There’s one more item that is now almost ubiquitous among poker players, and it’s much more valuable than sunglasses, hoodies, or even headphones: many players are investing in Bitcoin. “We’ve been hearing about it everywhere,” said Laura Cornelius, a reporter for PokerNews. (On December 12, Bitcoin surged past the $17,000 mark, a 500 percent increase in 2017 alone.)
The excitement about poker itself has somewhat flattened in recent years. At this year’s Global Gaming Expo, for example, I attended ten or so educational sessions, on topics ranging from Native American gaming to lotteries to skill-based games to player loyalty tracking. The word “poker” was never mentioned.
I’ll acknowledge that when it comes to casino patrons, poker players can be among the neediest, and among the least profitable. Still, not even one mention? So maybe poker players are a necessary evil. And if that’s the case, the gaming industry should know what they’re up to.
When you think about it, Bitcoin is the perfect tool of the trade for poker players. One player recently tweeted:
Consider that for many, it’s the first time in their lives they’ve had a source income/investment they consider better than poker. Whether that’s true remains to be seen.
Matt Waxman, who has been ranked among the top 10 players of the world, has dialed down his playing and is among those less active in Bitcoin. But even he has heard more than his share of chatter. “I think the most appealing aspect is it’s decentralized,” he said. “The government can’t get their hands on it or know that it’s happening.” Waxman said that aspect is more important than what I speculated, that players like it mainly because the variable price means even more action.
Waxman just started playing online again on a site called America’s Cardroom, which offers cryptocurrency as one option for cashing out. “I’ve been doing OK, so after I made a couple of bucks I bought some,” he said. He puts his Bitcoin bankroll at well under $10,000.
Waxman noted that poker players have been following Bitcoin for at least four years, hearing about it from Bryan Micon, who eventually launched a Bitcoin-based poker site, Seals with Clubs. “He was just talking up crypto and he’s very into it, and I obviously knew nothing about it,” Waxman said. “And he gave me the whole spiel. It was over my head, but I bought in for about 60 bucks.” Waxman notes that even 2013 World Series of Poker Champion Ryan Riess has big investments in Bitcoin.
“There’s a high upside and the downside is limited,” Swiss poker pro Fernando Hebegger told PokerNews. “I’m holding mine three, five, maybe 10 years.” Added Canadian poker pro Sam Greenwood, “It’s almost like a new toy.”
Other players speculated the interest in Bitcoin negatively impacted the attention to the announcement, last week, of the 2018 World Series of Poker schedule. Matt Glantz, a Bitcoin devotee, tweeted:
It’s funny that the WSOP schedule release got significantly less fanfare than any year in the past. It’s not even their fault and totally out of their hands. Crypto has completely taken over the hearts and minds of so many serious poker players.
And Dan O’Brien, who gave up a career on Wall Street to pursue poker, added:
WSOP used to be the event to look forward to where you could reasonably hope to double or triple your bankroll in a month. Now you just need to pick the right coin.
With Bitcoin having recently experienced that big upward spike, some players feel that, like a large stock run-up, they’ve missed out on the big rush. And so, they’re in a quandary: whether to invest now or head back to the table; slip on their headphones, hoodies, and sunglasses; and grind away at collecting an income that they actually can see and touch.
