The poker players
INSTEAD OF spending Passover with his family, Asher Conniff spent time playing poker. A professional player, Conniff was cornered into taking part in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Tournament of Champions, an invite-only event for former WPT winners. As the 2015 WPT World Champion, Conniff couldn’t turn down free entry into the $15,000 buy-in tournament. He said it was “a major Jewish holiday and I would like to be home with my family”. “But,” he reflected, “I play poker for a living and they chose to schedule it when they did.”
Conniff wasn’t the only Jewish poker pro disappointed by the scheduling. Players took to Twitter to complain. Poker writer Robbie Strazynski, an Israel-based Orthodox Jew, told me: “I believe a lot of Jewish poker champions who qualify for the event will be skipping it.” Strazynski turned down a trip to cover the tournament — “it’s more important to remain involved in the tradition.”
The idea of making a living playing poker might seem far-fetched, but a hard core of American professionals travel the poker circuit, making millions.
As a live reporter at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Vegas, I wasapproachedbyBelgianpoker pro Baruch Thaler, who asked if I’d thought of writing about the poker scene’s Jewish players. Orthodox himself, Thaler told me he couldn’t play in The Main Event, WSOP’s most prestigious tournament, as it spreads over seven days, including the Sabbath.
There were other tournaments Thaler missed because they fell on Jewish holidays, and keeping kosher during long days in tournament rooms meant pretty much living on muffins.
I spoke to more Jewish players, including Canadian born Ari Engel, a recent winner of the Aussie Millions, who has amassed over $3.5 million in winnings. Engel lives out of a suitcase, travelling to tournament stops — we began our interview in Barcelona, and continued it in Prague.
Engel’s childhood was spent moving around — both his father and grandfather were rabbis. Often seen in a kippah, Engel told me: “Poker players underestimate religious people. When I wear it, people tend to think I’m inexperienced, so there are advantages!”
American poker legend Barry Greenstein is a Team PokerStars pro who has racked up a WPT Championship, three WSOP wins and more than $8 million in winnings. He has been playing poker since the 1970s and recalls: “In the old days, we talked about two groups, Jews and Texans — we’d bet on which group would do better. Jews came from a big gambling culture, and Texans came from Texas, which is where the game came from. As poker got bigger in the early ’90s, there became three groups instead of two — we called the third group ‘foreigners’!”
Greenstein grew up playing cards with his mother, who gambled in the synagogue. At the age of 10, he watched her play gin rummy with his six-year-old brother and noticed she was letting him win: “I said: ‘Mom, what are you doing?’ She put her finger up to her lips, and she whispered to me, ‘you think I didn’t do that for you, too?’ I had a pretty great mother!”
American pro Ronnie Bardah, son of Israeli parents, is a WSOP winner with over a million dollars in winnings. He learnt to play poker from his dad: “My father was playing cards his whole life, so I grew up around it. Whatever the casinos made their money off, my father was there donating.” At 19, Bardah started playing poker, losing the money he earned in McDonalds to his dad. By 21, he was making more than $50,000 a year playing cash games. He says: “It wasn’t a decision for me — I didn’t have anything else.
“I was punching the clock and wearing a name badge. I played cards for the freedom.”
Bardah says his dad was happy for him to play poker for a living: “My parents don’t have any money whatsoever. I’m the most successful one in my family. My dad would say: ‘I wish I didn’t have to go to work, I wish I could play poker like you.’”
Greenstein’s mother was similarly supportive. “She thought I’d grow up to be the president of the United States but, when I told her I was a poker player, she said: ‘I’m sure you’ll be the best!’”
But not everyone had unswerving support. Matthew Wantman is
My dad played cards his whole life, I just grew up with it