About a year ago, I got lucky. No, I didn’t pull a flush on the
river. I didn’t score a front row seat at a Tony Bennett concert. But
I did get a call from my editor at Harlequin Enterprises, Ltd, asking
me if I’d like to participate in a five-author continuity series
about guys in a small Texas town who regularly play Texas Hold ‘em
poker. Maybe this doesn’t sound like a stroke of luck to many of you,
but to a writer of romance books, it’s definitely noteworthy. The
executives at Harlequin, the world’s largest publisher of women’s
romance fiction don’t usually make a marketing error, and if they
think the game of Texas Hold ‘em is a good subject for love stories,
I’m happy to agree with them. My book, DEAL ME IN, fourth in the
series, will be released this month. It’s about a former Dallas
Cowboy football player turned Vegas poker pro who returns to his home
town in Texas and takes a bigger gamble with his heart than he ever
took with his money. This is a romance, so of course a challenging
woman is involved. My hero gambles that he can take an inexperienced
but determined waitress from a small town diner and coach her to the
final table in a pro tournament. The stakes? You’ll have to read the
book to find out, but they involve a race horse and the settling of
an old score. I learned a lot about Texas Hold ‘em while researching
this book, and one persistent question kept popping into my head. The
five heroes in our books are friends, and like most guys, they argue,
and taunt, and generally display in-your-face attitudes. But I
wondered if their behavior mirrored the actions of real pros, the
folks who play the big tournaments for a living. How does the
competitive arena of poker interact with personal relationships? Can
pro poker players really be friends? Where better to explore this
topic than with the pro poker players themselves. With the help of
Jennifer Newell, a Midwest Gaming & Travel contributing editor, I
contacted several notables in the world of professional poker and
asked them seven simple questions. The answers are as diverse as the
professionals who took the time to respond. Here’s a rundown of who
you’ll meet in this surprisingly revealing article.
— Gaming author, Ashley Adams, a poker player for four decades, has
published dozens of articles and two books. Read his blog at
www.houseofcardsradio.com.
— Tom McEvoy learned poker at the age of five. Now he has four World
Series of Poker bracelets and six first place finishes. Tom lives,
where else? Las Vegas.
— Susie Isaacs funded her first poker stake as a child by selling her
comic books. She twice won the WSOP Ladies Championship and can be
heard streaming on www.holdemradio.com.
— Jesse Jones is a retired real estate investor who has been playing
poker professionally since 1996. Jesse founded the World Poker
Association.
— Gavin Smith hails from Ontario and is the season four World Poker
Tour Player of the Year. He won his first World Poker final in 1999
and has earned a seat at many final tables.
— Yosh Nakano has been playing poker for more than 30 years. He is
currently the high-limit poker host at the Bicycle Casino in Bell
Gardens, California.
Tom Schneider authored Ooops! I Won Too Much Money. He is a two-
time WSOP bracelet winner and lives in Phoenix.
— Poker Diva Liz Lieu has finessed her way up the tournament ladder
with impressive stats. Stylish and recognized globally, she won her
first tournament in 2006, The L.A. Poker Classic.
— John D’Agostino is one of the Young Guns of Poker. Currently
working his way to a first place win, his earnings total better than
$1.6 million. He is a newly appointed instructor for the WPT.
— Mariealena Calabrese, John’s girlfriend, is competitive in both martial
arts and poker. She won her first major tournament at the Tunica 2004 World
Poker Open.
Now that you know the players, I’ll refer to each of my pros by their first
names only.
Question 1: What percentage of your friends are also professional poker
players?
Answers varied widely to this question from Mariealena’s 90% response all
the way down to Jesse’s 10%. Gavin and John are the moderates, claiming only
50% of their friends are in the pro poker business. Susie says 98% of her
friends play poker either to supplement their incomes or as a financially
rewarding hobby. Liz also claims a high number of poker pals, but she includes
agents, writers and public relations people in the mix.
My conclusion: Hold ‘em players are growing in numbers every day. It would
be rare, indeed, to meet someone who doesn’t have at least one friend who
regularly plays the game.
Question 2: How difficult or easy is it for you to socialize with poker
players away from the table?
Ashley’s answer was honest and revealing. He said, “Easy. I find
poker players often hungry for friendship.” Tom Mc had an interesting
answer. “It’s easy for me to socialize with poker players away from
the table since almost all of my friends are poker players, except
for my last girlfriend who dumped me. Maybe she should have learned
how to play.” Mariealena seems to be on the right track with her
answer. “I don’t like to discuss poker away from the table. I want to
socialize like a normal person without reliving work.” And Tom S.
answered uniquely with his tongue-in-cheek response. “It’s not
difficult at all. In fact it’s similar to the way the wolf and the
sheepdog would try to outwit each other in a cartoon and then punch
the clock and go eat dinner together.” Yosh sums up simply. “It’s easy, but I’m
choosy.”
My conclusion: Social people can socialize in almost any situation, but for
poker pros, that competitive spirit is always there on some level.
Question 3: Do you talk mostly about poker when you’re in social
situations with other players?
Susie answered frankly. “No, unless one of us has had a big win. Bad
beats are off limits.” Tom Mc purposely avoids poker talk situations.
“I go to a nice restaurant and try to have a dinner with no poker
talk so I can forget about it for a while.” John says poker talk is
inevitable. “I try not to (talk about poker), but it always seems to
come up one way or the other.” Ashley says that talk about play of
the hands is off limits, but “we talk about people in the industry
and non-playing ways of making money.” Mariealena sums up poker talk with this
comment. “I don’t like to educate people in my same profession, as I rely on
them for income!”
My conclusion: Most pros, like people in other professions, like to leave
business discussions at the office, or in this case, the card room. But
they’re not always successful.
Question 4: Are you able to put aside emotions about wins and losses
when you’re with other poker pros?
Tom Mc was philosophical with his answer. “I’m very good about keeping my
emotions under control around other poker players. Nobody really cares about
your bad beats, and if you whine, all they want to do is beat you up some
more.” Susie’s answer was short and sweet. “It took years, on the losses, but
yes.” Liz’s answer is practical. “If I just dealt with a big loss, I don’t
socialize right away so I can deal with it in my own way.” But Jesse pretty
well sums up this issue with his answer. “There are many more important things
in life than poker wins or losses.”
My conclusion: Most pros agree about emotional baggage. Grow up.
Nobody likes to lose, but pros should deal with it and move on.
Question 5: Have you developed any long-standing friendships
specifically because of meeting someone through poker?
Tom S. speaks for those who came into pro poker from another
business perspective. “I have many relationships like these, and I
believe most people do. However people like me that have had real
jobs tend to have fewer.” Mariealena sees her poker relationships as
a stroke of good fortune. “Not only have I developed strong
friendships, but my family now is a result of meeting John
(D’Agostino) at the poker table. Conversely, you can destroy good friendships
through poker as well, if you let it consume you.” Tom Mc has an interesting
outlook. He teaches poker and says “many of my private students became
personal friends. When that happens, I stop charging them.” And Susie sums up
her friendships this way. “Every friend I have in Vegas I met at the poker
table, dear friends of more than twenty years.”
My conclusion: Yes, friendships can and do exist across the felt. Good to
hear that friendships are more important than wins and losses. Question 6:
What are the advantages, if any, of having friends among poker competitors?
I must admit, the answers surprised me on this one. Tom Mc says,
“Other pros understand what you’re going through when times get
tough. If you’re friends with them, you can always try and borrow
money. I don’t borrow, only loan, so I am on the wrong side that
equation.” Mariealena agrees. “For many high limit players, the advantage would
be borrowing power. It’s easier to borrow from a friend in the same
profession.” Ashley gave the practical answer. “Competitors can help me find
good poker games and money-making opportunities in the industry.”
My conclusion: Despite the numbers of poker pros increasing all the time,
the card room is still a small world of close-knit competitors. Question 7:
Overall, is competition a good thing or a bad thing when it comes to
developing and keeping friendships?
I love Gavin’s answer. “I think it’s a great thing. I’m super
competitive with my friends, yet the minute I’m knocked out, I become
their number one fan.” Liz looks at the negative side of competition.
“Too much competition isn’t good for any relationship. There are
times when everyone should walk away from the table and discuss other
things going on in life.” Mariealena says, “Friends will understand
that winning isn’t a personal attack. It’s your way of life.” Tom Mc
sees both sides of this issue. “Competition can be a double-edged
sword. You need to be competitive to stay sharp. On the other hand, I
don’t like beating my friends.”
Tom S. sums up this way. “I’ve had
competitive relationships in golf and business. Just make sure you
don’t pick a friend who can’t get over losing.” John sums up this
way, “It’s competitive at the table, but once it’s over, we’re all
friends.”
My conclusion: Friendships in all walks of life require work and
cultivation. In poker, the rule of friendship seems to be, choose
your game and your friends carefully. These poker pros have proved
that true friendships can grow in a competitive environment and even
thrive in it. But Texas Hold ‘em for serious players is certainly
more than a game. It can bring players closer together or drive them
apart. It’s that closeness of male bonding that we Harlequin authors
have tried to show in the Texas Hold ‘em series of books. I hope
you’ll try us out and explore the romance of Texas Hold ‘em. You can
order copies at your local bookseller’s, any online bookstore, or
www.eharlequin.com. For more information, please visit my website at www.cynthiathomason.com, where there is an exciting contest going on.
You might win a prize! And to all who participated in this survey,
thanks and good luck at the tables and elsewhere.
— Award-winning author, Cynthia Thomason publishes historical and
contemporary romances and a historical mystery series. Born in
Evansville, Indiana, and raised in the Midwest, she and her husband
now own Auction 84 in Davie, Florida, where she is a licensed
auctioneer. Her husband, Walter, is a regular contributor to Midwest
Gaming & Travel. Visit her at
www.cynthiathomason.com.
