A 19-year-old from North Carolina takes his shot at poker glory Thursday night when he faces Josh Arieh, one of the top players in the world, for $12,000 at Bodog Poker Room.

Justin Hendricks of Chapel Hill, N.C., qualified to play a Team Bodog poker pro by finishing atop the online poker site’s Tournament Leader Board last week. Each day, Bodog poker players compete against each other to be the king of the board. The player who has the most points at the end of every week earns a prize of a $1,000 heads-up Sit-N-Go against Arieh, David Williams or Evelyn Ng, professional players who are sponsored exclusively by Bodog.

If the pro wíns the $1,000 game (which typically lasts between five and 25 minutes), the pot rolls over into the next week. A pro has won for 11 consecutive weeks, setting the stage for Hendricks to possibly clean up. He faces Arieh, who has totaled more than $4 million in career earnings.

Bodog, a favorite site for online poker players, has seen incredible popularity and success with its Tournament Leader Board, a feature that allows players in all Bodog tournaments to wín weekly and monthly prizes when they come out on top.

The player who finishes on top of the board at the end of the month wins a weekend at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, and entry into the legendary Bellagio $1,000 Saturday night tournament. More tournament credits are available for the other players who finish in the monthly Top 20.

"Our point system is very popular for its flexibility in our tournaments, now our players can wín even more when they come out on top," said Calvin Ayre, Bodog Founder and CEO. "Playing heads up against our pros is great training for the WSOP."

Bodog has qualified hundreds of players for the World Series of Poker, which begins Sunday at Harrah’s Rio Casino in Las Vegas. The WSOP Main Event, poker’s showcase event, runs from July 28-August 10 and will feature 400 Bodog Poker players.

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