What Goes on Beyond the Poker Tables

Poker professionals may stray from the tables, but they're never far from a game

Aug. 1, 2006

By Mike Halford
BodogNation Contributing Writer

If you stroll around the Main Event at the 2006 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas long enough, you'll begin to ask yourself a variety of questions.

Some of the more common: What the hell did I just eat? Is that Phil Ivey? Where are the $1/$2 tables at the Rio? What does an "erotic massage" actually involve?

But there is one very important query that took some serious investigation to figure out: What do these guys do when they're not playing poker?

Well, here's the answer. Flashback a few months, if you will, to the "Calvin Ayre Wild Card Poker" tournament.

Here I was, surrounded by some of the finest professional card sharks in the business - Lindgren, Mizrachi and Laak, who, if on their game, could make all of Las Vegas sweat - contemplating joining their backstage Chinese poker game. The opportunity to sit down with such noted players almost made up for the fact that I have no idea how to play Chinese poker.

The Bodog Lounge at the WSOP is an ideal spot for some off-table excitement (Bodog Nation photo).

Was I high? No. Drunk? I wish. Worried? Uh, slightly. See, for the uninitiated, this was relatively harmless - a friendly game of cards going on while camera jockeys and production lackeys set up the stage for the Fox Sports Net taping of the Wild Card tournament. But for those in the know? It had all the makings of a new urban legend.

So I stayed away. If I wanted to lose a significant amount of money, I could have just as easily strolled downtown San Jose with my wallet hanging out of my pants. It would probably be a less cutthroat way to go broke.

I had heard stories about these kinds of "casual" games before. How comradely matches turn into high-stakes marathon sessions. How relaxing rounds of golf morph into lucrative skins games. How just about anything - taxi rides, luggage carrels, you name it - can be twisted into competition.

In retrospect, it all made sense - making and taking risks is what these guys do for a living. It's the same competitive jones that pushes Vijay Singh out to the driving range after 36 practice holes; the same one that compelled Steve Nash and Dirk Nowtizki to engage in midnight one-on-one battles long after scrimmage with the Dallas Mavericks was done.

It's what they know, and it's what they do.

"I don't think I ever came to the realization that poker players - those who do it for a living - they don't stop playing," explained singer/songwriter Willa Ford, who was also in Costa Rica for Calvin Ayre's poker tournament. "We got off the airplane, and it was like '100 bucks says that my luggage comes up first.' At dinner, it was '200 bucks that the waitress has on something red.' It was insane. But hey, more power to them. I mean, if they're that focused on something like I am music, go for it."

These stories sound eerily like that "Seinfeld" episode where Kramer and "Cowboy" Earl Haffler are betting on arrivals and departures in the LaGuardia Diplomats Club.

"C'mon Seattle, let's go!"

"Come on, Mexico City!"

The "game away from the game" phenomenon is one of the more interesting aspects of a poker professional's life. When they're not crouched over a felt table, many find another venue to burn 'em and turn 'em. A classic example arose from the World Series of Poker (where else?) earlier this month, when the (latest) wunderkind of poker - 21-year-old and two-time WSOP bracelet winner Jeff Madsen - took on Lindgren heads up in the $5,000 Short-handed No-Limit Holdem final.

Lindgren, a former WPT Player of the Year, was on the verge of capturing his first bracelet, a significant moment in any player's career. In the stands for support (moral or financial, we're not sure) was E-Dog's support clique, which included pros Gavin Smith and Phil Gordon. Sure, Smith, Gordon and company were present to root on their buddy - but only in between shuffles of what appeared to be a spirited game of three-handed Chinese poker.

And this is the way it pretty much goes. In Costa Rica, Phil Laak, girlfriend Jennifer Tilly and reality TV authority Rob Mariano placed wagers on who would win Tabla Mesa Diabolillo. Lindgren, Jean Gluck and Evelyn Ng played cards 'til the wee hours of the morning at the InterContinental.

The phrase "familiarity breeds contempt" takes on special meaning amongst these players. Often, the unorganized and recreational game can have as much meaning as a televised event. Why? Because real players never take a hand off. And they're always looking for a read. Even if you've played 1,000 hands against Daniel Negreanu, the 1001st might be the one where he finally figures something out.

“When you play against top players, you have to plant seeds in their heads," Negreanu explained after getting bounced by friend (and occasional rival) Josh Arieh at the Calvin Ayre Wild Card tournament. “See, he thinks that I think that he thinks that I think that he’s gonna think that I’m gonna think that he’s gonna think that I’m going to do that.  You see what I’m saying? Now, Josh knows I’m capable of a particular play, which brings our ‘you-know-that-I-know-that-you-know’ level to a totally new place.”

So I was right. The game never does stop for these guys.

PHOTO: Team Bodog pro Josh Arieh is all business when the cards are dealt at the WSOP's Main Event at the Rio in Las Vegas. (Bodog Nation photo)