Winners And Losers: Poker Stars Being Loosey Goosey With Money

The primary time I thought of poker gamers not caring about cash was within the late Nineties after I did a narrative on Stu Ungar.

I used to be the final journalist to interview him for {a magazine} article (he died quickly after). Although the piece turned out nice, he didn’t find it irresistible. He known as the photographer and me “c***suckers.”

Particularly lasting, although, was his view of soiled cash… filthy lucre.

I used to be only a word-man on the hustle and, in the middle of writing about Ungar, I heard mind-blowing tales about him being a neophyte golfer who’d blow $50,000 in wagers earlier than getting off the primary tee. Wild…

Later, he all however bragged to me about going cyclically broke by burning by way of fortunes, rebuilding, and repeating.

One 12 months after taking down $1 million within the 1997 Fundamental Occasion (he saved half; half went to Billy Baxter for backing him), a busted Stu Ungar tried hustling the photographer for $200. He failed.

I requested somebody about Stuey’s obvious disdain for money and was advised, “Cash is the most affordable commodity in Stu Ungar’s life.”

Commodity was in all probability getting used incorrectly, however I obtained what the man meant.

Not lengthy after, I learn Doyle Brunson’s nice quote on the subject: “With the intention to be a profitable gambler, you must have a disregard for cash.”

That existed in spades when on-line poker first blew up. I bear in mind going for what I figured could be a easy dinner with one of many younger on-line geniuses. Then he went and ordered each single merchandise on the menu, loading up the desk with extra meals than we might probably eat.

Seeing my response, he advised me that it was simpler than trying on the menu and having to determine. After all, he picked up the tab and left a giant, fats tip. That meal in all probability price greater than what I used to be getting paid to jot down the damned story about him.

The place Tom Goldstein is worried, earlier than I knew he was the man who folded the profitable hand in a $540,000 pot at Hustler On line casino, I figured that the seemingly careless contender – who, the truth is, has been indicted for unreported poker winnings – was a rich-kid newcomer who had no clue.

However, in fact, he was a seasoned, profitable participant. Who else would do this and shrug it off?

Dan Bilzerian, in his e-book The Setup, wrote about Goldstein (who had been Bilzerian’s lawyer). He claimed that Goldstein had a behavior of taking part in poker with out taking a look at his playing cards.

“I’ve by no means met anybody with much less respect for cash proportionate to their internet value than Tom.”

I’m guessing that was meant as a praise.

A part of being profitable on the desk is to not consider cash as cash. Try this, and also you’re lifeless. You’ll by no means be capable of convincingly three-bet as a bluff.

How one develops that sensibility, I don’t know. However I’m guessing that enduring main swings, residing to inform the tales – even to snigger on the tales – and returning for extra should assist. It’s straightforward come, straightforward go, on steroids.

Phil Ivey as soon as advised me in regards to the summer time when, as a 22-year-old, he put collectively a bankroll of $200,000, the largest he’d ever had, and blew it by the autumn. I advised him that he should have been devastated.

He glanced at me, uncomprehending, and stated, “I didn’t have a look at it as cash misplaced. I checked out it as cash used to play greater video games. I assumed it was value taking part in in these video games.”

As for myself. I bear in mind as soon as telling a profitable poker professional that if I ever gained the World Sequence of Poker major occasion, I’d preserve the cash and by no means play one other hand of poker for the remainder of my life.

Sneering, he advised me, “That’s why you’ll by no means win the World Sequence of Poker.”

He’s proper. And I didn’t trouble asking for the percentages he’d give me of taking it down in the future.

Michael Kaplan is a journalist primarily based in New York Metropolis. He’s the creator of 5 books (“The Benefit Gamers” out quickly) and has labored for publications that embody Wired, GQ and the New York Publish. He has written extensively on know-how, playing, and enterprise — with a specific curiosity in spots the place all three intersect. His article on Kelly “Baccarat Machine” Solar and Phil Ivey is presently in improvement as a function movie.