The Guy With No Leaks at All
By Lou Krieger and Arthur Reber

A few months ago we wrote about successful poker players who have "leaks," and tried to provide insight into how some astonishingly skilled players can make substantial scores in tournaments and cash games, and just flat-out throw that hard-earned money away. We found otherwise successful poker players who leaked money away at craps tables, racetracks, sportsbooks, and other money-sucking sites.

We thought we had a pretty good angle on the psychology of successful high-stakes leakers, and it turns out to be distinctly Shakespearean. In many of Shakespeare's tragedies, those traits that made characters successful and heroic were the very ones that ultimately brought about their downfall. And so it goes with many poker greats.

Immense egos, a disdain for money coupled with a love of action, and an ability to read opponents – all of which are keys to their poker success – are not only useless in other domains like sports betting and race horse handicapping, they actually undermine the effort.

So, with some sense of what it is that sends these hotshot poker pros out in search of a plumber, we thought we'd try to find a "leak-free" pro and see what makes him tick. The search was tricky. It wasn't that these guys don't exist. There are more than a few highly successful poker pros, but most of them wouldn't sit for an interview. The one who finally agreed did so on the condition that we keep his identity a secret. (This need for secrecy struck us as a trait that may even be more psychologically interesting than anything else. In a future column, we hope to look even more closely at why poker pros feel they need to stay under "deep cover." Is it a residue of the "old days," when scammers and con artists were common, or does it come from other, more reasonable, considerations? If you have any insight or opinions, please forward them to us in care of Card Player.)

Our hero – we'll call him Kevin – is a young male professional who plays all over the country, although he has a coastal base. Feel free to guess where he plays. He is around 30 years of age and recently married, and has been playing full time for about six years. He has a couple of years of college behind him, but no degree. Before he decided to play poker full time, he was a finance manager and earned a salary in the low six figures. Our long talk about poker took place over healthy portions of linguini Bolognese and a pinot grigio, where we covered the following topics:

Kevin has a fairly steady income from cash games that runs "in the low six figures," an amount, incidentally, that is fairly close to what he made in his former profession. However, there is a large variance, as you would expect. Last year he cleared a mere $35,000, or only about $15 an hour. By his own accounting, this was a horrible year (more on how to handle the ugly times below), but he was able to survive with no problems because of his approach to the classic problem of bankroll management.

Kevin squirrels away cash when he has it! He has set up several IRA's and a long-range plan that will provide a pension based on his investments. Like most of us, he lost a goodly amount of money in the stock market during the last three years and is worried that some of his investments are not going as well as he would like. His position here feels very familiar to us!

Kevin keeps accurate, detailed records. He pays his taxes and takes all legal deductions. "Really," we said, with raised eyebrow, "you're completely honest on your taxes?"

"Hmm," he smiled, "as honest as the average citizen."

'Nuff said on this topic.

He purchased a life insurance policy and has health insurance coverage through his wife's policy. They just bought a new house and are having it "customized" to fit their wishes. We wondered how he got the mortgage. "What questions did the bank ask?" we queried.

"Oh, I never even tried," he laughed. "I just got a 'no document' loan from a broker. I'm probably paying a drop more interest than others with my income, but it was the easiest way to go."

Kevin has lots of acquaintances but only a few close friends – several of whom are also excellent poker players. Long, detailed analyses of hands, situations, particular games, and entire tournaments take place between them all the time. "In fact," he said, "we do this so much that we are beginning to play like each other."

Although our pro has had considerable success on the tournament trail (a couple of decent-sized wins and a whole bunch of final tables in major events), approximately 80 percent of his play is in cash games. "The tournament trail is tough," he told us. "There's too much traveling and too many nights in hotel rooms. Besides, there's much less variability in cash games. On the circuit, it can be brutal if you don't cash for several months."

"How do you view yourself," we asked, "that is, in terms of what you do to earn a living? Do you think of yourself as a professional gambler or a professional poker player?"

"Oh, definitely a poker player. I'm not a gambler – at least no more a gambler than anyone who takes risks in life. Almost everything we do is some kind of gamble. The trick is to make sure you make the right decisions."

"What limits do you play?" we asked. "And, more importantly, what limits do you feel comfortable at?"

"My best game is pot-limit hold'em, and I will play at whatever limit my bankroll allows. Right now I'm playing anywhere from $5-$5 blinds to $25-$50 blinds."

Our pro works steadily, but he works at his leisure. He puts in about 40 hours a week but tends to bunch them into three or four days of play. Golf, reading, movies, and other diversions fill up the rest of his time. He does a lot of reading about poker and poker strategy, with an emphasis on the psychology of the game and not so much on arcane topics like game theory.

We wondered where he sees himself in terms of learning the game. He laughed and said that no good player could ever think he was at his peak. "I'm always learning and I try to be totally honest with myself about where I am." When pushed on this topic, he admitted that he feels the area in which he needs to improve is understanding people. "At my level of play, you have to read people to be successful. I think I'm pretty good at it, but I need to improve – especially in learning to read body language."

We gave him the standard line that at the lowest limits, cards are the key, at the middle levels of play money becomes critical, and at the highest levels you play people. Did he think this was sound? "Well," he said, "this is true as a generalization, but remember that at the higher levels of pot- and no-limit, in order to play people you need to have big money. There is huge flux in pot-limit, which is my favorite game."

How about backers, we wondered. Does he always play with his own money? "Yup, at least now I do," he answered. "I had backers in the past but didn't feel comfortable. Right now, all I'll do is trade off a tiny piece of action with a close friend. It helps to reduce variance."

"So, what does your wife think about this life you lead?" we asked. "Well, she married me, didn't she?" We couldn't think of any follow-up question here.

"Yes, it's true. We live off the fish. While there is always the added advantage of a couple of tourists walking into the game, an awful lot of my income is from regular contributors. Actually, if you were to ask me what the key to my job is, I would say it is simple: 'entertain the fish' and never, ever say anything negative about them to anyone. If you do, you can be absolutely sure it will get back to them."

Finally, we wanted to see what Kevin thought were the critical elements in his game that made him successful. So, we asked him to explore a couple of issues, in his words:

Long losing streaks: "They come, they go. They're part of life – all life, not just poker. If they get really bad, I'll take a break, or gear down my game or drop to a lower level. The trick is not to change your game, expect perhaps to tighten up a bit to decrease variability."

Bad beats, steaming, going on tilt: "I have no tilt in me. I just don't get upset. Bad beats are part of the game and, for the most part, are put on you by bad players who will give you back the money."

Longevity: "I can see myself doing this the rest of my life. I can also see myself doing something else. I did before, and I could again. We'll just have to see."

Leaks: "Nope, don't have any. I've never been tempted by the dice or the horses. Most of the guys who do this are 'action junkies.' I'm a poker player. I've got an edge over most of my opponents. I like that part of it. For me, it's more of a thinking challenge than an adrenaline rush."

"Since you asked, sure. The key to this game is to think deeply before each move. Make sure you make the right decision. If you do that, everything else will be fine. I never worry whether I'm behind or ahead – only whether or not I've been making the right decisions."

We walked out of the restaurant feeling very good about the game of poker. With more and more people like this playing our favorite game, there's no limit to where we will end up. We also believed we learned a lot, and just these couple of hours taught us more about the game than we had imagined they would.

My newest book, Internet Poker: How to Play and Beat Online Poker Games, is available through Card Player and at www.ConJelCo.com, and all of my books can be found at major bookstores and online at www.Amazon.com.