Andy Seth (better known online as BKiCe) is a 27-year-old professional poker player originally from Illinois. He'll be online at 3pm ET | 8pm BST to answer your questions in the comment thread below.
How did you get your start in poker?
My curiosity in poker began with ESPN’s television coverage of the World Series of Poker in the early-mid 2000s. The broadcasts fascinated me and I was always interested in learning the strategy and reasoning behind everyone’s bets but didn’t have a clue where to start until I met my best friend Ben Lefew during my sophomore year at the University of Illinois. Ben was already a very experienced and skilled poker player and after hearing about my interest in poker was happy to take me under his wing, tell me what to read/study, and answer any questions I had as I began my online poker career.
We usually ask people to take us through a typical day at work. Do you play every day? If so, do you prepare? Can you take us through an average game-day?
One of the most appealing aspects of being a professional poker player is the freedom it allows me. This freedom generally means that there is no typical day as a poker player: one day I might spend my time playing a tournament at the World Series of Poker – this means I must be there at a certain time (usually noon) and am subject to the schedule of the tournament for as long as I survive in the tournament (generally two hours of play followed by 15 minute breaks repeated throughout the day for a total of 10 hours of play). The next day I might opt to play a cash game where I can show up and leave as I please – if I am having a poor day or just not in the mood to play, I can leave within an hour of sitting down; conversely, if I feel in the zone I can stay as long as I want. The next day (or month …) I might wake up not feeling like working and decide to relax or work on one of my other businesses.
What’s the biggest mistake you’ve ever made during a poker game?
From a financial perspective I’d say refusing to chop the remaining prizepool when I was heads up (one player away) from winning a World Series of Poker bracelet in a $1,500 event in 2009. The difference in prize money was about $235,000 and my opponent was willing to give me the lion’s share of this as I had more chips than he, but I was confident in my chances and decided to gamble instead of locking up a bigger payday. I ended up losing after one unlucky hand (my AQ vs his AK) and one bad beat (my AJ vs his A5) which netted me $150,000 less than I would have earned if I agreed to chop.
How much money, on average, would you say you make a year playing poker?
This is hard to say, both because of the inherent variance in poker and the constantly changing landscape of poker. For example, my expectation was much higher when I could play online poker as well as in casinos in the US; now I must travel outside the US to play online poker. Including 2013, I have played poker professionally for eight years. Seven of those were winning years. I have had two seven-figure winning years and one six-figure losing year in that time.
Can you describe a reality of being a professional poker player that you think other people not be aware of?
The freedom that poker allows you can be both a blessing and a curse. You are your own boss and generally have no one telling you what to do or where to be. I’ve already touched on the upsides of this, but there are clear downsides too. Because of the individual nature of the game, you can often feel isolated and alone – there is no real concept of a team in poker. There are also countless opportunities to make bad decisions in the poker world – you have to consistently be able to responsibly manage your finances and be honest with yourself to see continued success. There also aren’t many professions in which you can do everything right and watch yourself lose tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of your own money.
Andy will be online this afternoon to answer your questions about poker, online gambling and anything else you want to know. Toss your questions in the comments.
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Highlights from the Q&A
Question:
I have a question: Don't you find it boring? Playing the same trivial game so much?
Answer:
Definitely not! Part of what makes poker so fascinating is that the same hand never happens twice. Every hand is a completely unique mix of personalities, cards, and cosmic circumstances and I enjoy the challenge of trying to make the best decision every time I have the opportunity.
Question:
Do players really need to ‘keep a poker face’? Or do the good players simply ignore everything they see on the other players’ faces, in order to avoid being scammed?
Answer:
I personally do not put much stock into people's facial expressions for the exact reasons you mentioned, though some players are excellent at reading people's faces. I think staying relaxed and having fun at the poker table is more important than constantly worrying about giving off tells and keeping a poker face.
Question:
Do you know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away and know when to run?
Do you ever count your money when you're sittin' at the table?
Because I've heard there'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done.
Answer:
What I really love is coming back from a break during a live tournament, putting my headphones on, and having this song come up on shuffle. Always gets me.
Also, yes to all five questions.
for those who don't know what we're talking about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj4nJ1YEAp4
Question:
Hello Andy, have you ever been in a tournament when somebody has been caught cheating?
Answer:
Not to my knowledge.
Question:
What will you do when you lose it all and end up selling the family farm?
Answer:
Most of my money is in the stock market, so if I were to lose my gambling bankroll I would be OK for a while. Might get an MBA, find something I could help with at one of the companies I've invested in, or start my own company.
Question:
Which "tell" do you see most frequently with opponents at the poker table? Or is that giving away too much?
Answer:
I think tells are overrated, I don't put too much stock into them or spend much time looking for them. Wish I had a better answer.
Question:
If all variants of poker were equally well-remunerated, which would be your favourite?
If you found yourself on a table with a poker superstar in the early stages of the WSOP main event, would you take more chances against them because of the glory of knocking out a big name? Or be more cautious because you know about their abilities?
Do you think a federal law relegalising online poker is likely to be passed at some point? And if not, would you consider moving to New Jersey (or another state that passed the law)?
And one more: how much (if anything) do you make from endorsements?
Answer:
Pot Limit Omaha is currently my favorite form of poker.
I don't think I would let their presence affect my game, I would just try to make good decisions and play my game.
Federal regulation seems inevitable to me just because there is so much tax revenue at stake.
Zero, no endorsements for second place! (I've gotten 2nd in both a WSOP event and a WPT event.)
Question:
ever won showing a 7-2?
do you play differently when you are on TV?
Answer:
Absolutely, but I don't think I've ever done it sober.
I don't think I play differently when I'm on TV, but I don't really have enough experience to tell you for sure. Hopefully soon! :]
Question:
Have you ever ran out of cash at the table but was holding such a good hand at the time that you had to cary on and ended up putting your watch, car, house etc. in the pot to cover a bet? Or are the professional games not as exciting as that?
Answer:
I've only ever played poker games that use table stakes, which basically means you can't bet more than you have on the table in chips/cash when the hand starts. More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_stakes