Too Much Money

[CEO]

What do you think it would be like to play poker if you just had so much money, no amount of money you could ever risk playing poker would be very significant? Do you think it would make the game more fun, or pointless. Do you think it would make you a better player or a worse one? Would you always play the biggest game or work your way up as you became more skillful in the various games.

To put this question in perspective, imagine your net worth at greater than $100 Million.

It has been reliably reported that Bill Gates plays $3-6 he in casinos. For me, I think it wouldn't make much difference -- as a recreational player, I'm playing for the enjoyment of the game, not the thrill of gambling. In all the times i've been in casinos to play poker, I've never even tried a slot or table game.

[Ulysses]

I think it gives someone who treats the game as a competitive pursuit an advantage. I think it makes the game pretty boring for someone who is just doing it to kill time.

I play poker regularly with friends who have > $100M net worth. None of us in the group regularly play at limits that affect us at all financially. This removes one stress factor that some others at the table feel, which I think is at least a slight advantage. Most of us treat poker just like any other competitive pursuit. The score is kept by chips, so we all try our hardest to get as many of them as possible, no matter whether each one is worth $1 or $1000.

Having said that, I think it all depends on whether or not you really enjoy the game itself. I have friends who play up to 1000-2000 in Vegas, but are terrible poker players. To them, poker is the same as blackjack or craps. I, on the other hand, take poker seriously and usually only play up to 30-60 (I've gone a little higher occassionally, but the bulk of my play is 6-12 and 15-30), just because I don't feel I'm at that level of expertise yet (I've been playing card-room poker for about a year now).

This question actually has a lot to do with what got me started in poker. I've always gone to Vegas a lot and played blackjack and craps. I love Vegas. A couple of years ago I got to the point financially where that started to get boring. I would start betting $25-50 in blackjack or craps. Then I'd get bored and start betting $100-200. Then I'd get bored and would be betting $1000-2000 a hand. At that point I thought it was stupid (regardless of how much I could afford) to be playing a losing game with that much money and after a while decided to pick up poker. And I'm really glad I found the game. A funny side effect is that taking up poker also brought the fun back to craps and blackjack for me. Now I can take a few thousand to those tables and it really feels like gambling after playing serious poker for a few hours!

As for moving up, I think two or three out of the ten or so high net-worth poker players I know will end up playing very high. The others won't just because they don't have the desire to put the time in to get to that level of expertise. And none of these guys will do anything competitive unless they are going to be a top performer.

[HDPM]

I think I'd lose interest for a time, but then decide to play. I don't play primarily for money anyway, so I think I'd play big but not huge games. Probably 75-150 up to 400-800 and some midsize pot limit games. I'd jump right into bigger games and learn as I go. No question I'd become a better player from it. (And some private lessons from David)
I have experienced a miniature version of this myself recently. Net worth is nowhere near 100M, but we hit a point financially that I think I could play mid-limits forever with no real sweat. I have never been in that position before. But I actually didn't want to play. I started thinking that maybe since my primary motivation to play was not money that I should spend time and effort doing something more financially sound with the money. I could take 10 K and buy a little piece of real estate or something. If I won 10 or 20 K in poker it wouldn't matter and I wouldn't do anything with it but play. If I lost 10K I'd be mad. Before the loss wouldn't have mattered as much for whatever reason and the win would have seemed a little bigger, even if all I was going to do was play. Because of being busy with other things, I have not had a chance to play recently anyway. But I think I will get to play in a week or two and will prolly play a notch lower than I was playing to see how I feel. If I get too bored I'll have a problem, particularly if I don't want to play higher. Am I nuts? I think tho that I'll be a better player if I play a notch lower and not get too bored.

[Ulysses]

If I won 10 or 20 K in poker it wouldn't matter and I wouldn't do anything with it but play. If I lost 10K I'd be mad.

That's exactly how I feel, but I think it keeps me focused on the game. It's near impossible for me at my current level of expertise to win an amount of money at poker that would make any material impact on my financial situation. However, it's very easy to lose an amount that doesn't have any real material impact but still really pisses me off!

It's funny. I come back from Vegas up $25K and I just put it in my bank account and by the next week I've forgotten about it. I lose $5-10K in Vegas and for at least a few weeks I'm really mad at myself for throwing away money which could have made a huge difference to many people or organizations.

[Michael Davis]

If I were worth in excess of 100 million dollars, I would have a new, unbelievably attractive 25-year-old wife every two years. Thus, I would not have much time to play cards. (Ah, such a pathetic dream, and especially troubling since I consider myself a feminist...)

In actuality, I would play much higher limits where I can do some serious thinking. I would play for the challenge of playing against brilliant players and would do my best to turn a profit, though it wouldn't happen.

Mike

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

I play in a home game every other week for micro money - nickel, dime , quarter. The guy in the game with the biggest net worth (I'd consevatively estimate his yearly gross income is $500,000) treats every nickel like it's the end of the world.

It all depends on attitutde.

[MRBAA]

Funny you mention that -- I also play in nickel dime quarter home game and one of the tightest players (although a very good sport) is a multi-millionaire.

[Fitz]

This is an interesting thread; I'd like to give a twist to the discussion. I played in a home game 15 years ago with some friends of a friend; they were all middle aged guys making well into 6 figures who had been playing together for years. I was a kid just out of school maybe making 20 or 25k a year. We played mostly 1/2 up to 3/6 dealers choice(Very low for them; very high for me). I was one of best players in the game even back then; I supplimented my meager income quite nicely in those games, and I learned a ton from those guys about how to treat the chips as tools not money. I was sorry to see that game break up because it was a unique combination of a lucrative game, a good bunch of guys and a situation to learn too.

Just another way to look at it,

Good luck all,