Poker Stories Podcast: Eric Baldwin

Poker Stories is a long-form audio series that features casual interviews with some of the game’s best players and personalities. Each episode highlights a well-known member of the poker world and dives deep into their favorite tales both on and off the felt.

Age: 35
From: Beaver Dam, Wisconsin
Poker Accomplishments: 2009 Card Player POY Winner, WSOP Bracelet Winner
Live Tournament Earnings: $5.4 Million
Best Live Tournament Score: 2010 WPT Championship – 2nd Place — $1,034,715

The Highlights

On the bizarre start to his 2009 Player of the Year campaign…

“I remember heading to the PCA (PokerStars Caribbean Adventure) in 2009… and for whatever reason this sticks out in my head, but I’m boarding the plane and I walk by Hevad Khan. And he says, ‘What’s up Baldy? Going for POY this year?’ Seriously, out of nowhere. It was totally out of the blue, something I had never thought of before. But that kind of planted the seed, even though I hadn’t had the success [previously] to go after something like that.”

On how he handled downswings after dominating on the tournament circuit…

“Everyone has some self-doubt during downswings, I would say, at least early in your career. But no, I mean, what else was I going to do? (laughing) There’s a quote from [the show] True Detective. At one point Cohle says, ‘Be careful what you get good at.’ And that’s true when it comes to poker, because here we are, 35 years old with no work experience. Be careful what you get good at.”

On the stupidest thing he bought with his winnings…

“A Mercedes E63. It was a lot of fun, but then you grow up and your priorities change. The maintenance costs are through the roof. It’s ridiculous. You tear through a set of tires in like 15,000 miles and then it’s a couple grand to replace them. Brake jobs are like $4,000 or $5,000. I’m pretty confident in saying that will go down as the stupidest thing I ever bought, but it was fun for a while. I mean, I had just won a million dollars and I felt like I was supposed to buy something.” ♠

You can check out the entirety of the interview in the audio player at the top of the page or download it directly to play on the go from iTunes or your favorite podcast app.

Catch up on past episodes featuring Daniel Negreanu, Nick Schulman, Barry Greenstein, Chris Moorman, Bryn Kenney, Mike Sexton, Brian Rast, Scott Seiver, Greg Raymer, Maria Ho and many more. If you like what you hear, be sure to subscribe to get the latest episodes automatically when they are released.