All In with Phil
My friend Phil is like a lot of people I know: he loves to play Texas Hold ‘Em. But unlike everyone else, he doesn’t seem to lose. In fact, just this past weekend Phil beat 440 people in an online Hold ‘Em tourney to win $11,000. Phil took a few minutes to answer some questions about a phenomenon that shows no signs of slowing…
Why has poker become so cool?
It’s always been around but it’s TV that has made the game so popular and “cool”. It’s the only “sport” where the average chum can come out of nowhere and become a millionaire. All the publicity has caused it to lose it’s image of being a back-room type game, with shady characters, to an accepted, somewhat respectable game. It also has fed upon itself, meaning that as the game became more popular so did the celebrity presense in the game. Lots of celebrities have their home games and even play in the World Series tournaments. Nothing like being able to win a satellite or pay the $10,000 entry fee and sit next to a world champion and Ben Affleck.
What do you prefer: online betting or sitting at the table?
I have to say I prefer online betting because I haven’t learned the art of playing in real life. I just don’t have enough experience at it. I know all the probabilities but when I decide to bluff in real person I need to learn not to give it away. There are tells online, but that’s usually based on small things like how they’ve been playing and how long it take them to make decisions. I do want to get better at playing in person though, hopefully it won’t be too costly to learn.
What is your favorite thing about it?
I’ve always liked using my mind in trying to beat other people, hence why I played Magic: The Gathering back in high school and early college and excelled at that because it wasn’t necessarily the cards, it was outthinking my opponent. Now poker involves using your mind to beat others, math and money…a dangerous combination for me. So i’d have to say I just love competition of the mind.
How come you never seem to lose?
I wouldn’t go that far…I almost quit poker altogether after getting up about $4,000 total and then losing all patience and managing to lose $2500 in 2-3 months. I do manage to keep winning overall not playing that well because of the explosive growth of the game there’s always new fish to fry.
Do you only play poker or do you bet on sports, etc.?
Only poker because unlike other gambling you can act like you have better than 50% odds, if your good enough the house doesn’t always win in poker. I was fascinated w/ craps at one point mainly because the odds are so slim in the house’s favor. If I lived in Vegas i’d probably be broke of craps by now.
What are you going to do with the $11,000?
I’m probably gonna save at least $8,000 for our wedding/honeymoon next year or for a rainy day (like a new car) if we got lots of help for those expenses. I would like to use some of the money to try to make more.
Do you think programmers make better poker players?
Online poker players…yeah probably. It’s not necessarily programmers but just people who know math and can learn all the probabilities.
How much is luck and how much is skill?
It’s definitely a combination but it’s kinda like begin skillful enough to get lucky. Like in the tournament I just won I didn’t put all my chips at stake for about a 50% chance to win. If i had to jeopardize my entire stack then I wanted to be pretty sure i was at least a 2-1 favorite. It’s about knowing when to take chances.
How far are you going to take this?
It’d be awesome to take this as far as it could go, like win a satellite (smaller tournament to win entry to a bigger tournament) for the World Series of Poker in 2005. That would be the dream. But I just want to play more tournies and see if this was a fluke. If I can start making more Top 8s then I know I might be onto something and should learn how to play in person. Otherwise maybe it can continue to be a source of fun and supplemental income.