In October of 2005 Daniel Negreanu, undoubtedly one of the best poker players in the world and also an incredibly shrewd individual in general, posted a series of blogs about playing in the biggest cash game in the world (held in "Bobby's Room", which is in an enclosed section of the Bellagio's poker room). In these blogs he gave us all a fascinating glimpse into the mind of a poker pro, and the strange relationship they have with money. It is this relationship which I want to analyze, because it seems to me that their attitude in this regard is what separates the great players from those that are merely competent on a technical or book-smart level.
Daniel initially blogged about a marathon mixed-game session that featured $2,000 - $4,000 blinds. All the top cash players were there: Jennifer, Chau, Eli and even Johnny Chan sat in. Daniel was very proud of the fact, some might say he even boasted that he only lost $150,000. In fact, he said that he felt like a winner. The reason was that other players lost a lot more, and one anonymous player (we all hope it was Phil Hellmuth Jr., but he's unlikely to donate his money in a mixed game) dropped more than a million dollars. It was a relative statement - compared to what others lost he got off lightly, and more than that Daniel is well aware of his upside in this game. It would only take one more session to recoup a loss of that size plus make an enormous profit.
Still, it was highly amusing to read that the money was not important to him. He followed that up with an even more revealing post. In this blog he spent a long time gleefully relating how he had won a prop bet for $11,000. He then casually mentioned at the end of the post that he lost $94,000 overall in the session. It seems to me that professional gamblers treat money in much the same way that a toddler does. They do not perceive it's real-world value because in the game it is just a shiny stack of chips to fondle and throw around. When a top poker player wins a million dollars in a tournament he is as likely to bet it on the outcome of a golf swing as he is to invest it in a no-load mutual fund. For some players gambling it is the only option because the need for action is overwhelming.
My own experience mirrors this on a far smaller scale, of course. A year ago I was gearing up to buy in for $500 at my local $10-$20 limit game. This was a big step up for me (from $4-$8) and I kept thinking that it was more than a monthly car payment if I lost. A few months later I was fortunate enough to win two no-limit tournaments in Las Vegas against top pros and I knew what it felt like to win $10,000 in a single session of cards. With that knowledge of what is possible when I play poker I started to sit down in far bigger cash games. I thought nothing of buying in for $1000 and taking a seat at my local $30-$60 game, only to find that everyone else at the table went way back and that my stack was good for exactly 30 minutes of contact sport at my direct and literal expense.
When I got up from that table it hit me with full force - all the things that $1000 buys you when it isn't stacked in front of you in 5 tiny towers of red. I will continue to back myself in poker tournaments and buy in for $1000 at a time, but I cannot completely detach poker from the rest of my life. Daniel Negreanu has this down to a tee. In the space of a few hours he can lose more money than most people make in a lifetime of dull labour (I am not suggesting that poker isn't work, far from it) and yet all that he remembers from the poker session is that A-Rod peeked his head into Bobby's Room and watched them play. Spotting a true sports celebrity like a baseball legend is a lot more important that losing a million dollars because tomorrow you have the chance to win back that million but you have no chance of seeing Alex Rodriguez.
