- As soon as you said that,
first thought that comes to mind is this guy, Richard Branson.
And somebody asked him,
“What’s the thing that really annoys you?”
and he just said, “When people are discourteous.”
That’s just so real.
Look, it doesn’t matter how annoyed you are.
Just be polite, be warm, be friendly.
It’s so annoying when people are
being brutal to the dealers.
And a lot of the guys I run with,
these guys are spoiled,
rich people and it’s like
just don’t be discourteous to the staff,
to the dealers.
They’re doing their job.
And by the way,
today,
they’re doing their job even less,
affecting the game than ever
because of these machines.
How can you be annoyed
with the dealer or throw cards at the dealer
once the machine spit it out?
In Las Vegas,
when the cards come out of the machine,
we still cut it one time.
In San Jose,
they actually don’t even cut the deck.
And I don’t know if I’m a fan of cutting or not,
but really
cutting the deck
honestly I guess it’s just
wasting time
because maybe you get in one more deal every hour
if you don’t cut the deck.
Really, why do we cut the deck
after it comes out of the machine?
Those DeckMates, too,
I mean, it’s unbelievable.
- It’s just a habit, I think, half the time.
- Habit and maybe people like to see it.
- Superstition.
- But it’s an unnecessary thing,
but –
- So, politeness is important to you.
What else is important to you?
- I mean,
what’s important to me,
just cherishing the people that are dear to you.
- Family.
- When you’re talking about like who are the people –
for me, like my idols in life were
my mom who’s gone now,
my little brother.
Just a good guy.
He goes out and works in New York.
And by the way,
he makes pretty decent money
but with the wife and three kids in New York,
it’s still like a little bit of a struggle.
- Yeah.
- More than just a little bit of a struggle.
I mean, I see –
and he’s very, very good with finances
and works his butt off and,
yeah, it’s interesting for me because
I see him.
He went the 9:00 to 5:00 route
and I went the poker route and,
sure, I have my struggles
and he has his struggles,
but it’s just –
this is part of everyday life.
I got a best friend who
went to Harvard Law School,
lives in Houston,
raising a couple of kids there
and doing well.
But again, it’s like
everybody has got their family
and their struggles and, you know,
finances and all that.
And,
you know, recognizing where you’re at
and being grateful
for the things that you have going for you
and for the opportunity.
And that’s one thing for me is
I’ve been really fortunate
and I haven’t capitalized on it.
And perhaps that’s why my relationships
are as strong as they are is because
I’m not trying to –
I’m not trying to infringe on this relationship –
this person has got access to this, so let me,
you know – and I’ve never exploited that.
And perhaps I’ve squandered opportunities, too,
you know.
But for sure,
like if I decided to go and do a project or whatever,
I do have like a support group that
might be around there,
or they might say,
“Oh, this guy is a poker dude
and I don’t want nothing to do with investing in that.”
- Oh, this guy is going to [0:27:14] [Indiscernible]
like you say, you’ll –
your acquaintances will call them.
It’s probably vast.
And then you have an inner circle of people
who you love,
that you call family,
whether they’re blood-related or not.
But who are the people who are surrounding you
on a more frequent basis?
Who’s in your ear the most?
- Right. Right, right.
Well, for me, I’m very, very fortunate
to be super tight with Andrew Robl.
It’s interesting because right now,
he actually –
he’s building a home but we live in a –
we both live on the same floor in the Mandarin.
And, you know,
he and I,
we’re constantly talking and,
you know, I’ve learned a lot about poker from him.
Even though he’s like much younger than I am,
I’ve learned a lot from him.
And he’s just a really, really good guy,
you know.
And watching him grow –
back in the day,
I thought he was like a little bit socially awkward,
but it’s like really endearing.
But a really, really good, good human being.
And a very fair business guy.
And, you know, I’m rooting for him.
And then there’s Bobby Baldwin, who,
you know – he is my boss but he’s not really my boss.
He’s like my boss’s boss’s boss,
but he’s like a personal mentor.
And I call him my friend as well,
even though I work for the guy.
And it’s interesting because, I mean,
when I first started hanging out with Bobby Baldwin,
he would say something.
I would go home and write,
take notes on some of the things I would learn from him.
And now, just to have this person in my life
and to learn so much from him, it’s –
and I don’t want to, you know,
hurt his image by saying that I’ve learned a lot from him.
[0:28:57] [Indiscernible] No, no, no, no.
But here I am.
I mean, I’m running around on
almost a daily basis with a living legend.
I mean, this guy,
he’s going to go down as one of the,
you know, greatest,
most memorable members of the gambling community ever.
