The opinions in this editorial do not reflect the positions of the ownership or management of Poker News Daily.
Over the past few days, I have been seeing ominous signs for the poker world. Beyond what is happening in the power structure in Washington, D. C. regarding the regulation of online poker (something this writer never thought would happen, by the way), we are seeing poker’s own seemingly drop off the map of the game after showing so much promise. Perhaps we are seeing something else that we might want to take to thought.
In yesterday’s edition of the San Francisco Chronicle, writer Matt Vilano wrote about former UB spokesman Joe Sebok. Sebok, the stepson of longtime veteran poker professional and Poker Hall of Famer Barry Greenstein, was expunged from the game with the results of “Black Friday” now more than 18 months ago. Although he was able to cobble together some results after that dark day, it is where he is now that may shock some.
In the Chronicle article, Vilano discusses Sebok’s current position in the wine industry in Santa Rosa. Mind you, this isn’t in the “tasting” of the wine or even in its selling. Sebok has put in the grunt work doing punchdowns. According to Vilano, this means you push the top layer of grapes down to the bottom of the fermenting vat. Sebok also does pumpovers, moving the fermenting wine between holding tanks.
“Basically, I came up here and got my ass kicked,” Sebok states to Vilano. He lost weight from the physicality of the work, but he found something that he seemingly enjoys. He is considering a future in the wine industry, saying to Vilano, “The game of poker is great and has been good to me but, at the end of the day, if you’re not doing other stuff, all you are doing is counting money.”
The Sebok story comes on the heels of the travails of two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Dutch Boyd and his attempts to move on in life. After not being able to land a job (even with his background, which we will get to in a moment), Boyd put one of his Bellagio championship bracelets on eBay, looking to get the meltdown value of it (around $2600). It eventually sold for just under $2960.
Here’s where we are going with this…if these men aren’t making a living at poker, who can?
While he wasn’t able to earn a major tournament victory, Sebok earned nearly $1.9 million since 2005 in tournament poker. Boyd, while winning two WSOP bracelets, has racked up over $2.1 million since 2002 and, in both cases, this doesn’t count what they may have earned in the cash game arena (or, logically, may have lost). They are both prominent members of the poker community, both live and online, and have done things that few of us will ever do.
Prior to starting their careers in poker, both got college degrees, apparently setting themselves up for a future if the poker “thing” didn’t work out. Boyd, in his case, was a child prodigy, earning his law degree at the age of eighteen, before heading into the poker world. And now…they are happy with being out of the poker spotlight.
The poker world can be a vicious one. Yesterday’s heroes are today’s memories in the scrapbook of time. Although there are some who have had sustained success, there are a multitude that have had some semblance of success in the game only to fall to the “Sirens’ Song” that the clicking of chips and ruffling of cards brings. It is something to perhaps tell to those that are currently out there.
That 18 year old (or maybe younger), be they in the United States, Canada, Russia, the United Kingdom, Asia…there are no guarantees in the world of poker, as there are none in life. While you might be killing online right now (or even in your live casino), success in the long term is a difficult road to fade. At the minimum get the education, some work experience…and maybe that isn’t even a guarantee. At the minimum, play on the side…the game of poker will always be there.
We are in dire straits right now in the poker world. If players such as Sebok and Boyd (and there are others over the past few years) have decided to move on, we won’t have a “familiar” player base to build a following for the “sport.” Those that have been the bridge between the past and future – and I would put Ivey, Negreanu, Hellmuth, Brunson and a few others in that category – will continue to be a force, but there is a downside to a lack of “name” recognition. If it becomes a constant march of unfamiliar amateurs who continue to take championships on the major tours, then we might be falling out of the mainstream that the poker world once thought it desired (the lack of online poker in the United States adds to this).
As we get ready to enter 2013, you have to wonder what is going on in the poker world and will we ever get back to our apex of the mid-2000s. If we continue on the current course – and such players as Sebok and Boyd don’t ever return to the game – then the outlook is bleak.
(As an aside, will look to get comments from both Sebok and Boyd…but they seem pretty happy in their lives at this point.)
Should the congress pass a law (and get that law signed by the president) that reintroduces online play to America, all of this goes away. The lack of availability, the difficulty in finding live games and the disconnect between younger “gamer’s” and live poker all have led to what Earl describes. Fact is that the young generation likes video games, online games and computer based “fun.” Poker, being isolated away from those things, is finding it hard to maintain the huge surge it enjoyed in the mid 2000’s. Without the introduction and training that gamer’s find online, walking into a live card room is intimidating. Lobbying congress to address the issue is what is needed.
Interesting editorial, but I’m missing the point, or disagreeing with it. I had teachers who drove bakery trucks in the summer, and I’ve worked with guys who sold cars between radio jobs. I spent two years helping my wife manage condos and writing before I got back in the business in ‘85. Why is it unusual that a poker player would spend 50% or more of their time doing something else? Plus, the poker media spent ten years trying to build the game past the level of 50 or 60 main players, and now that it’s expanded to where they wanted it to be, they’re starting to see the downside of having things spread too thin. Meanwhile, they’re still signing up for the WSOP in record numbers, and the WPT has tables full of new faces every few months, so obviously new faces are going to win. They can’t have it both ways. The powers that be wanted poker to be more accessible, and it is. And as individual states legalize online poker it will become even more accessible as a recreation and as a source of revenue for government, at sites that are regulated and a fair game is not a question. Everything seems to be playing out just the way poker players hoped it would.