High Stakes by Sam Skolnik

Author:Sam Skolnik
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Beacon Press
Published: 2011-05-05T04:00:00+00:00

It would be difficult to lump in some of today’s top professionals with Dalla’s lot of reprobates. A couple immediately come to mind, like Erik Seidel, who holds eight World Series of Poker bracelets. A native New Yorker with a studious air, Seidel, fifty-one, dropped out of Brooklyn College to become a professional backgammon player. He drifted toward poker but took a hiatus from the wear and tear of professional gambling in 1985 to become a stockbroker, and held on through the stock market crash two years later before returning to poker. He’s become one of the most consistent top tournament players—and by all accounts, manages his money successfully and lives a quiet family life in Las Vegas outside the poker room.

And then there’s Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, probably known to more folks outside the poker universe than Seidel, with his distinctive Western duds, black cowboy hat, and long hair. Like Seidel, Ferguson, a Californian with a doctorate in computer science, concentrates on tournaments as opposed to cash games and takes a thoughtful and serious approach to the game. The winner of the 2000 World Series main event also likewise appears to maintain a full life outside of poker.

That said, both Seidel and Ferguson have a real advantage in being able to maintain their tournament bankrolls. They’re both members of Team Full Tilt, the popular online poker site. Though Full Tilt’s sponsorship policies with individual players aren’t publicly known—a spokeswoman declined comment, saying the company was private—it is widely believed in the poker community that the tournament buy-ins for the fourteen players lucky enough to be team members are paid for by the site, and that they own a small-percentage stake in the company. That’s a measure of financial security that so many pokers players, including those who claim and aspire to be real professionals, don’t have.

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