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Anthropology professor David Hayano had always loved playing poker with classmates, friends, and, on one occasion in 1971, with strangers at a smoky cardroom in Gardena, California. The visit didn’t go well. He lost fifteen bucks. Hayano returned in 1973 and won almost three hundred dollars in an hour. “Nobody I knew earned more than $300 per day at a job,” he wondered. “Yet there were dozens, even hundreds of players in these and bigger games. How did they do it? How could I do it?”
The result of Hayano’s curiosity, Poker Faces (1981), is the only ethnography of a poker room and, for that reason alone, a valuable resource for understanding the culture of the game. Hayano spent over 10,000 hours at the tables in Gardena, an area in southern Los Angeles that, during the 1970s and 80s, had the greatest concentration of draw poker clubs in the world. By 1975, he had played in every club and competed regularly in the highest-stakes games.
Hayano’s aim is to illuminate an American subculture that can’t be understood from the outside. Most of poker’s distortions and self-serving stereotypes remain unchallenged, Hayano insists, because they are based on little or no participation in the cardrooms, coupled with a vague understanding of the social dynamics of poker-playing. “My attempt to present an insider’s view of the work of professional poker players,” he writes, “could only be accomplished by prolonged immersion and, most important, by being a player.”
One of the strongest parts of the book is Hayano’s understanding of how different social groups meet and mingle in the cardroom. Players are united—or estranged—by age, gender, occupation, sleeping schedule, or preferred betting limit. They play poker for all kinds of reasons. For many elderly regulars, to take one example, “their main concern seems to be to pass the time in small-stakes games, meet with friends, watch television, and eat moderately priced meals. In this respect, generally maligned and neglected social institutions such as bus depots, racetracks, and cardrooms may fulfill beneficial social functions that have gone unrecognized.” Poker, for these folks, isn’t about winning money. It’s about routine, structure, and a kind of community.
Different stakes may also link or alienate the cardroom population. Two regulars may frequent the same club for 10 years, only 20 feet apart, and yet they may never recognize or interact with each other. Doctors and lawyers may become known suckers, the unwitting victims of college dropouts, plumbers, or housewives. The cardroom redefines—and sometimes inverts—the social pecking order.
Defining a professional poker player is tricky business. It depends on results that can rapidly change or be skewed by one big score (Jamie Gold, anyone?). Neither is pro status linked to formalized education: ability is judged by skill and results, not by a piece of paper saying that you went to “poker school.”
There also are problems of self-definition or, perhaps more accurately, self-deception. Someone may make $50,000 a year and call herself a part-time player; someone else may consider $5,000 enough to “go pro.” “Yep, I’ve been a pro for the last five years,” says the haggard, hooded guy across the table just before he punts off his stack.
Hayano splits the professional player into four overlapping categories:
Problems of definition are one thing. But what about the special personal characteristics that distinguish winners from losers?
You know why most of these players go busted? It’s not because they don’t know how to play. That’s not it. It’s because of their egos. They’ve got to show everybody and themselves that they’re the world’s greatest. I just sit back and play my game, and they can make all the moves and talk they want. In twenty years I’ve seen hundreds of these flashes in the pan. Give them the trophies. I’ll take the money.
—a Gardena winning regular
According to Hayano, the most common traits of winning players are:
Winners are also able to create a gap between how they appear to others (too loose) and their actual strong holdings. “Regulars and pros often put on the image of a person who gambles, makes risky bets, bluffs frequently, or is nothing but an incompetent player, especially to newcomers in the game who do not know them. This may involve advertising a bluff, making a loose call and showing your hand, or feigning an ignorance of the rules,” Hayano notes. Winners talk loose and play tight.
Despite success on the felt, the poker pro’s career can be volatile and lonely, filled with rough emotional and financial swings. The mythical life of the poker pro—the steep stakes, the bling, the gaudy houses and sexy mommas—is a far cry from the humdrum reality of most workaday grinders. “A few players in the limelight have realized these dreams of success,” Hayano writes. “But to the inestimable number of strugglers and casualties of round-the-clock play and broken-down bankrolls, the career is more a chimerical delusion, more like a nightmare factory.”
“After last night’s loss I went to my car looking for a rope or a gun but I couldn’t find them. When I did find the rope I tied it to a post and stuck my head in it. But the rope broke. So here I am.”
—a Gardena losing regular
If life is tough for winners, then it’s even worse for the losers. Hayano estimates that losing players compose a whopping 95-99% of the cardroom population.
Why do so many players lose? First of all, most players are simply inexperienced, imperceptive, and bad at fundamental poker strategy.
Second, they put too much stock in luck, believing that independent random events are somehow linked (“the flush hasn’t hit the last nine times; it must be coming in now!”).
Finally, losing players lack discipline. They fail to keep records, study, or exercise proper time and bankroll management. They play for hours on end with no plan in mind. They insist on upping the stakes and pursuing “get-even” strategies. And they fail to distinguish between poker and casino games of pure luck, falling victim to roulette, craps, or the slots.
Unfortunately, “staying in action” becomes the only option for digging out of a financial hole. “I can’t afford to work,” says one losing regular. “What would I do if I did? Make three bucks an hour? I’d have to work 200 years just to get even for the last month.” Gambling becomes both the cause of financial ruin and the only hope for salvation.
Much has changed in the 30 years since Poker Faces was published. In the 1970s, poker was often stigmatized alongside gambling, addiction, and other kinds of “deviant” behavior. Today, even if it remains maligned and misunderstood, the game has become more mainstream. Thanks ESPN!
It also goes without saying that online gaming has revolutionized poker’s landscape. Even in those same smoky Gardena cardrooms, we can find smartphones with poker tracking apps and online poker refugees who have been forced into the live arena.
Overall, though, Poker Faces remains a rigorous, readable ethnography of the poker room. Hayano succeeds in revealing part of poker’s fascinating and dysfunctional culture, and for that we should be grateful.
New Jersey will be incorporating new rules for online gambling operators in 2016. One of those new rules will allow online poker operators to pay celebrity endorsers to play online poker.
U.S.-regulated online poker has few ambassadors at present. Greg Merson, the 2012 WSOP Main Event Champion, is probably the most well-known. As of next year, however, we’re likely to probably see some new celebrity ambassadors start representing online poker sites, perhaps even in Pennsylvania.
With that said, a few celebrities out there are most definitely not a good fit for online poker. Our list below looks at seven celebrities who should not receive online poker sponsorships.
Some days it seems that Donald Trump wakes up wondering, “Who can we offend today?” The unlikely frontrunner for the Republican Party nomination for the 2016 elections would be among the worst candidates for an online poker sponsorship. If he hasn’t already offended one segment of your player base, just give him time and he will surely get around to doing so.
A couple of years ago, Tom Brady would have probably been the perfect celebrity candidate for an online poker sponsorship. But after last year, his value is greatly deflated. Whether you like him or not, a person tied to a cheating scandal is not a proper spokesman for your site. He might be the “Ultimate Bet” in football or a “Lock” to win the Super Bowl, but cheating and poker don’t mix.
Charlie Sheen may have been a perfect candidate to be a sponsored player on the (unregulated) “Winning” Poker Network except for the fact that his career has been experiencing a catastrophic downward spiral. Yes, he is the star of Anger Management, but that’s about the only positive thing we can say about the former Two and a Half Men star in recent years.
Martha Stewart has built an empire helping people improve their homes, but would she have what it takes to be an online poker ambassador? Some would say no because of her involvement with insider trading of ImClone Software Systems stock in 2001.
While her past conviction may disqualify her from being an ambassador, imagine the ads if she signed with an online poker company…
Hogan is a Real American – that is if that American was born before the Civil War. In the past, Hogan was a hero to millions of little kids and that popularity could have been capitalized upon by a creative online poker site.
Hogan was released from his WWE contract last year after making racist statements about his daughter’s boyfriend. Now, it seems that the only former wrestler who is hated more is Shawn Michaels when he visits Canada. Hogan might be racist, but at least he didn’t screw Bret. Either way, he isn’t right to rep an online poker site.
Read: The Top 10 WWE Superstars I’d Hate to Play Poker With
The man who is single handedly attempting to shut down online gambling in the United States is the last person who ought to receive an online poker sponsorship. Could you imagine the tagline for such a site?
Play with Sheldon Adelson at ScrewYouPoker.com now before he shuts us down!
Glenn Beck would certainly stir up conversation as an online poker ambassador, but the backlash from his detractors may be more than a site would want to tolerate. The conservative political talk show host is demonized by the liberal media and liberals in the United States. Tom Leykis would classify him as a “Right Wing Wacko.”
While it is unlikely that Beck would support online poker on a moral level, he might do so to support state’s rights. Of course, his opponents would call his politics into question as well as his religious convictions. They’d then find a way to blame online gambling for the woes of the country – or they could just blame George W. Bush; after all, Democrats love blaming “Dubya” for the state of the country.
Should any other celebrity have made our list? Do you feel as though any of the people listed above IS, in fact, deserving of an online poker sponsorship? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or on the Cardplayer Lifestyle Facebook page.
Pennsylvanians are gearing up for the likely passage of online gambling legislation. The wait has been a long one, as it was more than two years ago that New Jersey joined Delaware and Nevada in the United States online gambling space. Finally, it looks as if another state will join the fray soon.
In November, Pennsylvania Representative John Payne was able to get his HB 649 bill to a House committee for a vote and it passed 18-8. Days later, the bill was formally introduced on the House floor, making it available for debate and an eventual vote. In addition, the committee passage made it more likely that the bill could be attached to the impending budget bill that must pass both houses and receive gubernatorial approval before the end of 2015.
Either way, Pennsylvania poker players are counting their unhatched chickens. Since speculation is more fun than waiting for news to happen, let’s take a look at the poker players who would be the most ideal candidates for online poker sponsorships in the Keystone State.
There is no person better suited to represent a poker company than Matt Glantz. Long known as one of the “good guys” in poker, Glantz is not only a fun person at the poker tables but skilled, respectful, honest, and passionate about the game.
Image source: Matt Glantz Twitter
As for skill, Glantz has more than $6 million in live poker tournament earnings, not to mention countless hours of experience at the cash game tables. This year alone, he finished in the top 20 of two World Series of Poker tournaments in Las Vegas and won Big Stax tournaments at Parx Casino in Bensalem.
Speaking of Parx, Glantz was the room’s poker ambassador from the summer of 2012 until earlier this year. The multi-year deal put Glantz in charge of promoting the poker room and its tournaments, planning the design and overall expansion of the room, and helping improve the structure and events of the recurring Big Stax series.
Any online poker site would be lucky to sign Glantz to an ambassadorship or sponsorship.
If his name sounds familiar to you, it’s because he is the new 2015 WSOP Main Event champion. He entered the November Nine final table as the far-and-away chip leader and ran over all opponents with an ever-growing chip stack on his way to victory, winning the first prize of more than $7.6 million.
Official WSOP Main Event Winner Photo
McKeehen is a proud Pennsylvanian and he represented his state at the November Nine with an 888 patch. While he was not playing online poker at 888 at the time due to the pending status of online poker in Pennsylvania, he took the table sponsorship seriously.
With more than $9.7 million in live tournament earnings to his name, McKeehen has a plethora of titles to complement his big WSOP win, including first place finishes in WSOP Circuit events, Borgata and Foxwoods tournaments, and, most recently, the Wynn Fall Classic. His name and notoriety would garner much publicity for an online poker site.
Matt and Esther Brady are one of the power couples of the poker world. Matt is a longtime staple of the live poker tables and a friendly face at any poker tournament. They have been together for many years and married for most of them. They have a young daughter together, This has kept both players mostly anchored on the East Coast, as they wish to provide a stable home life for their youngster.
Image credit: Borgata poker blog + Poker Night in America
Matt has more than $2.7 million in live tournament earnings and several prestigious titles to his credit, though he is probably best known to poker fans for his 2008 Aruba Poker Classic victory worth $1 million. Esther (more commonly known as E-Tay) has several big finishes on her resume, including a World Poker Tour Borgata final table earlier in 2015 and a Parx Casino Big Stax final table in September. Even so, both players focus more on cash games than tournaments regularly.
The signing of a poker duo would have mass appeal to online poker players, with Matt and Esther each reaching out to new players in their own way and, together, illustrating the positive influence that online poker could have on a family.
Brian Lemke has been a staple at poker tournaments (online and live) and cash games for more than a decade. A solid poker player in his own right, he is also known to some of us in the poker media as a cousin to Justin Shronk, a member of the poker media who died young (at the age of 27) and unexpectedly in Las Vegas in 2009.
Image source: Brian Lemke Twitter
Lemke won his first WSOP bracelet in 2009, just months after Shronk’s death, and he memorably dedicated the win to his cousin. Since then, Lemke has won several other titles near his Pennsylvania home, mostly at the Borgata in Atlantic City, where earlier this year he took down a big Borgata Spring Poker Open tournament for nearly $277K.
A friendly and respected player, Lemke has experience in the live and online poker worlds, and he would be a spectacular ambassador for any online poker company.
Yes, Wanda Sykes; the comedienne, actress, writer, and author. The outspoken and talented Sykes is married with children and lives in Media, just outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Image source: Wanda Sykes Twitter
Sykes has appeared in numerous films, such as Bruce Almighty, voice acted characters in animated films such as Ice Age and Rio, and starred in shows like The New Adventures of Old Christine, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and her own Wanda at Large. In addition, she has done numerous comedy specials and tours, and wrote the book, Yeah, I Said It.
An online poker site utilizing Wanda Sykes as its spokesperson would never have a problem getting publicity. Assuming she has little experience with online poker, her adventures learning the games as she promotes them would likely result in absolute hilarity.
In fact, she does know a little about poker, as evidenced by her appearance on Celebrity Poker Showdown.
What do you think of our suggestions? Do you feel other Pennsylvania-based professional poker players ought to be considered for sponsorship once online poker gets legalized and regulated in the Keystone State? Perhaps a different celebrity or well-known athlete might be a good pick? Let us know on the Cardplayer Lifestyle Facebook page.
Earlier this month, it was already freezing in my city – Prague – but a beautiful Indian summer took over Malta. It was warm enough to swim in the sea and to wear that silk dress I had already packed away while taking out all my winter clothing.
Malta is a jewel, indeed. The small island in the Mediterranean has become the new must-attend poker destination, with the award-winning PokerListings Battle of Malta (BOM) leading the way. It’s also where I headed, in order to see firsthand what it takes to organize such a sensational poker event. Visiting Malta and attending the BOM, I had the opportunity to talk to professional poker player and ambassador Maria Ho, who hosted the event.
We sat down in the lobby of the tournament room at Portomaso Casino to talk about her childhood, Twitch, women in poker, the poker industry, and much more.
How are you doing? Are you enjoying it here?
This is my second year hosting Battle of Malta. I love the general energy here. Obviously, everybody is here to play poker and to win a lot of money, but they also want to have fun and you can feel that. In some of the bigger buy-in tournaments, people are much more serious and not as friendly, actually. I enjoy being here.
You played in the Main Event. How did it go?
I played the Main Event twice, I used my re-entry. It didn’t go well. It is interesting, though. I find that when I play in these kinds of situations, people want to knock me out, which I understand, and it is more fun. It’s a good story. I have to be careful, and showdown with good hands. There is not a lot of bluffing for me because people are going to keep calling. I always expect not to do great, because I have to adjust my playing style a little bit for the way that these players want to play against me.
Another record-breaking #BattleofMalta in the books! Proud to be part of such a great event! Thanks @PokerListings! pic.twitter.com/LQuEoNxTvG
— Maria Ho (@MariaHo) November 11, 2015
Your family moved to the States when you were four years old. What are your earliest memories from that time? Do you remember the relocation at all?
I don’t have a lot of memories from that time, but I do remember that for my parents and my sister it was tough, it was a big adjustment. We were very, very close growing up because of that. Obviously, there was a language barrier for my parents and for my sister, so, we hung out with each other all the time, because it was tough to make new friends in our community. Being the youngest in our family, it was a little bit easier for me, because I started going to kindergarten and elementary school in the States. I go and visit Taiwan all the time, but looking back, I feel really grateful that my parents decided to move us to the States. We have had a lot of really good opportunities from that. I am appreciative, because I know it was very hard for them.
Did you learn a lesson from this? Did it teach you something you could implement in your life?
I think I have very strong work ethic – from my parents. They didn’t have any money when they came to the States and they were able to really live out the American dream, which is obviously why people decide to emigrate. Watching what they have been able to do, I have been able to follow in those steps, to put in a lot of hard work. I am happy to always start from the bottom of something and to work my way up. I know that if you ever want to be good at something, you have to dedicate a lot of time, effort, and energy. I have never shied away from that. I think, honestly, that is what makes me successful in poker. Poker is very hard industry to get into and to stay in, especially for a woman. If it wasn’t for my parents, I would have never been so determined.
Tell me about your cooperation with Poker Central, 24/7 poker TV. What is your role in this project?
Poker Central – they are trying to become the first 24/7 poker network on TV, but we are in digital age. They want to have a presence online. This is my role – I am the digital poker ambassador for Poker Central. I host a show on Twitch for them two to three times a week. It is a way to cross-promote the content that will be aired on their TV network, but also to give people something to be excited about that they can watch online as well.
Apparently @Twitch & my face made it to Times Square this week! Skies the limit @PokerCentral_. Next Stop: Broadway! pic.twitter.com/JqWh0DbJMw — Maria Ho (@MariaHo) October 1, 2015
Do you enjoy streaming on Twitch? What do you usually do apart from playing poker? Why should poker fans join you there?
I compare Twitch to hanging out with your friends. Anytime I want to go and stream I’ll just send a tweet: Come hang out with me! And it is same like calling your friends and having them meeting you for a cup of coffee. It is very interactive, a very two-way thing, whereas when you watch someone on TV, you can´t interact with them in real time.
On Twitch, I am very active with people in chat. They can talk to me, ask me things, and I will respond right then and there to their questions. A lot of times I´ll do fun things like: Tell me what I should do next. Should I play a sit & go or should I play a cash game? They get to decide for me what to do. I think that is fun for people. I enjoy it, I like being able to give people insight into my poker strategy, and people like chances to learn from people who they may not be able to talk to about strategy on regular basis.
I noticed you streamed on Twitch with Daniel Negreanu. You two are friends, how did it go?
Daniel and I played heads-up for play money, which I think people were like: Oh, why would Daniel want to play seriously for play money? But I think it just goes to show how competitive we are, because for play money. Daniel and I took it very, very seriously. We also actually started drinking.
Daniel and I have been good friends for so long; we feel very comfortable with each other. We were basically a little drunk, playing for play money, then just hanging out with everybody on Twitch. Daniel is so much fun. And honestly, WSOP just aired, and every time I watch it, my heart just breaks that he didn’t make the final table, because there is really nobody else better as an ambassador for poker than Daniel.
Check out our Video Q&A interview with Daniel Negreanu
What would you recommend to someone who wants to make it in the poker industry as a commentator or as a poker player?
I think that people have to have a lot of discipline and to spend the time to be good at whatever it is they want to be in poker – whether you want to be a player or a commentator. Sometimes people watch poker on TV and they see this lifestyle, they immediately think: Oh, that looks easy, that is something I want to do. I want to travel the world. I want to play poker. I want to report on poker.
I don’t think they realize that it is a job like anything else. A lot of people you see coming into and going out of the industry, they don’t stick around because they don’t treat it like a real job. Make sure you take it seriously. It is not just necessarily about making money and having fun. It is about being good at what you do.
Would your recommendation be different if you were talking solely to women?
A little bit.
You have to have thick skin, as a woman, to stay in this industry. It is not even about how guys perceive us or treat us. It is also just the fact that anytime you are a huge minority in any situation. It is going to be intimidating and you are going to face a lot more challenges than other people would.
I would recommend they not give up very easily. There are a lot of women who would walk through those doors and then, after a few bad experiences, they want to leave. I encourage women to stick it out. I feel women have such a distinct advantage in so many ways in this industry, whether it is on the playing side or anything else. I would love to see more women stick around.
Do you believe ladies events are the answer to getting more women into the industry? Obviously, women get the chance to play live and feel comfortable, but there are no men and they cannot get used to the male-dominated environment playing the women´s events only.
I still play ladies events. I want to encourage more women to play. Especially when I am there, I like to talk to women about playing in open events. But it is like what you said. I do feel if you only end up playing women´s events and you feel comfortable there, then you are never going to get used to having to play with mostly men. The concept of women´s events is a good way to get women into the door – starting to play tournaments. But if we continue having women´s only events, no one will be actually forcing the women to step outside of their comfort zone either.
Tough question. I don’t think we can ever get completely rid of ladies events, but at the same time I would like to see more women want to make the leap between just playing ladies events and playing the bigger open events.
Negreanu recently tweeted a question regarding women in poker. He also indicated and questioned whether it has something to do with biology. Are women predisposed to be less competitive? What is your take on this?
I actually do agree with that to a certain extent. I think that naturally women are probably not as aggressive as men. In order to love this game and to play this game a certain way, you have to be very aggressive. There is some biological considerations that might not come naturally to women. I don’t think it is because women aren’t competitive, but rather it is because society has also encouraged women to not be as competitive as we want to be. When we are very competitive, it is looked at as negative. When men are competitive, it is looked at as they are manly. It is a problem with society
Sure, biologically, there is some small factors that I agree with. Overall, I think women aren’t encouraged to play this type of game at young age. They are not encouraged to compete in this way. They are not encouraged to be very aggressive and to take big risks. If women grow up in society that makes them feel like they should not be doing something, then of course they are not going to try.
What are your suggestions to attract women to the game?
I think it is overall about giving them a more comfortable environment and being friendly. When I play ladies events, the thing I noticed first and foremost is that everybody is very, very friendly to each other. Everybody makes the other people feel comfortable.
When you sit down at a table full of men, they are usually very quiet; they are not very talkative. If we sit down somewhere and we feel comfortable, we will come back. A lot of pros in the community can also do a lot. There are some guys who don’t play poker professionally and they say certain things to women at the table to make them feel like they don’t belong here. It is important as a community to make sure that we are very inclusive.
You just visited Valetta, the capital of Malta, for the first time. What was it like?
It was beautiful. There was this amazing cathedral we went to. There is so much history in Malta. Coming from North America, we don’t have a lot of cultural, historical landmarks. It is always amazing to look back and see what life was like thousands of years ago. I always enjoy going somewhere where I can also learn about culture and history. Sometimes, when you travel for poker tournaments, you never leave the casino. So, I was really excited that I got the chance to see that.
Have you ever been to Prague?
Yes, I have. Not for poker, just to visit with my family. I loved Prague. I won’t be playing in Prague this year, but when I talk to poker players, it is probably one of their favorite places.
Read: A Recreational Poker Player’s Guide to Playing Poker in Prague
What variants of poker do you play? Do you prefer tournaments to cash games?
I play pretty much every variant of poker. I definitely play H.O.R.S.E., all the mixed games; badugi, triple draw, Omaha 8 or better, Stud 8 or better. I prefer tournaments to cash games now, but when I first started with poker I was playing a lot of cash games.
I think people can make a better living playing cash games, but there is something about tournaments: There is a huge draw, with being able to win a lot of money in a short period of time, and also playing for a title, for a trophy, for the glory. Lately I have been more focused on tournaments, but when I do play cash games, I enjoy playing mixed games. I don’t really ever play any NLH cash games. And I play online quite a bit.
What kind of people do you surround yourself with?
I try to surround myself with nice and kind people. In every industry there are people you don’t want to be associated with. In poker, where money is a huge factor, people always know when you won or cashed in a tournament. Players have a lot cash on them all the time. There are certain people who don’t have the best intentions. I don’t care if someone is a great player or a random player, that’s not the kind of person that I want to be friends with.
I want to be friends with people who are nice and kind and that care about other things – other than poker. People in poker are just a little bit too focused on the game, but there are so many other things we can do with our free time, so much good that we could do. I am interested in talking with people who have aspirations outside of poker.
Is there such a thing as real friendship among players?
I would say, mostly, people in the community are acquaintances. I’ve been in poker for 10 years and I can count on one hand how many poker players I count as real friends… who I trust. It is just the nature of the situation.
You see the people all the time because you travel the circuit with them, but you don’t really spend quality time with them. Then, you go to the poker table and you play a tournament against them. Sometimes you are the reason they lose money, or they are the reason you lose money. When someone is standing in a way of your success, it might be hard for people to develop real friendships. I find it very hard to have real friends in poker. Most people get to know each other on a very superficial level.
What kind of poker will be played in 2030?
At this rate, with how good people are getting at poker, it is actually scary. It is not going to be No Limit Hold’em. That’s not going to be the game anymore because I think we need to find the game that relies on even more luck. The skill level of poker has gotten so high that I just don’t even think we are going to be able to survive. This game, this industry, will not be able to survive with how good people are getting. We may be playing Indian poker by that time. You just put it on your forehead and we´ll be playing for millions of dollars.
Editor’s Note: Thanks so much to Maria Ho for agreeing to do this great interview with Liba! Be sure to follow Maria on Twitter. All images in the article provided by Maria and used with permission.
Choosing where to play online poker is a big decision. The game might be the same in every room, but that doesn’t mean all virtual felts are created equal. Finding the right balance between profitable games, good software, and player rewards can be difficult for many players. Whether you have been on the grind for years or are new to the game entirely, it’s important to constantly evaluate and review online poker sites to find the best fit. So, if your online poker room is lacking certain critical features, you ought to bolt.
Below is a list of 5 reasons you should leave your online poker room.
Poker is played for fun, but it is also played for money. You wouldn’t walk into a casino if you knew that the chips would lose their value by the time you decided to walk out of the casino. An online poker room is no different. The unfortunate reality is that there are thieves on the Internet and some of them do try to take advantage of unsuspecting online poker players.
The good news is that online poker players are part of an active community which looks out for its own. Take a few minutes to do some research on any online poker website before depositing. The odds (pun intended!) are good that if the site is not legitimate you will find warnings from other players to stay away.
There is a great misunderstanding amongst the general public that “Black Friday” banned poker in the United States. This is false. First off, for those unaware, you can play legal online poker in Delaware, New Jersey, and Nevada. Moreover, the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA) simply made it illegal for banks to process online gambling transactions. That, in turn, meant it was all but impossible for players to either buy chips or cash out winnings from online poker sites.
Today, several options exist for online poker transactions. New Jersey online poker players can use their credit cards as well as PayPal to deposit and withdraw funds. If you are outside of the United States, e-wallets are popular. Those on the cutting edge of tech and Internet culture can even choose rooms that allow you to deposit and withdraw with crypto-currency like bitcoin. Whatever online poker room you choose, make sure it will not only be possible to move your money around, but also easy and convenient.
Different sites spread different types of poker. You should consider both the game you want to play (No Limit Hold’em, Stud, Omaha) as well as the format you want to play it in (cash games, tournaments, Sit n’ Gos). Believe it or not, game selection varies widely by site. If you are on one of the sites that offers crypto-currency options, sometimes you can try bitcoin video poker for a change of pace in the daily grind.
Some sites will focus on tournaments with large prize pools while others will try to entice cash game players by running promotions at their regular game tables. For example, one room might run a series of tournaments with high guaranteed prize pools while another site may run “milestone hand” promotions that pay out extra for being dealt into the one-millionth cash game hand on the site.
Nothing ruins an online poker session like buggy, lagging, or boring software. What you are looking for will vary depending on your online poker goals, but the choice is no less significant. You wouldn’t enjoy playing in a live poker room where the beer is warm and the chairs uncomfortable, would you? This would be the online poker equivalent. Make sure to check out the interface before committing to a site with a deposit. It’s not a decision to take lightly, since the software is what you will interact with every time you play.
Some sites place the emphasis on engaging graphics, cool avatars, and an overall experience that mimics social gaming. Other sites are more simple, “clean” looking, and linear. If you are looking for something that will keep you entertained you’ll want the first type of software. For players looking to put in sessions of an hour or more on a regular basis, using software that is designed to function in a simplistic way is the better choice.
Everyone plays online poker for different reasons. There are enthusiasts and recreational players who play purely for the love the game, “weekend warriors” who want to get some practice in during the week, and grinders and professionals who make a living from the comfort of home. Being honest with yourself about why you are sitting down at the virtual felt goes a long way to maximizing what you get out of the experience. If the online poker site you’re currently at isn’t providing you with a pleasant experience, you have only yourself to blame, as there are obviously plenty of options out there.
According to an infographic recently released by Right Casino, legalized online gambling is a $35 billion industry. That’s equal to the GDP of Slovenia. Online gambling and online poker are presently legal in 85 countries with a heavy concentration in Europe and the Caribbean.
Internet gambling is beginning to boom in some segments and others are expected to skyrocket in the next few years. Taking a forward-looking view of online poker and the online gambling industry, we present three global gambling trends that are expected to continue over the next several years.
Mobile gambling has often been called the future of gambling and online poker, but the reality is that the future is now. Juniper Research estimates that over $10 billion was wagered via mobile gambling devices in 2013 alone. That’s nearly one-third of the $35 billion online gambling industry.
As the standard PC device is slowly being phased out for the tablet and PC-hybrid devices, it is just a matter of time before mobile gaming becomes the predominate factor in the global gambling industry.
Online poker rooms finally started catching up in recent years but some sites are still lacking basic features that player’s desire. With the increasing popularity of mobile gaming, developers will be forced to provide a mobile experience as close to the PC experience as possible.
Some companies have become proactive and are offering online gambling material exclusive to mobile users to entice players to switch over. Expect more of these types of innovations over the next few years.
One major theme in both online poker and online gambling over the last few years has been consolidation. Bwin and PartyPoker merged and now are on the verge of being sold to GVC. Paddy Power purchased Betfair and Ladbrokes is purchasing Gala Coral. Even PokerStars was sold to Amaya in 2014, albeit for entirely different reasons. The point is that the industry is consolidating and that trend is likely to continue over the next few years.
Look at the number of online poker networks followed by PokerScout and you can get an idea of the reason behind consolidation. The boom of online poker and internet gambling has resulted in saturation. In recent years, new site success such as that of Right Casino has been rare. Rather, we have seen profits steadily decline as some operators struggle to gain new players and keep existing players at the tables.
Even the American regulated market has experienced difficulty. Ultimate Gaming opened in Nevada and New Jersey in 2013 and failed to stay open a year. BetFair Poker opened in 2013 in New Jersey and couldn’t draw enough traffic to fill a Sit & Go. The company ultimately moved operations over to Golden Nugget and discontinued their poker room to focus on their casino.
Thanks to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, the processing of online gambling transactions is illegal in the United States. The exceptions are in Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey. These states have legalized online poker and several others have explored regulation at one time or another since 2006.
The next states expected to legalize iPoker are California and Pennsylvania. Other states including Illinois, New York, Iowa, West Virginia and others are expected to do so in the future.
Unfortunately, the expansion of regulated online poker will be slow. Morgan Stanley has estimated that online poker would be available in 20 states by 2020 but there been little evidence to back this claim. Realistically, we could see 2-5 more states online by 2020, with the rest online by 2025 or even later.
Please keep in mind that the above predictions could change drastically should online poker and iGaming expand quicker in certain regions such as South America, Canada, and the United States. For now, expect continued growth and consolidation as the rest of the world slowly hops on board the iGaming bandwagon.
One of the things I’ve enjoyed doing since I was but a wee lad was sitting down at a table and playing poker. Even as an eight-year-old, my brother and I knew enough of the rules to play for matchsticks or candy (I particularly enjoyed beating him in those candy games, even though I’d have to give it back to him after he complained to our mother) and, when we moved into playing for pennies, the competition became even more intense. Through high school and college, poker was always there for a nice respite, a reward for a particularly difficult week, or just a chance to hang out with the guys (and the girls, after reaching college).
In my adult life, the game of poker meant even more to me. My time in the United States Marine Corps expanded my poker play into larger games where pennies weren’t used. In their place now were chips that represented larger denominations of currency. There were those times during exercises that the cards would come out and draw my fellow Marines and me into a further esprit de corps than we had simply from being “Devil Dogs.” There were also the stories told by the Gunnys and Master Sergeants during these sessions about the games they had played during the Vietnam War, where the game relieved their stresses from a literal Hell on Earth.
While I moved on after the military into the world of radio broadcasting, poker was still a constant in my life. Then, in 2004, it became even more a part of my being when I began my life as a poker journalist (I prefer poker “journalist” than “writer” simply because I believe there is a level of quality and responsibility [read: sometimes you need to keep your mouth shut] expected out of a “journalist”) and online poker became a part of the play.
Then, darkness fell upon the land, or at least the United States. The events of “Black Friday” essentially destroyed the online poker scene in the U. S. and, as a result, took away something that had been a great part of my life prior to its departure. In the U.S., online poker is currently only legal and regulated in Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware; and I don’t live in any of those states.
There are many reasons that I miss the game today (sure, I know there are real money sites for online poker out there I can play at, but I am more about how do I get my winnings off the sites rather than how do I deposit money to my account; it’s easy to get the cash on these U. S.-facing sites, but just try to get the money off after a win), but these are my top six (in no particular order) that I am sure others might feel:
During the halcyon days of 2004-2008, if you knew anything about the game of poker, you could do pretty well in the online game. Whether you were sitting down in a cash game or getting into a tournament, the bulk of your online opponents had little to no idea of how to really play the game of poker. As such, it was the proverbial “kid in the candy store” syndrome for those who had an inkling of how to maximize their profits.
Not only was I writing about a game that I still love to this day, I was getting paid for it and probably playing more than ever before. That “play” was resulting in a little extra bonus on top of my pay from writing. It’s always nice when something you enjoy is able to pad your bank account a bit. With online poker, that was the reality that thousands – not pros mind you, but folks who just picked up some extra cash – found in the game.
In those early days of online poker, it was still a communal game. There were jokes flying around the virtual table via the chat box and, for the most part, the conversation was enjoyable. Sure, every once in a while you’d have the guy (or occasional woman) who had taken one beat too many who fired off on someone, but that usually calmed quickly either with the player’s departure or the intervention of the “Poker Room Manager” (moderator). Hell, the same thing could happen in a live poker setting and we live with it; so why not online?
By 2011 that camaraderie became virtually nonexistent. Nowadays, the chat box is an afterthought as players study their HUDs, multi-table the games, jam out to their music, answer e-mails and basically don’t bother to engage with their tables at all. This is one of the trends that is unfortunately making inroads to the live game and I certainly hope that it doesn’t take full effect. Poker is, by nature, a social game and removing that social element makes it more of a robotic operation than an enjoyable pastime.
Part of the charm of playing online poker was the factor that you weren’t just playing with people in your inner circle. That “home game” that was tossed together with the people you worked with or at the local casino or card room suddenly expanded into a truly international arena. You could just as likely be playing against someone in Europe, Australia, South or Central America, or Asia as be playing against someone in the same city you were located in.
Poker is one of those games that allows people to have a commonality regardless of location. The rules are the same here as they are for the most part in Melbourne, Berlin, Mexico City, or Tokyo. The object of the game is the same worldwide: to make the best decisions possible. When we can come together over a game, it allows people to reach out to learn about each other and to realize that we are more similar than different.
Online poker, through the utilization of the satellite system that became popular in live poker rooms, offered the chance to get into major tournaments through spending what one might spend on a trip to the grocery store instead of hundreds of dollars. Everyone involved in our great game knows the story of Chris Moneymaker, who parlayed a $39 satellite on PokerStars into a $2.5 million windfall at the 2003 World Series of Poker Championship Event. While that is the epitome of the satellite system, there have probably been hundreds of players who have similar stories (maybe not the big win, but the massive ROI) that could be told.
Without online poker in the U. S., anyone who wants to get into a major poker tournament now has to go the traditional route of either buying directly into the tournament or taking the risk, heading to the venue and playing through the satellite feeders not knowing whether they will reach their goal. It is a lot easier to have someone on your property when they know they’ve already got their seat sewn up rather than scrapping to get that seat.
Back in the day, there were several nights that, instead of going out to a local nightclub or movie theater and spending way more money than I should, I decided to stay home and play some poker. Whether it was a micro stakes cash game or a $5 or $10 tournament, I got entertainment out of sitting around the virtual felt and, yes, even sometimes made some money. Add in the cost of a six-pack (or, if it was payday, a bottle of Jack Daniels) and it was a rather cheap evening of entertainment for myself.
With the departure of online poker, that option has been removed from the equation. That may sound like doom and gloom, but it’s given me the opportunity to expand into other areas. That same $5 that once went to the online tournament now may go to renting a movie on demand or towards my Netflix or Hulu bill. If and when I’m once again able to play online poker on a licensed, regulated site where I live, it is going to have some competition from some of the new entertainment options that I’ve discovered since 2011.
Many years ago, singer Jimmy Buffett crafted a song called “The Peanut Butter Conspiracy.” In a nutshell, the song was about how – in the days when he had little money – he and his friends would go to the local grocery store and steal their dinner. By the end of the song, Buffett has reached his level of success but, fearing a return to those days, sings:
Losing online poker has felt like something along those lines. Without online poker, there isn’t a way for me to be able to keep “my touch” so that I can still be in practice when I step into a real game or a casino. In the days when online poker was around, there was plenty of opportunity to keep my game sharp. Nowadays, not so much.
But I still wish online poker was around like the “good ol’ days”…
Poker news sites have begun a metamorphosis. Many of them are looking more like daily fantasy sports media outlets every day. And if they’re not careful, this change will backfire in the long run, especially for the poker base.
Image credit: spinandgostrategy.com
When poker players take up a new hobby, the poker media follows along for a minute or two. Whether it’s crazy prop bets or Open-Face Chinese, the media rightly documents the new craze. In the case of OFC, which is a form of poker, it wasn’t so much a hobby as a trend, and poker media outlets followed it from the beginning.
Many poker players are also fans of sports betting. Placing wagers on sports is wildly popular with many players who are also gamblers at heart. It’s never a surprise to see sports broadcasts – ranging from football to soccer, from tennis to golf – on the television screens in poker rooms or tournament areas.
And since gambling and poker are often linked, especially with regard to laws and developments regarding the legality of various games, poker media writes and shares articles about gambling due to poker implications. This is most common with the topic of online gambling, as some laws focus on poker only while most connect online poker and casino online offerings.
A look at a poker media site on any given day will subsequently offer a range of subject matter, though most of it ties back to poker in obvious ways.
Then came DFS. And it crept up on the poker industry with just a whisper.
Daily fantasy sports betting was popular with poker players for years and escalated with the predominance of companies like DraftKings and FanDuel in the market. Players enjoy the opportunity to combine wagering with favorite sports like football. And even former poker players like Jon Aguiar went to work for DraftKings.
So when DraftKings became a sponsor of the 2015 World Series of Poker, the mentions of DFS became more prominent. Not only were WSOP players drawn to the DraftKings lounge over the summer and inundated with branding at the Rio and at various websites, there was even a WSOP summer tournament called the $1,500 DraftKings 50/50 No Limit Hold’em.
DFS also made legitimate poker news recently when PokerStars and Full Tilt parent company Amaya purchased Victiv, a daily fantasy sports site that they quickly renamed StarsDraft. Amaya’s intention of expanding far beyond poker has never been a secret, and the company is moving forward with full force toward competing in the online casino and sports betting markets.
But somewhere between the summer of DraftKings and the news of StarsDraft, several poker media sites jumped the shark.
What was once an occasional DFS article became a weekly column with suggested fantasy team picks. What had been a smattering of DFS information became tutorials on how to participate.
On this random Monday, let’s take a look at some predominant poker media sites.
Site A’s homepage:
Last Thursday on Site A, six of the 11 stories posted were about fantasy sports. And Site A has always been focused on poker and card games, in all of its decades of publication. In related news, several of the top ad banners on various pages were purchased by fantasy sports companies.
Site B’s homepage:
This site remains focused on poker but has upped the number of DFS articles and obtained a fantasy sports company advertiser.
Site C’s homepage:
Though mostly a blog site, there have been more DFS articles of late, as five of the 13 stories on the main page are related to fantasy sports.
PokerListings, Poker News Daily, and PokerUpdate remain overwhelmingly dedicated to poker.
My point is that that the editors and others in charge of poker media sites might want to keep an eye on content so as not to run too far over the edge. A site with “card” or “poker” in its name should remember its focus and the audience that relies on it.
Perhaps, but what of poker? | Image credit: pokerfacenews.com
It is understandable that poker media sites, especially those based in the United States, have been hemorrhaging money since Black Friday. The loss of so much advertising from global poker sites, combined with the frustratingly slow progress of online poker in America that hinders advertising from that industry, has hurt poker media tremendously. BLUFF even shut down over the summer. So when DFS companies knock on the door with advertising money, of course they’re going to open the door.
Just destroyed all my televisions & locked myself in a dark closet. Your move, Draft Kings marketing department.
— Brad Willis (@BradWillis) September 15, 2015
However, that advertising is slowly beginning to compromise the content of the sites. As evidenced above, audiences are beginning to find more DFS articles than poker content, and the majority of poker fans are going to lose interest. Some revel in the DFS coverage, but many readers will be lost, and no new ones will take their places.
Since the legality of fantasy sports betting is in the midst of great debate at the moment, and its future in the United States market is dubious, it may not be a smart decision to alienate poker fans for DFS money. In the short term, it will benefit the poker media. In the long term, however, poker may be left with a chip and a chair when DFS fades from the limelight.
When choosing an online poker room, many people understandably go for a time-tested site with financial stability. Sometimes, however, you may also feel like trying something fresh, especially when the room is part of a popular network. Iron Poker, a poker room new to the business, is nothing but ambitious. The site began operating in 2014. Iron Poker debuted in July 2015.
Iron Poker is part of the iPoker network. iPoker is currently ranked world number 4 on the online poker traffic leaderboard, ahead of operators such as Winamax, PartyPoker, and FullTilt. Right now, the network hosts 28 skins around the world. Adding a site with this potential helps expand the world´s biggest online poker network.
This means that even though it’s a new online poker site, new sign ups have access to a huge player pool, interacting with poker aficionados from all corners of the world. Iron Poker offers action-filled cash games, especially in the popular No Limit Texas Hold’em and Omaha disciplines. Responding to the very trendy PokerStars Spin ‘n Go’s, the site offers Twister Sit & Go Tourneys. Twisters are hyper-turbo 3-player games with the possibility of winning as much as €10,000. Buy-ins to these games are for a minimum of €10 and they’re played in “winner take all” formats. Of course, there is much more to Iron Poker than cash games and Twister Sit & Gos. Weekly and daily schedules list a number of different tournaments challenging every type of player and fitting any bankroll.
Those who have played on the iPoker network in the past might wonder about the room’s software. This is of no real concern though as Iron Poker simply adopted established software, similar to what’s used by Titan Poker. The revitalized version ensures the best possible player experience, free from software hiccups and significant game disruptions.
As many online poker rooms tend to do, Iron Poker offers new signups some valuable freebies. For starters, you’ll get a first deposit bonus of 200% up to €1,500. You qualify for additional bonuses with additional deposits, plus even more rewards with frequent play. For instance, with every 400 points earned at the Iron Poker tables, you will automatically receive a €5 bonus. There are tokens to freerolls up for grabs, plus free entry to $10k Monthly Bonanza tourney.
Serious online grinders can earn even more by entering the Iron VIP Club, where you climb the VIP levels to give you a better points to cash conversion ratio. You can also measure your skill & experience in the $6,000 Gladiators point race, which is open exclusively to Iron Poker players.
As at other iPoker network rooms, depositing to Iron Poker is easy and foolproof, with a number of convenient payment methods at your displosal, including credit and debit cards, different e-Wallets, including NETELLER, and more. If you’re Canadian, you might want to try Citadel’s Instant Banking option, while Germans may wish to avail themselves of the SOFORT payment method.
With the ongoing issues of unregulated markets and “grey zones” as far as online poker is concerned, Iron Poker is a good solution for players in Canada, Australia, and Germany. It offers sustainable traffic, high-quality service, reliable software, and a fun and enjoyable online poker experience. Not much else to say except for: see you at the tables!
I recently wrote that, despite some flaws, Cards is one of the most engrossing poker novels you’ll read. In an email interview this week, I asked the author, Jonathan Maxwell, about his own impressions of the book, which he considers to be his “proud masterpiece.” We discussed the novel—now 10 years old—the richness of pre-Internet poker culture, and his chow/lab mix Kitkat.
“Discussing Cards 10 years after its release is a therapeutic experience for me,” Maxwell told me. “It allows me to express and thereby expel my disappointment with its lack of commercial success. In short, it was very well enjoyed by those who did read it, but read by so few that it passed largely unrecognized.”
Why did you choose to set the book in Los Angeles, Paris, Atlantic City, and Las Vegas?
I chose these locations for two reasons. Firstly, much of my literary aim was to illustrate a comprehensive display of poker culture. Such an illustration would be incomplete without these three American poker hubs. Paris is included as a representation of international poker—how different yet the same the game is outside an American’s native society.
Secondly, all good fiction is really just creative non-fiction—the core experiences are authentic, it’s just the details that are improvised. These four discussed cities comprise most all of my poker career. Much of the Parisian details are historical. I had no reason or desire to create something from whole cloth.
How does your protagonist, Michael Jameson, seem to you now?
Michael “Mic” Jameson was the most interesting protagonist I could create. Was I to write about a subdued mysterious champion? Can you think of anything more boring and phony? Mic Jameson’s tone is consummately unapologetic. This manifests great strength. He is also offensive and witty, which manifests pain and intelligence. The result is a page-one character that is immediately both interesting and real, so obviously the reader wants more. This is the consequence of premeditated literary effort.
Mic’s technical poker and bankroll management reflected what I though Mic would do at each moment. Sometimes I concluded he would play incorrectly, and sometimes I needed him to play incorrectly to advance the story. As a matter of fact, it hurt to write some of his incorrect play. A writer becomes affectionate towards his characters, especially when a character contains significant representation of the author.
How much of Mic Jameson is Jonathan Maxwell?
I’d say about 40 percent. Mic represents my poker playing style, erratic emotions, personal confidence, and, most importantly, my disillusionment with mainstream society. We differ in that I’m an empathetic and gentle guy. Mic is capable of kindness, and he is clearly vulnerable and honest, but his disillusionment has turned him ugly so that he no longer cares to temper his emotional pain, but instead manifests it, often comically, both inwardly and outwardly. I thought this to be the most interesting choice.
Unlike most poker media, which favor big pots and bigger drama, Cards foregrounds the monotonous, repetitive nature of the grind. It includes many hands that seem trivial or inconsequential. Why did you emphasize this aspect of the poker experience?
I emphasized the monotonous aspect of poker because monotony is the dominant experience of “professional” poker. The trivial, inconsequential hands are absolutely the most relevant to an authentic poker experience. The saturation of these hands throughout Cards is an essential part of the work—it is the authentic un-tearable fabric from which the tapestry is allowed to emerge.
As I said previously, the best fiction is improvised non-fiction. While I take no pleasure in criticizing, and I freely admit that I’m outstandingly poor at spelling and punctuation (though I flat-out disagree with many punctuation rules and norms,) I must admit that I simply cannot stomach most poker fiction because it is painfully phony. The reason for this is that the authors are writing for their audience. A writer should never write for an audience. He should only write for himself. That is the first requisite of quality writing.
Do you have any favorite passages or scenes from the novel?
This passage is a favorite of mine:
“Forty-eight minutes later I flop two pair with A-J to win my first pot. As I stack the chips, the drunk blonde who replaced boring guy next to me orders another cocktail. She tells me I have nice skin, and I tell her it’s because I don’t get any sun, and that I never use soap because it strips the body’s necessary layer of oil, and imbalances pH levels. She says she’s an optometrist presently on call. Thirty-nine years old, her cute face is marred with crooked teeth and smeared lipstick. In purple stonewashed jeans squeezes a marginally slim body. I’m finding her more attractive than I should. She’s raising the pots almost every hand, and winning too many of them. I toss my cards and begin thinking seriously if I’m gonna lay this woman. The car ride to her place could get kinky, then we’d have nasty sex. But after I finished I’d look over and feel disgusting, then need to be nice for twenty-five minutes. Later she might try to find me to show her friend. Still, I bet sex with the drunk optometrist would be worth it. She’d really let me have my way with her. I lean back to examine her feet. Well, that’s that.
I enjoy East Coast players more than California players, perhaps because I grew up in New York, but it’s more than that. I don’t know if it’s the harsher weather or the concrete of the many metropolises, but people from here care less about what the hell others think of them. They have more of what I call religion. They brawl with less provocation, listen more to illegal business proposals, complain less when luck pummels them to the ground. Look at this drunk optometrist: she could lose her whole career with her antics. I suppose that’s what was sexy about her. Eastern conference basketball teams are tougher this way as well. They grind with defense and win with 78 points. I think it all goes back to the weather.”
The novel contains scattered references to Zen, Herman Hesse, and Eastern spirituality. How do you think Mic’s spiritual journey informs the novel as a whole?
Good question. Mic’s spiritual journey is the core of the story. The essence of this story could be embedded in any vocational persona—a baker, a soldier, a real-estate agent. It is the story of a man understanding, and finally accepting his unconscious rejection of mainstream societal definitions of value and success, and embracing definitions he creates for himself. Mic never achieves full understanding, but he understands enough that he gains a desperately needed peace. Though this brutal and relentless poker world has cost him his friends, family, and beloved girlfriend, its spirituality is what he needs most, so inside it he remains.
You’ve mentioned that you can’t think of any topic as rich as pre-Internet poker culture. Why?
Pre-Internet poker culture’s richness derived from its consummate lack of social filter. In the card halls, at the tables existed social exchange as intoxicatingly fresh as mountain air. People didn’t smile if they didn’t want to. A guy needled you if he felt the whim. Another empathized only because he felt the whim. No one sold anything except bluffs, and they directly paid you premium for the opportunity. Thus, each utterance was of very high expressive quality—pure emotional sharing. I’ve never experienced such social purity anywhere else.
Then, Internet poker arrived along with the movie “Rounders.” Suddenly was spawned a plethora of revenue streams—online and TV advertisements, poker shows, poker products, poker personas. Now players and the surrounding culture had financial reason to infect poker with the ubiquitous saccharine social dishonesty we call political correctness. Even still, present poker culture is relatively one of the most pure social settings I can suggest.
By the way, let me take a moment to state that during these years it is interesting how rapidly did evolve the average player’s skill level. My friends, poker used to be a lot easier. Few players read technical books. People weren’t aggressive. You could roll the average table. Nowadays you can rarely maintain such play, especially in tournaments. This average increase in skill has made the luck factor more pronounced.
What has poker taught you about life?
Poker has a lot of lessons to teach, such as the necessity of patience, the rewards of discipline, the rewards of technical study, the requisites of courage and conviction. For me, the main lesson of life reflected in poker is that fairness is not a dominant quality. The fact that you play badly or well will often not translate to losing or winning. In both poker and life the amount of luck is literally overwhelming. Thus, to be wise is to be humble—if you are doing well, without exception, it always means at least you are presently lucky, and your luck can change immediately.
The back cover of Cards includes a picture of you with a black dog. Why did you choose this picture? Is your dog still alive?
That makes me happy that you asked about her. That was my love-of-a-lifetime chow/lab Kitkat. I’ve had two serious girlfriends and Kitkat, and the peace and joy Kitkat brought me was miles ahead of the other two. She lived a fantastic life until March 2013 when I euthanized her a month before her sixteenth birthday.
I chose this picture for three reasons. Firstly, the book was self-published, so I took the privilege of simply putting the thing I loved most on the back. Secondly, the warm picture of the author kissing his dog provides a helpful softness to the largely abrasive literary style. Finally, because typical humans are obsessed with their egos, I worried that displaying a direct picture of me would lead people to believe the point of the production was pride, and it truly wasn’t. It was the literature itself.
You spend most of your time teaching chess to children. What else are you up to these days? Do you have any plans of returning to poker?
I live a wonderfully boring life, and I have no intention of screwing it up with poker. I teach kids chess most school-days, and study chess at night in my mountain cabin. And I play chess tournaments. That’s really all I do. I don’t even own a TV set. When I’m sick of chess I surf YouTube. Theoretically I’d like a wife, but I’m too financially poor for most, and I have small tolerance for drama. She’d also probably need to be a chess player, but that’s negotiable.
In the last few years I’ve played an occasional poker session purely with the goal of making some desperate money, and invariably lost.
Here is an honest account of my last poker hand: It was June 2015. I’m in late position with Q-2 off-suit. One middle position very weak player limps. I make it four times the blind. Only the big blind and the middle guy call. The flop comes a beautiful 5-8-8 with a club draw. The first guy checks, now the second guy makes a transparent 1/4-the-pot tester bet, so I raise twice his amount. The blind folds. Middle guy calls. The turn is a perfect red 3. He checks, I bet about 4/5 the pot. He thinks for a long time then calls. The river hits a red king which actually I liked a lot, but he suddenly lets out a huge moan, so I know I’m doomed, but I just can’t understand what the hell he could have hit, and also I have about 1/10 of my stack left, and at 41 years old I’m just too old to play with such little chips, so I fire all-in. He snap calls and shows 4-7 of diamonds—he hit runner-runner flush.
“All-in.” I thrust my stacks forward. Quickly the guy replies:
“I call.” I flip over my set. The guy identifies it. Strained with laughter, I tilt down. The guy enters the casino excited to play a bit of honest poker, he patiently watches me bluff all sorts of bullshit, then when his big hand arrives I ruin him with a completely hidden twenty-two to one shot. Chuckles bounce me on the seat. He’s frozen, still staring at the board. I pull in the chips with my head tilted as far as possible. I’m an awful human being.”
Jonathan Maxwell’s Cards lacks interesting characters, has no plot outside poker, revels in its own offensiveness, and is riddled with typos. It’s also one of the most engrossing poker novels you’ll read.
The action follows Mike Jameson, a 28-year-old poker pro who’s rejected everything—family, friends, romance, a career—in favor of the felt. Chasing ever-steeper swings, he travels to Los Angeles for limit Hold’em, Paris for pot-limit, and Las Vegas for no-limit.
The strength of this obscure little book is its realism. Unlike most poker media, which favor big pots and bigger drama, Cards shows what grinding poker is really like:
Next hand: 2-3 offsuit. I throw it away.
Next hand: 7-9 offsuit. I toss it. I feel fine. I can fold all night.
Next hand: 4-4. Alright, I slide in three chips. The flop hits J-10-6. I fold. The turn comes a 4 which pisses me off a little. Now I delve into a long series of calculations to see if, including all the implied odds, it pays to call one flop bet with a low pocket pair. I soon lose track, then dismiss the idea as absurd.
Next hand: 7-5. Toss.
Under the gun I receive AK-offsuit in middle position. I raise. At these lower limits I usually don’t raise with A-K because I need to hit a pair to win, but when I’m running good I build a pot. Three players call. The flop comes 4-2-J. I bet, call, call, call. On the turn arrives my beautiful ace. Two players call to the showdown and lose. I rise and ask the dealer to send my food to the 6-12 table. Ahh, if poker was always so easy.
Moving up in the world. The floorperson places me in a seat one. I post the big blind, the dealer changes my chips. I peel the corners of my first hand: 3-5. No raises. The flop comes 9-5-8. I check. It’s bet, then raised. I might have called the single bet.
Small blind: 9-3. Fold.
Next hand on the button: K-4. I call. The flop comes Q-J-J. I fold to a bet. 6-12 play is a little better than 3-6. At 3-6 everyone would have checked that flop.
Next hand: 6-8.
J-6.
7-9 spades. I call. The flop comes Q-9-5 with a diamond draw. I fold. No problem. This is the discipline.
Hand after hand after hand after hand after hand. The first-person narrative puts us “inside” Mike’s head, forcing us to live this monotony and repetition. We also cultivate an important poker skill: empathy.
Hold on. Why is empathy important at the poker table?
Because it can help us to avoid what psychologists call “projection”: the tendency to assign our own emotions or attitudes to others. In poker, bluffers often believe that others will bluff them; trappers suspect monsters under the bed; creative players expect similar creativity from their opponents. This is a mistake.
Want to improve your poker game or your people skills? Try reading good fiction. By meeting a character in a piece of fiction, you can imagine yourself being, not just somewhere else, but someone else.
Let’s be clear. Cards isn’t Great Lit. But it gives us an exceptional window into the mind of a flawed grinder. Mike is skilled but undisciplined. He makes smart folds, bold bluffs, and lots of mistakes—all while mocking those around him. “I despise the people at these lower limits,” he says, “thinking they know what’s going on, thinking they’ll win, thinking they’re anything but wastes of space on planet Earth.” Small-stakes players are, to him, “pea minds” whose lives have no value beyond their money. Sounds like Mike might benefit from some empathy…
Mike has abandoned everything—and everyone—for the bittersweet allure of cards, and he eventually wonders:
“Am I happy with no finances, family, future? If I am then why do I complain? If I am not then why don’t I change? I’ve been strong enough to resist society. Am I too weak to resist a silly game or am I so strong that I martyr myself with it? Without answers I know no other way than to attack with chips, chase flashes of opportunity through the night, through the morning, through the night again.”
Apart from scattered references to Zen and Hermann Hesse—and some wacky advice from Mike’s mentor and personal ATM, Ryan—these existential musings don’t go anywhere.
And that’s OK. Cards doesn’t deliver wisdom, but rather an authentic poker experience. As Maxwell himself put it, “Poker is very mentally draining. If you really want to make the best play every time, you really have to be in shape. And I’m not in shape anymore, I’m retired, but it was one hell of a ride. In my book you can experience that for yourself.”
Enjoy the trip.
Poker is inextricably wound up with the craft of storytelling.
The way you present yourself at the table is a story; the amount of chips you toss into the pot is a story; the reason you play the game is a story. It could be that you remember the rush you got the first time you played poker in Las Vegas. Or maybe, you look forward to the release that comes with that first soft “hissss” of a cold beer as you unwind with your buddies at a home game after a tough work-week.
But today, whether you are sitting down at a poker table at a casino, in a basement, or on the Internet, the most likely scenario is that the story you are telling didn’t begin as your story. The odds are that you are in fact a single author continuing to write a tome spanning over a decade now, and enjoying contributions that span the four corners of the globe. And that book – that story of modern poker – begins with a single word: “Moneymaker”.
Checking the health of poker Image credit: Mirror.co.uk
Is it some inside joke of the poker gods that those two words, “money” and “maker”, would combine to be the bedrock of the resurgence of poker into the mainstream? I’ll leave that question to the theologians. All I know is that it’s true.
When Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker Main Event, he provided the prologue. After that, PokerStars published the first edition of the book. The story started with personalities; the story will not end until there are no personalities left to tell it. And contrary to what so many in the poker community may be saying, there are still plenty of amazing personalities in poker that add pages every day.
I have a friend who frequents Canadian online casinos because he caught the Daniel Negreanu PokerStars bug after watching a casino game provide the Canadian legend with the life he had always dreamed of. But even though poker can only produce so many Daniel Negreanus, there is no limit to the number and variety of compelling stories that it can tell.
The “Moneymaker Effect” has now stormed social media channels. PokerStars-sponsored Jason Somerville’s Twitch Poker phenomenon is the new gold standard in poker entertainment. Other “Twitch personalities” such as Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier and Jamie Staples also enjoy near-celebrity status thanks to poker.
Indeed, a new generation of poker personalities is showing how poker can be a transformative force in a person’s life and free them to live on their own terms… and they don’t even need to leave the comfort of their homes to ride that wave.
Social media is just the beginning. The power of personality in poker is branching out. PokerStars’ Neymar Jr. acquisition this year proved that the stories the game has to tell have appeal not just to a small subset of gamblers and dreamers, but to the unmatched global audience for sports.
Image credit: Calvinayre.com
This shouldn’t be a surprise. Poker and sports have a natural synergy simply because there is no larger venue for storytelling than professional sports. Iconic sports moments are burned into collective consciousness as a source of pride, joy, and hope. Fans, cities, and nations give their sports stories titles like “The Miracle On Ice”, “The Catch”, or (in an extreme, media-hyped example) “The Decision”.
With the work of taking the game out of the cultural shadows largely complete, fans of poker can look forward to the relationship between the game and other cultural storytelling vehicles to become more and more profound as time goes on. It’s no accident that Alex Dreyfus wants to “sportify” poker.
Poker has had a rough few years, but with every article written asking if the game’s time has passed, we only reinforce the reality that the opposite is true.
Poker evolves. It started on steamboats in the aristocratic culture of the American South, moved to the wilds of the American West, took a pit stop in New Jersey via Hollywood dramatization, and has now found its way onto the Internet and into every corner of the world.
Poker isn’t just a card game. It’s a book, writ-large where you, too, can pick up your pen and seamlessly scribble a few lines of your own story within. It’s the beer with friends; the miracle river card; the dream to be the best in the world at something. The idea of what poker is is as varied as the stories of the individuals telling it.
And that’s why it will never die. It’s an infinite loop of self-enforcing storytelling that has already adapted to new cultural realities, new challenges, and new opportunities.