Bill Edler had been here before. Here happened to be Barcelona, Spain, where the
World Poker Tour inaugural
Spanish Championship was under way and had brought him back to a place he knows well. What better place to catch up with Edler and talk about his past, present, and future than in a country that is a part of his past?
Using That Degree Wisely
Edler's first trip to Barcelona took place while he was enrolled in law school at the University of California, Berkeley. He decided to spend a semester abroad, and that took him to Spain. Law school is hard enough in English, but having to learn
how to read your law textbooks in Spanish (as Edler did) makes it almost impossible. There wasn't much time for poker, admitted Edler. But when he returned to California, poker took ahold of him for good. "On the day of graduation, instead of going to the ceremony, I played, and ended up having my biggest win. I remember it was $4,500, which I thought was like a million dollars," said Edler.
Edler knew by the end of law school that he wouldn't practice law for a day in his life. He had made his choice, or maybe it was the game that chose him. He went to work at San Pablo Casino in the San Francisco Bay Area as a prop player. A few months into the proposition, he received an abnormal promotion. "The poker room manager quit and I made the unusual jump from prop to poker room manager," said Edler. He then hired a young, unknown poker player named Erick Lindgren as one of his prop players. Edler laughed as he said, "I was worried about Erick Lindgren being able to beat a $3-$6 hold'em game, which goes to show what kind of judge of talent I am."
Edler enjoyed the gig, but he knew that it wasn't really for him. He knew that his real talent was on the felt. "I started to have some success in tournaments, so I thought I'd give [the tournament circuit] a try, since it really fits my personality. I love to travel, and I love the competition," he said. While he doesn't credit his law degree specifically for any success that he has had in the poker world, he does acknowledge that law school taught him how to think logically and analytically - and poker is all about logical thought. "You try to put someone on a hand and then kind of decide how to play your hand accordingly; that's a matter of logic," he stated. "Some people say there's math in poker, and of course there is, but it's kind of elementary. It's the logic that's not elementary. It's the logical mind that makes an Erick Lindgren a great player versus another guy who could be better at math."
Edler is centered on the human side of the game. "To me, poker is a real people game, and of course I'm not the first to say it, but I just want to reiterate how true that is. I think it's underrated how true that is. People say it, paying lip service to it; any good player plays a little differently against player A than against player B. In my opinion, you have to play dramatically different poker against some people than against others." Edler stressed the freedom of playing style and strategy that this allows you in different situations, a freedom that is not present in other forms of competition. "Shaquille O'Neal has to be a power player, he can't be a finesse player, and Dwyane Wade the opposite, but in poker, I can choose whatever is appropriate for a given hand or a given table. I can be a rock today … and a maniac the next. You should be able to play differently against different people."
Driven by Competition
Edler has a quick answer to whether the money or the titles are more important to him: "That's really easy. It's not even close; it's all about the titles. If your goal is to make money, you should play cash games, it's just that simple; it's easier to make a lot of money. So, why do I play tournaments? Some people love the fame and the celebrity of it, but I think the biggest reason is for the competition. I know that's why I play."
The tournaments in which Edler's aggressive, free-form style of play seems to have paid the largest dividends are shorthanded versions of the game. It is a form of poker that he has dominated this year, winning his first gold bracelet in the $5,000 sixhanded no-limit hold'em event this summer at the
World Series of Poker, good for more than $900,000, as well as taking home the title and $215,000 in the $10,000
Heads-Up Championship at Crystal Casino in May.
If Edler had his way, there wouldn't be a full ring game of hold'em on any tournament floor. "I think poker is more interesting with fewer people at the table. The more people there are, the more you have to sit around. Anyone will play more
aggressively and more imaginatively with fewer players. I prefer never to play another hand at a table with more than six people." Despite his attraction to aggression and games that foster it, Edler knows the importance of switching gears. It is due to this ability to change his style that Edler remains so hard to read. "There are different ways to be aggressive; I have kind of developed my own style. I think it would be difficult to put me in a category; I don't think people say, 'Bill plays like …' For certain people, you can say, 'He plays like a typical Internet kid; he pounds on the blinds,' or whatever. When I think it's right, I will go through stretches that way. I have kind of had my own way about it, and I'd rather just leave that a little cryptic," he said through a grin.
In it for the Long Haul
As we move into the final leg of the 2007 tournament season, Edler's collective stats for the year are impressive. He's won more than $2.6 million, has six cashes of more than $100,000, and has won three major titles, including his first
WSOP bracelet and a
World Poker Tour title, the
Gulf Coast Poker Championship. He sits in second place in the
Card Player Player of the Year (POY) race, and as someone who plays for titles, it is something he would like to win.
While sustained tournament success over the course of one year is impressive, Bill knows that it is not enough to define a player as truly great. "Winning three tournaments this year makes this a good year; we'll see if I can keep on doing that every year, but I think it's doubtful," he stated. "There is so much short-term luck in poker that what you've done over the course of many, many tournaments is something in which you should take a lot of pride. Therefore, it would be a source of pride to win; however, make no mistake about it, luck in tournament poker is so short-term, it's silly. I don't think that anyone who doesn't spend a lot of time on the tournament circuit could understand."
This was when the discourse on his success turned to his most recent win, which took place in Biloxi, Mississippi. In rallying from two $1,000 chips to win the
Gulf Coast Poker Championship, he pulled off the greatest comeback in
WPT history. The short version of Edler's comment read exactly like this in regard to his comeback from $2,000 to $130,000: "I closed my eyes and got lucky." He went on to say that he was especially proud of the way he played from $130,000 on, especially considering that he won the whole event, but will leave it up to others to rank its place in poker history. If Bill Edler were a quarterback, it's safe to say that he would be the one who would deflect all praise to his offensive linemen.
Nice Family Guys Finish First
Another thing that people would quickly notice if they spent some time with Edler is that he maintains a level of politeness that is just not seen much anymore. He refuses to walk through doors ahead of you, refuses to order at a restaurant before you, and refuses to let you pay for lunch. He is the consummate gentleman, and many people in the poker world have noticed. When I told him as much, he said, "First of all, that's very nice of you to say," to confirm my belief. "Second of all," he continued, "there are a lot of very nice people in poker." He went on to praise the young, up-and-coming generation of Internet players and their gentlemanly play; they are the future of the game, in his mind.
Edler plans to stay out on the road for the foreseeable future, in search of the best and the brightest competition. He enjoys traveling, but being the family man that he is, the real pain of being on the road lies in the fact that he is often away from the life he just began at home. "I'm newly married; I got married right before the Series in '06, and there's no way there is a more
happily married guy around. I love my wife and family," he said. He then quickly turned into the proud papa, his eyes lighting up when he spoke of his daughter. "I married into this perfect little child who is incredibly well-adjusted," he said. Edler says that his wife balances out his world that revolves around poker. "She has no interest in poker at all. When I made the final table of the sixhanded tournament, I got home pretty late at night. We were in bed together for a long time, talking about her day. It took literally an hour before she asked, 'Oh, how was your day?' I said, "Oh, honey, I'm happy to say I made the final table; I'm in the final six.' And her response was, 'Oh, finally.'" Edler said she did not attend the next day when he won his first bracelet, but not because she doesn't fully support him. "She doesn't ask me to go shopping with her, and I don't ask her to watch me play poker, and we're both happy with that."
Edler does find relief from being homesick on the road in his close-knit circle of poker friends, though. "It's wonderful to have your road dogs out there with you." He does admit that their post-tournament talk can become a game of one-upmanship. "The most interesting person is a good listener, right? But, sadly, if you go out with Gavin [Smith] and me afterward, it's like who can talk about more of their own hands. It's almost more cathartic than educational." He went on to say, "Erick and Gavin are two of my closest friends, and have been for a long time, since neither was known by anybody. It's fun to be on the ride with them; it makes the journey so sweet."
Edler will continue his poker journey, one that took him full circle back to Barcelona, and will continue to unfold on the tournament circuit. Time will tell if the journey will bring him a POY title this year, or any other. Nothing in poker is guaranteed, at least not until the final card is dealt. One thing is certain, though: Edler's poker journey will continue to lead him to the best competition in the world in order to prove his skills, and he will do so with his friends and family supporting him.
Bill Edler's Bros
Gavin Smith and Erick Lindgren are two of Bill Edler's closest friends. Here is what the two successful pros have to say about why Bill is so successful:
Erick Lindgren: He is the smartest man I've ever met. He's very humble, but the man's a genius. He's very, very intelligent and he refuses to lose, so anything he puts his mind to, he's going to be very, very good at.
Bill mixes it up, and it's his unpredictability that makes him so good. Nobody can put him on a hand. He's a little lunatic, a little tight, and very savvy, so nobody can figure him out.
Gavin Smith: He's a brilliant guy, for starters, and he's got a lot of card-reading abilities
and natural talent. And then when you couple that with the fact that he's running pretty hot right now, it's a pretty lethal combination.
Bill's pretty aggressive, but he's a very difficult person to read because he's just so quirky. He just does these really quirky, nutty things in the middle of hands, and I think that throws people off and makes them a little confused.
