Sam 'Señor Tilt' Kiki Is Hosting Harvard Poker Event After 2009 Waitlist
Sam Kiki read his 2009 rejection letter on camera and said, 'My dad and I have been checking the mail for 17 years. It's happening, pops. We're going to Harvard.'
April 17 2026, Published 2:58 p.m. ET
Every year, Harvard accepts roughly 4% of applicants and waitlists another 3%. In 2009, Sam Kiki landed in that second group. Seventeen years later, he's heading to campus anyway — just not as a student.
On Thursday, Kiki posted an Instagram Reel announcing that the Harvard Undergraduate Poker Club has invited him to campus for a lecture and poker game later this month. In the clip, the Las Vegas native says he was “really pumped” to hear from them, “because the last correspondence I got from Harvard University was March 31st, 2009.”
He then reads his waitlist letter on camera, noting that he and his dad have been “checking the mail” for nearly two decades. “It’s happening, pops,” he says. “We’re going to Harvard.”
Reactions showed up in the comments almost immediately.
“Harvard x Senor Tilt… need that poker lecture ASAP 👏🔥,” one person wrote.
“This is fire, bro, happy to see you doing well ❤️🔥,” another said.
“I got my notepad ready for some knowledge!!! 📝 🤓 🧐 🤓,” chimed in a third.
“17 years later, we’re back,” someone else added.
This isn’t Kiki's first time giving back to the classroom. The MonkeyTilt founder has publicly committed seven figures to the Academic Coaching Services Foundation — a Las Vegas organization that helps low-income students prepare for selective college admissions.
The first installment, a $50,000 donation in November 2025, launched the inaugural Sam Kiki College Access Scholarship. Kiki was an ACS student himself before going on to study neuroscience at Amherst College.
At the table, the high-roller has won a $1,008,500 pot against Rick Salomon, taken roughly $424,500 from Kevin Hart in a single hand, and holds two all-time records on PokerGO’s High Stakes Poker. He’s also gone head-to-head with players like Alan Keating and Andrew Robl in some of the biggest pots of the season.
For those looking to learn from him in person, the poker club's lecture is set for Friday, April 24, from 5–7 PM at Harvard's Science Center Hall D, with a signup page live now.