienced cranking out fills for sold-out crowds, there were also plenty of lows playing to the occasional half-empty bar somewhere on the road.
“We’d make enough to get us to the next gig, and then hit the big festivals on the weekends. But the worst gigs were casinos,” he added laughing.
“I actually used to play poker here [at Horseshoe Tunica] while also playing a gig across the casino,” said McEwen. “I’d calculate that I’d blind out 45 minutes at a time, so I needed to build a stack quickly so I could run back and forth between the band and the poker room.”
“It was soul sucking,” he recalled. “I’d be playing to people that just lost all their money in the pits, clicking 25-cent spins at the bar and not even looking up at us – just dead eyes.”
Starting Over From Scratch
McEwen’s run as a touring musician ended in 2017.
“I quit my band to go back and finish my audio production degree,” he said. “I was just grinding, playing and making only $30,000 to $35,000 a year playing music. I felt like I never had more than $2,000 to my name at a time.”
McEwen and his wife had a toddler with another on the way and didn’t see much of a future in Memphis. His wife’s family took them in while he went to school in Murfreesboro and worked at night.
“We moved in with them while we were figuring things out,” he said. “I really wasn’t sure what I was going to do with my life. It was a real turning point at 29.”
McEwen mostly played cash games because of his band commitments, but while on winter break in 2018, he shot down to Biloxi for the Million Dollar Heater at the Beau Rivage.
“I played one tournament, on one buy-in, and got 7th place out of 3,000 runners for $18,000,” he said. “I didn’t really understand what kind of bankroll you needed to play poker, but my wife was supportive of me taking a shot.”
He ripped off 18 cashes for $80,000 in his first year. One of his professors was a poker fan and let him do projects on the road. Although he was still getting A’s in his classes, McEwen saw the writing on the chalkboard and knew poker was his path. He ultimately dropped out to focus on the game, but the move proved to be premature.
“It wasn’t really enough to travel, make a living, and support a family,” said McEwen. “I built the roll for the first few months and then six months later it was dusted. I was broke when our second baby came and driving for Uber to make ends meet. It was 12 hours a day, six days a week. The day after my youngest was born, I was back on the road driving.”
McEwen’s voice tightened and his posture changed as he told the next part of the story.
“I had a passenger for a five-minute ride – maybe worth $7 to me. She asked about my day, and I said, ‘Yeah, just had a baby yesterday.’ Then she asked how much I’d make that day.”
McEwen broke eye contact and looked up as he recalled the generous woman, holding back a wave of emotion.
“She went in the house and gave me a $120 tip and told me to go home and see my baby.”
“Do you still remember her name?” I asked.
He nodded and mostly whispered, “I remember her house.”
The Spin Up
The McEwens were living lean with two kids scrunched in at his in-laws’ house in 2018. After a long shift one day, he logged into his Ignition account where he had $11 in his account.
Throwing caution to the wind, he bought into an $11 tournament and shipped it for $1,700. The next morning, he had a familiar conversation with his wife and decided he wouldn’t drive for the next week. Instead, he played online.
“I spun it up to $5,000 and then I asked her if I could take half down to Tunica,” McEwen said. “She’s always been so supportive and said go for it. I’m the luckiest man there is, she met me when I was a broke musician.”
“I get down there, hop in a $1-$3 game and put in a 35-hour session to win another $3,000,” he said. “I immediately got in a turbo event with no sleep and won it for another $3,000. Then I hopped into the main event and won that for $35,000. I was done driving for good after that.”
Nearly 300 cashes later, McEwen hasn’t looked back. But what’s mind-blowing about his results is that more than one-third of those cashes are final table runs, and a whopping 10% of his cashes are wins.
The dude’s a finisher, which caught the attention of RunGood Poker and earned him a spot as a brand ambassador. He has proven to be a good hire, winning eight RunGood Poker Series titles overall.
His eight WSOP Circuit rings are tied for 26th all-time, all of them coming since 2022. His biggest score is the $183,563 he picked up for a Circuit main event title in Tunica in 2023, followed by a third-place finish at Harrah’s Cherokee in 2024 for $175,713. He also took down the monster stack at Cherokee in 2023 for $133,830, and has a pair of six-figure scores from deep runs in both the WPT World Championship and WSOP main event.
Moving Forward
McEwen has attacked the poker circuit like a young, hungry band out to prove a point and sell a million records. He’s worked and traveled so hard over the last five years because, like most dreamers, he’s got an endgame plan.
“My kids are eight and six and I know when they hit their teens, they’re not going to want to hang out with mom and dad anymore,” said McEwen. “I have a two-year plan in poker to make as much as possible and then semi-retire – at least for a few years.”
“I want to do as much as I can until Daddy’s not cool anymore, so that’s why I’m grinding so hard,” he said. “I’ve gotten so close a couple of times in big events where I would have that nest egg. That’s my goal – two years.”
- Photos by Card Player, World Poker Tour, Preston McEwen