#9 – Poker Baron owns, nuff said

The Poker Baron built his life around poker, from backroom card rooms to the bright lights of Vegas and the World Series of Poker, to owning and operating his own cardroom.  He talks about his experiences with us here at IWAN, and we are all the more jealous for it.

Poker Baron: Who is this?

Premise Guy: Premise Guy

Poker Baron: jokes jokes  lol

Premise Guy: lol.  yes, we’re 7th grade girls

Poker Baron: I was at my best when trying to smooth talk 7th grade girls but I was 13 then :(.

Premise Guy: Haha, that’s probably going in. Alright, first question: We were going to do this interview a couple days ago, but I got a message from you at 7 am saying you were just about to go to bed. What the hell are you up to at 7 on a Wednesday morning?

Poker Baron: I own a small poker room and had just finished up about 13 hours of playing live poker.  It makes it more interesting that I had to come home and play with my kiddos for a bit before I could get some sleep. Falling asleep in front of nickelodeon programs on the couch leads to really strange dreams.

Premise Guy: haha I bet.  So you OWN a poker room? I assume this is a much bigger deal than hosting home games for friends?

Poker Baron: Actually not much different where I live. The state that I live in has legalized gambling but kept in at fairly small stakes and what I own I compare to a lucrative lemonade stand all the time. The laws here really prevent big multi table card rooms and no open gambling casinos—only video poker/keno and live poker with a pot cap for each hand—it is sort of like an organized home game in some capacities.  I guess the only bigger deal is that you have to undergo a fairly substantial background check and license application process through the state Dept. of Justice which was designed to keep the criminal element out of state gambling; I actually think it works.

Premise Guy: Do you run it out of your home? Are you the only dealer? Give us a day in the life of a card room baron.

Poker Baron: No no, not my house! My wife would only stand for that for like 10 minutes.

Premise Guy: I only ask because I’ve been to a underground card room in NYC…that was in a guy’s bedroom)

Poker Baron: Oh I totally get it! I lease a space from a small casino. They’re pretty common around are; some of the casinos have live poker. The smart ones lease the poker games out because they need attention individually and only seem to work if they are owner operated and not managed by employees.

Poker Baron: Think of like a neighborhood lounge restaurant/bar with some gaming instead of pool tables and video games.

Premise Guy: Sounds pretty awesome actually.

Poker Baron: Much better than actually working. I love poker, never wanted to have a real job but don’t want to have to only play for a living while raising a family. This has allowed me the best of all worlds really

GinDrunk: I’d say. So how is the place laid out? Like, back of a strip club style?

Poker Baron: Hmm, not exactly but closer than you think really. There’s a small bar, small dining area, a lounge, a big space for 20 machines and then just a standard looking 2 table card room. I have about 8 employees I think who mostly just work part time and I must be a decent boss because none of them ever leave.  Pretty sure they have all been with me for over 5 years minimum, but I could be a little off on that.  I didn’t have to go there too often when my kids were really little—which was great.

Premise Guy: Sounds idyllic. So you’ve owned this card room for over 5 years, but you’ve been out of school a LITTLE long than that. You mentioned actually playing poker for a living—did you do anything else to make ends meet without depending on The Man?

Poker Baron: I was going to school, teaching and coaching tennis after failing to really make it playing in college, and working at a sporting goods store—typical poor college kid. A tennis player I knew owned a very popular one table card room in the back of a bar. He told me I should come down and play live poker. I did, I had a skill for it; eventually took a job dealing/managing his card game (this was mid 90’s). I spent all my time when not going to school (semester on, semester off style) dealing, traveling, and playing in Vegas, all around the west coast etc. I was no longer a poor college kid which was great and is a similar story to many internet kids but mine was done old school.

Premise Guy: Much more badass though.

Poker Baron: Poker was really good to me. I pretty much met all the big name poker players and played with 99% of them back in the day. It was so much different at the WSOP then I can’t even describe it. You would play a one table satellite and the lineup would be way “tougher” or full of name players I should say then a WPT final table, although they actually didn’t all play that great.

Poker Baron: I continued to work at this bar/card room and then in 2000 my friend/mentor/boss was tragically killed in a car wreck. He was in his early 40’s and left behind a family and 3 kids. It was super sad.

Premise Guy: Ugh, yes.

Poker Baron: I continued to run his poker game for his family for about a year and a half, but I was getting older and this was like a super popular college bar and I was planning on getting married—not the best environment for me anymore. But, for those 7 or so years I was there I really thought I was something. I got hit on all the time by drunken college girls, although it turned out it wasn’t me, just alcohol and proximity. Haven’t got hit on since I don’t think lol.

Premise Guy: A tough life I’m sure.

Poker Baron: It was really something.

Poker Baron: I had been turning down an offer from a local card room owner to come be his partner in the poker game he owned for a couple years, but in 2002 I took it as ownership and a more stable work environment seemed to be a smart move for me. I am still at the same place. I have managed to meet and become pretty good friends with a fairly wide range of poker people. For you 2+2′ers I name drop my boy Ray Zee as often as possible.

Premise Guy: Yes! I forgot he lives near you right? (for our readers, Ray Zee is arguably the original badass of poker)

Poker Baron: I was contemplating going to a pretty big private poker game one morning that is like an hour drive away from me. I called the guy running it and said, “what are you playing, what is the line up etc.”  He said, “like 10/25 no limit hold’em and omaha or something and then rattled off the names of some regulars and then Ray Zee. I laughed as I had just finished reading his split book.

Poker Baron: I go, “Yeah right, are Doyle and Chip Reese there too?

Premise Guy: Baha.

Poker Baron: He said no but this gray haired guy named ray was really there.  I was on my way—not sure why as he is a super tough player—I think he (Zee) loved that I knew who he was and we have been friends ever since and road tripped a couple of times together.

Premise Guy: Wow, you’re definitely the idol of essentially all poker players now.

Poker Baron: That is very doubtful. I am not really that great of player but I am cooler than most of them and I try not to let my A game differ from my C game, you know what I mean?

Premise Guy: Steady Eddie.

Poker Baron: I wasn’t always that steady. I played so far over my bankroll so often it is SCARY.

Premise Guy: Ok, that deserves a story.

Poker Baron: I did put my entire WSOP bankroll on the table one time to start a 25/50 PLO (pot limit Omaha) game with one old rich guy and another ok player within the first hour I was in Vegas.  This was the biggest game spread in those days—besides “the Big Game” which only had a handful of players—it was a pretty insane jump in stakes for me. I was supposed to be there 10 days too. The game quickly filled up with Devilfish and Sammy Farha and a couple other dudes like that and I got almost broke before a massive comeback and a small well deserved loss.

Premise Guy: Sounds a little stressful.

kinda like thissss

Poker Baron: Sort of just dumb, but I was young and it was exciting too. I never really got to make the big score in poker which is the only thing that is a bit disappointing I guess.