Phil Gordon Speaks About The Poker Pro Lifestyle in Freakonomics Blog

Filed in archive Poker Strategies on May 13, 2008

Iggy returns to his uber posting and poker bloggers rejoice. But the best part of his most recent post was a link to a great interview of poker pro Phil Gordon by the Freakonomics blogs in the New York Times.

Gordon's candid answers to the aspects of a poker pro's lifestyle and pitfalls is a refreshing splash of water on a subject that is mired by the perception that if certain player is on TV wearing a bunch of patches they are successful. Also, he mentioned something that all poker players should take to heart this quote:

Q: Does the Tiltboys home game still run? On a related note, at what stakes do you take poker seriously enough to play your "A" game?

A: Wednesday night is still the best night of the week. The game goes about two to three times a month. I can play my "A" game at any stake. I regularly play 1-2 and 100-200 on the same day and it makes no difference to me.

Personally as a player, I recently moved down in limits as I am a grinder of sorts who if I went bust I would be hard pressed to jump back onto the penny ante tables I started from. Gordon's quote about playing your best at any level should be repeated over and over by any serious player of poker as if you are not bringing your "A" game to the table then why not play Craps or Roulette instead? Because you are giving away your advantage, the positive expectation (EV) of a good poker player is reason why you watch people win with eight-three offsuit while your Aces get cracked and say "I'll get my money back by the end of the night".

Hop over to Iggy's blog or use the link here to read the entire interview.