The Scoop -- Phil Gordon

Phil Gordon has always been on the fast track. He graduated from college at the age of 20, and was working for the government at an artificial-intelligence company at 21. He then went to work for NETSYS Technologies, which was sold to Cisco Systems for $95 million. Since then, he’s been a highly successful tournament player and won a World Poker Tour title in 2004 at the Bay 101 Shooting Stars event. He also founded the charity initiative Bad Beat on Cancer.

Phil Gordon: I think success in different arenas breeds contempt.

Adam Schoenfeld: Even with our tiny notoriety, we have haters.

PG: You have haters? Who could hate you guys? You are the most likable guys in poker.

Diego Cordovez: Adam has a strong group of haters who follow him around.

PG: Well, you [Adam] are an overrated donkey.

DC: Every time Adam appears on ESPN, their resentment doubles.

AS: But one thing I pride myself on is that I will go right back at people on the chat on Full Tilt, but only if they are rude. I’ll talk to all of my many fans, as well.

PG: Here’s the thing that I don’t understand about the forums. You know, I think I’ve done pretty well by the world of poker. I’ve encouraged a lot of people who might not have otherwise played the game to play the game, and most are going to be donkeys. I’ve written three pretty decent books. I’ve started a charity effort that’s raised $2.5 million over the last six years. Yet, all they want to do is talk about how I’m an overrated donkey. It bugged me for quite a while, until my wife banned me from reading the forums.

AS: Right, that’s healthier.

PG: But, the other thing that I don’t understand is how you can be an overrated donkey and win $2.5 million in poker tournaments and not even play that much. It’s not like I’m playing full time or anything. I haven’t played a World Poker Tour tournament in five years.

DC: Right. But the other thing that I don’t get is, even if you were an overrated donkey, why would people want to spend their time criticizing you? We have people who are dishonest, who are bad actors at the table, even guys who just celebrate too much; point a finger at them. People look at Adam and ask, “What’s he done? How much has he won? Why’s he on TV?” How does that make you a bad person?

PG: It’s all about being in the right place at the right time. There’s a great book, Gladwell’s Outliers, that I think is extremely indicative of what’s happened in the world of poker. I got into poker at the right time. I happened to have success at the right time. It’s not like I’m some world-beater, and I’ve never pretended to be one of the best players in the world. You don’t see me playing in the $100-$200 cash games on Full Tilt; I know what my limitations are. I know that I’m not a spectacular cash-game player. I know that I’m a winning tournament player. I’ve never had a losing year, and I’ve been playing poker at a pretty serious level for 10 years. There are not a lot of players who can say that, I would imagine. The thing is, in Outliers, [it says] Bill Gates is rich, in large part because of where he was born and the opportunities he’s had, coming along at exactly the right time, with exactly the right kind of mentorship available to him. My case in poker is really no different.