Poker Articles

The majority of the news coverage at Pocketfives is of our ranked players and other big movers in the world of online poker. This “elite poker population” is not the end all and be all of the Pocketfives community, far from it in fact. In addition to the poker pros we write about on a daily basis, many Pocketfivers are doing quite well for themselves playing part-time as a supplemental income. This article is a shout-out to that after-hours grinder and master of multi-tasking, the serious amateur player.

When I began to come up with a list of players I could talk to about balancing work with poker, the first that jumped to mind was Shawn “BigGunX” Gundrum. BigGunX is a professional with a career that takes up a lot of his time. He is also an active family man who is certainly not one to neglect his home-life. Somehow between juggling those huge responsibilities he has managed to play a limited schedule of tourneys and cash games that has provided him with a nice supplemental income for the past few years. Recently Gundrum has been even more limited in his play as his career has taken off with new opportunities and his family has grown to include two beautiful children.

BigGunX has this to say about balancing poker and real world responsibilities,

“I've made a nice second income playing poker a few hours each night. I've found my groove and am able to devote time to both my family and the game I love.  Poker has been a blessing, and I'm grateful for the quality of life it has provided me.  It took me a while to balance family time and poker, but it has all come together and I'm the happiest I've ever been.”

Another prominent family man in the Pocketfives community is chazmental who is a stay-at-home dad for his two daughters aged three and eleven. His wife (P5er rivrrmonkey) works full time as a bartender in Vegas and Chaz stays home with the girls. While this isn’t your typical “dayjob”, anyone with kids knows that it is certainly a full-time occupation. During the day the kids get his full attention, but after bedtime, he is free to earn a few bucks online.

Chaz is a retired MMA fighter and bodyguard who unfortunately suffered an accident two years ago while helping a friend move. The trauma plus complications due to infection severely damaged his knee. He gets around O.K. these days in a knee brace, but hopes for a satisfactory settlement from the insurance company. When time, finances and family allows, chazmental plans to open a gym to train others in various disciplines of MMA as well as general fitness. I asked him if he had his way would he pursue poker as his sole or primary income and he replied, “I will still play poker once we get the gym up and running. I play live here in Vegas, and I love the online tourneys because the fit my kiddo’s schedule so nicely.”

Robert “haleike” Isakson is a business owner in Knoxville, TN where he and his wife had made their home for the past five years. Isakson has $51,597 in winning at the World Series of Poker, all of which comes from two cashes in tournaments he freerolled into. The first was a $1500 NLHE seat he won as the champion of the first Pocketfives league and the second was a 10k Main Event seat he won in a top points earner freeroll. Haleike was a short stack ninja for much of the 2006 Main Event, although I remember mis-reporting his remaining chips rather grossly at one point for PocketfivesLive. He had several high-denomination chips I somehow missed on Day 2, so I thought he was down to 4k when it was more like 34k. He outlasted over 8,000 other players to finish 160th in the ME for $47,006.

Lenny: If you had your way, would poker be your primary income/occupation or do you prefer it as a hobby/amusement?

haleike: I would feel comfortable either way. I enjoy it as a hobby now but I could see myself playing more if I ever sold my stores. If I ever played poker for my income, I would focus primarily on cash games versus tournaments as it would offer more of a steady income based on my research.

Lenny: What do you think about "going pro" for some of these young kids?

haleike: I think it is great they are having some huge successes, I just hope they can avoid the pitfalls of drugs, sports gambling, casino games, and other -EV propositions. I have already made my mistakes playing casino games and sports betting. I decided I like winning more than the action high, so I stick to poker these days.

Lenny: What advice would you have for someone who wants to make poker a part of their routine and play for income but keep a job?

haleike: You have to treat it seriously and work it in your schedule but don't play too much or let it effect your main job.  I found maybe 2-3 hours a day is good for me, but everyone is different. Also, you have to make time for the other things in your life. You should only play when you want to, don’t force yourself if you aren’t feeling it. Life is too short not to do something you enjoy.

Haleike runs a small chain of Payday loan processors. This comes as somewhat of a surprise to me since I think I might have a hard time paying up money I owed to the guy on the left. But then again, if the one on the right came knocking, I would probably be more inclined to cough it up.

It’s hard to believe this next player fits the bill of an “amateur” player, but he does only play part time as he balances poker with a full time gig as the CFO of a large regional construction company. Shawn “phatcat” Luman is currently ranked number 38 on Pocketfives top online players and maintains that high a ranking playing a fraction of the hours of his peers.

Lenny: What is your work week like? What do you do?

phatcat: A normal week is 8-5 Monday through Friday. I generally take an hour for lunch and I go home during that time. I am the CFO for a heavy construction company with about 150 employees. There is no such thing as a typical day as there is always something different coming up and a lot to get done or things to do better.

Lenny: How do you make time for poker?
 
phatcat: First off, my family is very understanding and supportive, which makes it easier. I am very lucky there. I come home after work and hang out with my wife and son for a couple hours. When the weather is nice we go outside and do something together. We eat dinner together and then when my son is taking his bath and getting ready for bed I’ll start my tourneys around seven or eight.

I play on the kitchen table with my laptop which is also right next to the living room where my wife and son are usually watching TV or whatever before he goes to bed. It is not the perfect environment to play poker in, but it is definitely worth it to still be able to interact with them somewhat. I almost always play on Sunday. Saturdays are hit and miss and I try to take Thursday and Friday off sometimes. It is tough because I do love to play, but there is only so much I can do with the limits of my time and schedule.
 
Lenny: If you had your way, would you like poker to be your sole income, or do you prefer having a mix?
 
phatcat: Well, I guess the fact that I haven't chosen to play poker full time answers that question, because I definitely think I could if I wanted to. I don’t rule it out in the future but I really enjoy my job, where I work and what I do. Unless and until that changes I see no reason to change anything.

Lenny: What do you get out of Pocketfives as a poker player and in general?
 
phatcat: Pocketfives is a great way to meet other players whose games I respect. There are so many people who are good to communicate with, share ideas and learn from. I have met more then a few people who I consider my best friends in the world through Pocketfives. It’s also great to have a community of like minded people and getting to know the people behind the avatars we play with so often is cool.

Lenny: What do you think about people who quit a job to go pro?

phatcat: I wish them the best of luck.

Lenny: What advice would you have for someone who wants to make poker a part of their routine and play for income but keep a job?
 
phatcat: Just make sure to balance your time and don’t neglect your work or your family or friends. Poker will always be there.

The four players mentioned in this article are just a few of the part-time players who make poker a big part of their lives while integrating work, family and personal lives that keep them happy and healthy. They are model citizens of the online poker community and we at Pocketfives have a lot of respect for guys like these.