Ross Gottlieb may be a veterinarian by trade but he is no stranger when walking in the poker jungle. (Will OC photo)

Those among the New Jersey online poker fraternity who have a full-time profession other than poker often face difficulties in having time available to play. In that spirit, when the players in this group have time on their hands to play tournaments, they do everything in their power to make the time away from the 9-5 grind as profitable as possible.

Before he started his career as a veterinarian, Ross ‘Acanthopis’ Gottlieb was preparing to have success in the game that has earned him $575,000 in online and live earnings. As a teenager, Gottlieb attempted to convince his mother to no initial avail to allow him to deposit money from her credit card into an online account. Undeterred by being rebuffed, Gottlieb researched bankroll management skills and presented a PowerPoint slideshow titled “Why I Will Never Go Bust.” Gottlieb’s mother was so impressed by his presentation that she let him deposit $50. According to Gottlieb, he has not needed another “infusion” to his bankroll since that point.

Gottlieb achieved plenty of success when he first started cutting his teeth online but never wavered from his internal mission of becoming a veterinarian or scientist of some kind. He began his undergraduate career with an interest in Marine Biology but eventually settled on land-based animals. During his time as an undergrad, Gottlieb says he played 30-40 hours a week and upwards of 20 tournaments on a given night and occasionally played live at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood.

After finishing veterinary school at The Ohio State University, Gottlieb moved back to his home state of New Jersey where he has found happiness both in his practice and playing poker.

“I work a consistent 40 hours a week at a great practice, Ocean County Veterinary Group based in Lakewood, NJ. I see both cats and dogs, as well as exotic pets like rabbits, ferrets, reptiles, and even fish. I absolutely love it and I love talking to people all day. What’s neat is because I don’t get to play such high volume, I’m legitimately excited to start each session, and I don’t really get burnt out. On average I play four days a week and a pretty reduced (if any) Sunday schedule lately. Sunday is the only day my girlfriend (who is also a veterinarian) and I have off together, so we’re often doing some kind of activity that day.”

In the time the 27-year-old Gottlieb has spent playing live tournaments, he has done well for himself. The peak of his results came in 2015 when he final tabled the Extended Play event at the World Series of Poker. Gottlieb finished ninth for $35,000 in his final summer before starting life as a veterinarian. The memory of the run fondly sticks with Gottlieb and he is looking forward to taking another shot at the WSOP this summer.

“I remember that run and having just an awesome rail of Matt Stout, Rachel Kranz, and several others, and it was just the coolest thing ever. With the live stream about to start, I was telling all my family and friends to watch, which was so exciting, and I’m still sorry I didn’t get to give them a better show. Regardless, it was another ‘vindication’ moment for me letting me know that, yeah, I could be pretty successful at this if I would have pursued it full time. People play their whole lives to make a WSOP final table and never do, and to do that my first summer there was pretty neat.”

In both his professional and poker life, Gottlieb has established himself as someone willing to put in the hard work necessary in order to reach his set goals. Poker may not be as big of a part of his life as it once was but given how much energy Gottlieb has already put into the game, he will continue to make the most of the time he gets to spend playing while keeping the promise made to his mother many years ago.