A Poker Life: Ralph Perry

A Poker Life is a new series for CardPlayer.com that looks beyond the felt and into the untold stories of poker’s biggest names.

On any given Saturday afternoon, one might find Ralph Perry barbequing with neighbors, swimming in his pool, or watching his two sons play soccer at the local Las Vegas fields with his beautiful wife Merri. At first glance, he looks like the quintessential family man, but if you peek more closely, you will find that he is far from being a typical dad with a typical source of income.

While most family men are tied down to a nine-to-five job, Perry’s work hours specifically correlate to the strength and availability of a game. No suit and tie for him, but instead, expensive Bose headphones and a pair of worn-in sunglasses make up his work uniform. Not only does he have upwards of $2.5 million in tournament winnings and a World Series of Poker bracelet, but he is also one of the few elite players who regularly compete in the highest staked cash games in the world -- where fortunes are won and lost, and the average pot size is a year’s worth of college tuition.

Some would consider a life of gambling a selfish pursuit, but to Perry, everything he does is for his family, including playing poker at nose-bleed stakes.
 
The Beginning

Perry was born and raised in Russia. Unable to finish school for financial reasons, Perry worked to help support his family at a young age. At 17, he immigrated to the U.S. and found himself in New York. Learning English was tough, but he did it. Perry held a number of jobs, including limo driving, selling electronics, and running an ice cream and candy push cart in Manhattan.

For extra income, Perry would play pool for money at a local hall in Brooklyn. One day while shooting pool, someone asked if he wanted to play poker. At the age of 25, Perry sat down and played seven-card stud for the first time. He won $20. Impressed by the numerous facets of the game, Perry was hooked and decided to quit playing pool to focus on poker. Perry sharpened his skill through hours of experience on the felt in both underground games and casinos in Atlantic City.

After a few years of odd jobs and poker, he decided to move to Las Vegas, but not to become a professional poker player.

“I thought I was good, but I didn’t think I was good enough to be a professional,” said Perry. “I just moved to Vegas thinking I would be a blackjack dealer.”

Never Go Broke

Perry was looking for a change of pace and a well-paying career in the casino business. Instead, he found his calling. Upon his arrival in Vegas, Perry headed straight to the casino to find a seven-card stud game, and, as it turned out, he never got that job dealing blackjack.

In the early 90s, the Mirage was known for hosting some of the best cash-game action on The Strip, and this is where he discovered hold’em. Perry caught on quickly, but it wasn’t an easy uphill climb. He had to bump back down in stakes numerous times before sticking at one level. He said that one piece of advice early in his career was crucial in his success.

“Old timers said to me, ‘To be a successful gambler, make sure you never go broke, because if you go broke, you can’t gamble anymore,’” he said. “I have always kept that in mind, and I never put my whole bankroll on the line.”

To follow this piece of advice, it often requires players to step down in stakes to ensure that they are not risking too much of their bankroll in one sitting. This can be hard for players to do because of ego, feelings of failure, and a lack of patience. That is, however, unless there is a pretty girl at the table.

Gambling on Love

As Perry was playing $75-$150 seven-card stud one day at the Mirage, a beautiful girl caught his eye. She was sitting behind an older woman playing $20-$40 hold’em. It turns out that bankroll restrictions are not the only reason that Perry would allow himself to play at lower limits.

He sat down in the $20-$40 game and immediately asked for a seat change to sit next to someone he would soon find out was the mother of his love interest. Using a bit of his charm and the allure of his Russian accent, he scored a date. She was surprised that she was even interested in Perry.

“Honestly in a million years, I never thought I would date a poker player,” said Merri, laughing at the thought. “There was just something about him, and I took a chance. We fell in love, and the rest is history.”

Investing With Poker

Together, the two instinctively began working on a successful system of checks and balances to create stability in their lives. Merri was already a successful realtor and was able to leverage Perry’s poker winnings into property investments. The more he won, the more homes and estates they accumulated.

The first big milestone in Perry’s tournament career came at the 2002 World Series of Poker, which ultimately resulted in the couple’s biggest investment yet. Making his first “big hit,” Perry placed third in the main event for $550,000. It was one wrong move that Perry still thinks about from time to time. He reraised a button-raise with pocket jacks, but unfortunately for him, the eventual winner, Robert Varkonyi, was in the big blind and woke up with pocket aces. Varkonyi moved all in over the top of Perry, who felt pot-committed and called. Merri, of course, was right by his side when the board blanked out.

Two weeks later, on an innocent trip to check out a pool table to buy, Perry came across a house for sale.

“I just really liked it, and I knew that Merri always wanted a pool,” he said. “I wanted to buy it right then.”

At first, Merri was against the decision to buy the house, knowing that the mortgage payments would be a little too high for comfort. She half seriously, half jokingly suggested that if he wanted it, he would have to pay cash. Two days later, that is exactly what he did.

Career Milestones

By this time, Perry was playing cash games at the highest stakes available. He’s stared down the best of the best in games as high as $4,000-$8,000, and even played against billionaire banker Andy Beal before The Corporation came together. Even though he sustained most of his income from cash games, he couldn’t resist the excitement of tournaments.

Perry continued cashing in major events but was tired of just coming close. In 2006, he promised his Merri a WSOP bracelet. Talk about man of his word; Perry promptly took down the $1,500 buy-in pot-limit Omaha event, defeating 526 players for a payday of almost $208,000.

By this time, their two sons, Sean, now 11, and Joseph, 9, were old enough to understand what a WSOP bracelet meant, and they were the first people he called.

The same year, Perry snagged another bracelet, but this time, it was a Bellagio one. At the Five-Diamond World Poker Classic, Perry outlasted a 203-player field in a $3,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em preliminary event. His win was good for just over $234,000. The day he won just happened to be Sean’s birthday.

“He picked me up from basketball practice on my birthday after he won,” remembered Sean. “He had a bracelet in his hand, and he said it was for me.”

Joseph says that he understands the concept of seniority and is expecting to receive the next bracelet his father wins. “He is a very good poker player, we all know that. I think he is going to win the main event one day.”

After a highly successful 2008 WSOP that included just missing the final table of the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event, Perry made the World Poker Tour televised final table of the Bellagio Cup IV. Having learned street smarts from their father, Sean and Joseph made their case for 1 percent of Perry’s winnings.

“My kids are so smart,” says Merri. “They are kind of hustlers, and their dad usually gives them what they want. It’s hard not to, because they are such good kids. They really do deserve everything they get.”

Perry agreed to give them 1 percent and ended up placing fourth for just under $291,000. Not a bad deal for his sons. So, what do a 9- and 11-year-old do with their money? Well, the youngest, Joseph, is saving, while Sean is investing. That’s right, investing. He took his winnings, along with other money he had saved, and bought five acres of land in Arizona with help from Merri.

Perry’s Mini-Me’s

Impressively, but not surprisingly, in addition to being straight-A students at a local Las Vegas private school, the two boys also play and understand poker.

At a recent adult charity poker tournament at the American Cancer Society Relay for Life Casino Night, Sean finagled his way around the rules and convinced the organizers to let him play. Since it was only a $25 buy-in, and because he couldn’t win money, anyway, they let him compete. He won the double shootout and took his mother out in second place.

“I wanted to win. When I did, I got on the table and started dancing,” said Sean. Not only did he snag family bragging rights, but he also won a $1,200 helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon. Someone offered him $800 for the prize, but Sean already knew what he wanted to do with it. He gave it to his dad for Father’s Day.

“Merri and I went on the tour, and we also had a $500 dinner comp that she won for second. It was one of the nicest trips I’ve had,” said Perry.

As for the two boys becoming professional poker players, well, they better not even think about it until they finish school, said Perry. Having missed the chance to get an education himself, he desperately wants his children to have the opportunity.

Making It Work

Balancing home life and poker isn’t easy, but the Perrys make it work. It is a family that understands the highs and lows of Perry’s chosen profession, even his children.

“It’s hard, because sometimes he’s not here,” said Joseph. “But that’s his job.”

And it is a job that has paid well. Perry has earned nearly $2.6 million in tournament winnings and millions more in cash games. Poker has provided him the opportunity to give his family everything they need, but it doesn’t come without a little sacrifice.

“It is very scary to know that it’s possible he could sit down and lose $1 million in one session,” said Merri. “So, is it easy to be married to a professional poker player? Absolutely not. The reason why we’ve made it is because we are strong and smart with our money. It’s not always beautiful roses. Sometimes it really sucks. But if you can you look past the losses and the bad days and just look at all the great things poker has given you, you’ll be ok. I wouldn’t change my life.”

Though his appearance to the world outside of poker seems ordinary, his talent, temperament, and commitment to his family make him extraordinary. From a man of few words, he seems to sum it up perfectly when he says, “I just do it for them.”

Card Player TV recently visited the Perry home in Las Vegas for the newest edition of High Stakes Living. The episode is shown below:

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