‘LIFE’S PRETTY GOOD’
Greenwich’s Stephen Song is winning big as a pro poker player
GREENWICH — Wearing a hoodie with the name and logo of his family’s real estate company on the chest, Stephen Song fiddled with his chips at the final table of the World Poker Tour Prime Championship in Las Vegas.
Song, who grew up in Greenwich, and Lara Eisenberg were the final two players in the December tournament. Eisenberg went all in, hoping for a queen or an eight.
But she had no such luck. With an eight-high straight, Song became the tournament’s champion, winning his largest-ever single prize of $712,650. More than 5,000 people had entered the competition, which had a $1,100 buy-in.
Song ended 2022 as the Global Poker Index player of the year. Over his career so far, he has won more than $5 million. He said he has invested most of his money in his family’s company, JACKS Realty.
“I’m ... not a huge spender,” said Song, 27, who was in Las Vegas as he spoke on the phone with Hearst Connecticut Media. “Every once in a while I’ll get something nice,” like a new car.
“Life’s pretty good,” he said.
Song still calls Greenwich home, though he spends most of his time traveling. He said he learned poker by watching games on television and playing with his father, who “would always win every time.”
“It kind of fascinated me watching it on TV
from, I’d say, 10 or 11,” Song said.
He said he played poker often with friends while he was attending Greenwich High School. About half a semester into college, he dropped out with his sights set on playing poker for a living.
His parents weren’t pleased with his decision, Song said.
“My dad was a little more understanding because when he was younger, he went through a blackjack phase,” Song said. “My mom was not about it. They both just assumed that it was going to be a small phase and I would eventually go back to school and do ... the whole regular routine.”
While his parents were
“forcing” him to take some college classes, Song mostly played poker online, he said.
After placing high at a World Poker Tour tournament in Atlantic City in 2018, his parents told him: “OK, you can go all in on poker.”
He said he hit a major milestone in 2019 when he won a World Series of Poker
bracelet for the first time. His father was there for that win, which yielded a $341,854 payout for Song.
His mother was there for his win at the World Poker Tour Prime Championship in December.
In both instances, it was the first time his father or mother had watched him play in person at a tournament.
“It’s pretty sweet that both of them got the opportunity” to see big wins, Song said.
When asked what was the most stressful moment for him during the WPT Prime Championship, Song said he wouldn’t use the word “stress” to describe how he feels while playing.
After years of playing the game, “I’ve felt all the ups and downs, so at this point, nothing really surprises or stresses me when it comes to the actual playing,” Song said. “I usually just try to make the best decision. Hopefully everything works out. There’s a lot of luck involved in poker, obviously, too. So you just got to ... get lucky in the right moments. For this one, I was able to get lucky in all the right moments.”
He said that “adaptability and cool headedness” are what make a great poker player.
Being a professional player is the only job he has ever truly wanted, he said. He said he loves the strategy, the competition and meeting fellow players.
He has played across the United States and in Barcelona, Spain. One of his goals is to travel more overseas, including to Paris, Monte Carlo and Asia, he said.
“I think in the upcoming years, I might relax a little and maybe take a little bit more time off,” Song said. “But poker is a great game that you can be playing for the rest of your life.”