Interview With a Poker Player's Spouse - Part 1

Lately, I have been hearing a lot about the difficulties of being a poker player's spouse. Therefore, I thought it would be interesting to interview my wife, Andra Keller, about being a poker player's spouse. She had so much to say that I've turned the interview into a two-part column! I hope that reading it is as interesting and insightful to you as interviewing her was to me.



TK: When we first stated dating, what was your initial reaction to me being a poker player?



AK: I thought it was cool, and very interesting. I didn't think you could actually make a living playing poker, and I honestly didn't realize that this would be your chosen line of work in the long term. I figured that you would be doing this only until you found a real job. Coming from your academic background as a Stanford graduate, I thought that poker was always more of a hobby at first than a career.



TK: When did it first sink in that poker was more a career for me than just a hobby or pastime until I found a more traditional career?



AK: When you called my house after a night of playing poker and had made your first five-figure win. I could tell from the excitement in your voice that poker was much more than a hobby to you. I had realized after a year of our dating that for you, poker wasn't just gambling; it was about skill, and you were very good at it. I always had had tremendous faith in your poker abilities. I had started thinking that it might turn into a career, and that phone call was pretty much when I knew for certain. In many ways, it's the perfect job for you. You really would have a hard time getting up in the morning and getting to a job on time. Also, I don't think you would do very well in a conventional job unless you were your own boss. I have a feeling that most poker players would have a hard time with these things. I am very happy that you like to do something that you are good at, and can make a living at it. Most people don't have that luxury.



TK: So, it didn't bother you at all that I would be gambling for a living?



AK: Not at all, because as I said earlier, the way you played poker didn't feel like gambling to me. However, my family, particularly my mother, was pretty concerned with your choice of profession. She was very worried about the potential lack of a stable income, but she has come full circle since then.



TK: Do you like to play at all?



AK: No, not really. When we first started dating, I thought it was fun, but I got bored with it very fast. I found myself playing just about every hand as a result, and quickly lost interest in it. The fact that I was a very bad player didn't help, either. I figured I'd leave the poker up to you!



TK: Do you like to watch me play poker?



AK: I like to watch you play for a few minutes here and there when you are playing live, but when you're playing online, I don't generally like to watch because I feel like I'm a distraction. Very honestly, I find poker to be extremely boring to watch for long periods of time. When you see it on television, it can be exciting, but they show only the good hands, and it's usually only an hour long. In real life, tournaments are sometimes nine or more hours long. At tournaments, I do enjoy watching you play, but it is difficult because I can rarely get close enough to get a good feel for the action.



TK: So, how do you feel about traveling with me to tournaments?



AK: I used to like it a lot more. In the beginning, the travel was extremely exciting. It was all very new to me, and I was so happy to be joining you on those trips. But as more and more tournaments started popping up, it really took its toll on me. Poker is so huge now that there is a tournament almost every week. It's very hard for me to keep up. I still really like going to the main tournaments, but I prefer going to only one a month.



TK: Was there ever a point in time when you were proud to say that your husband was a poker player?



AK: Well, poker or not, I am proud of you. But, I was very proud of you when you won the $5,000 buy-in no-limit hold'em event at the 2004 World Series of Poker. I wasn't proud of you because of the money, but because you really worked hard for it. Winning a bracelet is something that you have dreamed about since you started playing. Not many players can say they have won a bracelet, and not many who have done so have done it at such a young age. I was so proud that you had accomplished something that you had been working toward for years, and that you had the validation that you needed to really embrace your talent and skill. I was just so happy that I was able to be there when you achieved that goal.

Thomas "Thunder" Keller is a 24-year-old professional poker player and one of poker's young and rising stars. He can often be found playing at UltimateBet.com under the name thunderkeller. To learn more about him, go to his website at www.thunderkeller.com. Feel free to contact him at [email protected]. Also, feel free to contact his wife concerning anything in this interview at [email protected].