Faraz Jaka is one of those people that you like to judge from afar. His style, and look, is synonymous with the great Huggy Bear – Antonio Fargas. It’s whacky and wonderful, individualistic and interesting. If you were to have a guess you would say he was an artist or a pimp, but instead he is one of the most successful poker players on the felt, and an equally successful entrepreneur off the felt too.
It’s good to see a poker player investing his money outside of poker. There are too many stuck in the perpetual cycle of broke-rich-broke, and despite being in the same spot, you don’t feel like Jaka is about to return their anytime soon.
“It’s really important to me that I feel like I am contributing to society. If I can create a drink that makes people feel better then that makes me feel good, if I create something that saves people time it makes me feel good. With poker I don’t generally feel like that, apart from an entertainment perspective. I kind of see it as a means to an end. I try to make sure I can use my publicity to send out the right message and also to use the money I make to useful purposes…and to make a difference.” Says Jaka.
And Jaka has had his fair share of publicity. He was the Season 8 World Poker Tour (WPT) Player of the Year, a stint at the top that attracted a lot of publicity for both Jaka the poker player and Jaka the entrepreneur.
“I measure my time with poker relative to my opportunity costs and since I am playing my poker at the highest level, there is a lot of exposure in the media. You can get to promote things like being healthy, meditating or just publicize my business dealing, so I balance the two.”
Jaka understand the importance of keeping his mind, body, in peak condition. He is a former athlete and recently spent 10-days at a meditation retreat in Thailand where he learned a lot about himself.
“I spent ten days in a meditation retreat where I couldn’t talk. It was probably the best ten days of my life. The not talking wasn’t tough, but concentrating on meditation was. It was like peering into your soul. I was happy with my experience. Everyone should incorporate meditation into their lives…not just poker players.”