Professional poker player Hoyt "Cowboy" Corkins of Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, who has won two World Series of Poker (WSOP) championship gold bracelets and almost $4 million in tournament prize money, has had his home ransacked and his bracelets stolen.

According to media reports, a burglar or burglars broke into Corkins' home at the Spanish Trail Golf and Country Club, a gated and guarded community in northwest Las Vegas, ransacked the home and stole numerous items, including two WSOP bracelets, a World Poker Tour (WPT) championship bracelet, a safe, electronic equipment and about $10,000 in cash.

Also taken from outside the home were a sport utility vehicle, a jeep and a motorcycle belonging to Corkins, media reports said.

Corkins had been out of town for about a month and had just returned home and learned of the burglary, media reports said.

A native of Alabama, the 48-year-old Corkins still owns a ranch there and splits his time between the ranch and his Vegas home, media reports said.

"I feel like I was possibly targeted because I was gone from Vegas for a month," Corkins told a reporter. "It would have been easy access."

Reflecting on the burglary through the prism of a poker player, he added, "You got to be lucky through life, and sometimes you're lucky and sometimes you're not. A lot of it is dealing with your bad luck."

Up until now, it's pretty much been good luck for Corkins-and plenty of it.

He turned pro at age 19 and hasn't looked back, earning almost $4 playing tournament poker over the last three decades.

According to tournament records, he has finished in the money in a WSOP event 19 times, including five times at this year's WSOP.

His crowning achievements in WSOP play were a first-place finish last year in a six-handed, no-limit Texas hold ‘em tournament, earning him $515,065, and a first-place finish in 1992 in a pot-limit Omaha tourney, earning him $96,000.

At this year's WSOP, his best finish was fourth place in a H.O.R.S.E. tournament, earning him $81,699.

He has also finished in the money in numerous WPT events, including winning one in 2003 and earning over a million dollars.

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Thomas Somach, www.pokerhelper.com