Difference Between DavidS & Bobby Baldwin?

[Bill Murphy]

Fuzzy people skills, maybe? [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] I wonder if David would want Bobby's job or if he envies BB's paycheck & fame(doubt it)...

Partially a troll, I admit, but its interesting, too: Two men of roughly similar ages, backgrounds, experiences, intelligence, ambitions, poker ability & accomplishments, etc.

Fascinating to compare where they both were at the time of Biggest Game In Town to 22 years later. Bobby certainly the most successful player ever at using poker as a springboard, and David's right up there, too.

And of course, more than a few people say Bobby was the best player ever, too.

Just rambling thoughts, but the comparison had never occured to me before.

[David Sklansky]

As long as I was making 100K a year or more I wouldn't switch with Bobby or almost anyone else who works that many hours for any amount of money. Interestingly Bobby Baldwin himself recently said to me that he often yearns for the poker life.

As far as fame is concerned how could you suggest he is more well known? Check out search engine hits.

[John Ho]

100K a year isn't very much IMO unless you are getting medical coverage with 2+2. Otherwise at your age those premiums can be substantial.

Very intelligent people get bored doing the same thing for too long. Don't you ever wish that, for maybe a year, you worked in corporate management just to see what the challenges were? I've been playing poker pro for a year since I quit my job (60 hours a week) but am getting bored and itching to go back to work believe it or not. This from a guy making decent money playing maybe 25 hours a week.

[Al Mirpuri]

[ QUOTE ]
Interestingly Bobby Baldwin himself recently said to me that he often yearns for the poker life.

[/ QUOTE ]

People often want what they don't have. Tritely, single men yearn to be married and married men yearn to be single. The grass, I guess, IS always greener on the other side. If Bobby Baldwin wanted to play poker full-time he would go back to it and not just sigh out aloud about it. Since he has not done that it we can conclude he does not really want it. People are always second guessing the choices they've made in life. Bobby Baldwin probably romanticises the poker life now that he is not subject to the grind of it.

[scalf]

[img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]hey, ain't america great...you can actually choose your path...and take the less traveled path for awhile, then go back,, much richer...

overall; although i did not know bb or ds personally; it seemed to me that bb was much more people oriented ans ds..(not a prick or aloof)..was not the kind to use dale carnegie techniques....

so both have done very well...by their standards (way far the most important)..and also by societies standards (my value judgement;debatable)...

maybe we all can learn something here...if you hate your life..can't stand going to work/card room.....

led zep.."there's still time to change the road your're on"

gl [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

[cero_z]

John,
Your response illuminates a major difference found in poker pros and elsewhere. Some of us choose poker for its potential to get us rich, or prove something about our abilities (and these are legitimate reasons), whereas others are looking for easy street, namely, a livelihood that allows us as much time as possible living, not working. I suspect David falls closer to the latter than the former (as do I), and he gets his fulfillment from his theorizing, writing, and whatever he does away from poker. Granted, pro poker is a "hard way to make an easy living," but if you're not especially ambitious, there is a point relatively early in your career (probably less than 5 years) at which the NEED to work very hard lessens or dissappears. That is, you know how to win at a limit at which you're satisfied, and can go on doing it as long as you want. I have been earning a decent living playing less than 20 hours a week in a live game, and at the beginning of this year, decided to add a few hours per week of online play. And now, I "work" about 30 hours a week total, which is way more than I thought I wanted to. But, the online hours are much easier to put in than almost any job I know of, since I only play WHEN I REALLY WANT TO. A half hour here, 2.5 hours there, and without feeling like I'm working much harder, I'm putting in 12 extra hours of poker.
I suspect you fall closer to the first category mentioned, and I respect and understand that, too. I have many friends who ask me what I do all day, and when I say that I play (poker, guitar, basketball), the majority of them say, "I could never do that. I'd be bored to death," or something similar. Vive les differences!

[cero_z]

And incidentally, I probably will come in a little under the figure you mentioned this year, and I consider it to be a hell of a lot of money. It allows me and my wife to live comfortably, buy health insurance, travel a bit, and save a bit for the future.

[adios]

A possibly interesting take. At one point I believe Bob Stupak was a billionare on paper due to the purchase of Vegas World by Lyle Berman's corporation Grand Casinos I believe. In the book, No Limit, by John Smith I believe, the mistakes that Berman's corporation made when they bought Stupak out were documented. In fact David is quoted in the book discussing that issue. If the Grand Casinos hadn't made the mistakes they did perhaps David would have been an exec there of some sort working for Stupak. I mean let's face Steve Wynn made Bobby Baldwin an exec so it's not that far fetched IMO.

[Clarkmeister]

If half the stories about Bobby's sexual exploits I've heard are true, I'd rather have Bobby's life. Extra working hours, yeah, but many times the income and women whenever and wherever.

[John Ho]

Great post....yes I am certainly in it for the money. If I was offered a job I hated with long hours but huge bucks I would take it in a heartbeat and retire by age 35 or 40.