Confessions of a Poker Writer: Authentic Cheeseburger Salesmen

Confessions of a Poker Writer: Authentic Cheeseburger Salesmen

In this week’s confessions series Lee Davy talks about authenticity and how it has reared its beautiful head in poker this week.

Mukul Pahuja called Phil Hellmuth a cheeseburger salesman. The World Poker Tour Player of the Year knows he will one day sit opposite him. There will be an uncomfortable silence broken by a gesture of some kind. He doesn’t care. I love Confessions of a Poker Writer: Authentic Cheeseburger Salesmenit. It was a glimpse of authenticity.

Mike Sexton called out the World Series of Poker. He believes they have devalued the prestige of winning a bracelet, have put their bottom line before their customers, and have spread their brand too thin. He will play at the event. He will mix and talk with the powers to be at the WSOP. I love it. I saw another glimpse of authenticity.

Jason Somerville attracted over 9,500 viewers during his Sunday Grind live stream on Twitch. Do PokerStars keep their sponsored pros on a leash? From the outside in, I can see how people may formulate the opinion that they do. I have never believed that. I believe the pro has put that leash on, not their owner. They have chosen to be inauthentic. Somerville is proof that players can choose to be authentic. They don’t have to be a puppet on a string. Stars have let him loose on the world. The man, who had to be inauthentic for so many years of his life, is currently flying on a cloud of Monkey Magic proportions.

Poker is made up of a lot of moving parts. One such part is the ability to deceive your opponent. It’s important that neither your body language nor your play gives off an inkling as to your true intention. Perhaps, this is why we often see a lot of inauthenticity, especially from sponsored players. They have become so good at wearing the mask when they play; they forget to take it off when they take a dump.

I’m not saying that Pahuja’s cheeseburger comment was smart. Slagging off your opponent’s and speaking your mind is not what authenticity is all about. There are times when you need to be a politician. That’s fine, as long as you do so for the right reasons.

I am currently listening to The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon. There is a wonderful little tale of a young Bezos telling his Grandmother, that he had calculated, if she continued to smoke at the rate she was, her life expectancy would be reduced by x amount of years. His grandfather pulled him to one side and said, “Son, sometimes it pays to be kind instead of smart.”

He was teaching his Grandson to be a politician.

The most successful people on this planet are great politicians.

But there’s a fine line.

We know how difficult it is to show people our vulnerability. The feelings that come from the mere thought of expression terrify some people. Authenticity is the experience of being who you really are. That can be difficult when someone shoves a camera in your face and starts digging into your life. But we can sniff out the imposters a mile away. I lose a little bit of respect if I think someone is not being themselves, and are instead being who they believe people want them to be.

This is particularly true of players who represent poker rooms.

Some people don’t know who they are.

I am going through that part of my life.

I thought I had the world sussed out for a very long time. Then something changed. I won’t go into the detail here, but I started a journey of personal continuous improvement. I think it carries on for life.

The changes impacted me greatly. I am healthier, I look younger, and I know, that as long as I can avoid that bus, I will live longer. And I have more of the two most important things for me: freedom and happiness.

But there is also confusion. Sometimes I don’t know who I am. I want to change the world. I don’t know how. I am always pushing life to the edge. I try new things all the time. When they don’t work I get frustrated. I want to change the lives of those I love and feel ineffective, frail and weak.

But when I write, I feel like I am showing you who I am – at least in that moment. This week a third party asked me to write an article for them. There was no remit. I wrote about the importance of putting up boundaries in your life to separate gambling from your personal life. I didn’t do that and I broke the heart of my first wife as a result.

Apparently, you aren’t allowed to write the word ‘divorce’ and the word ‘poker’ in the same article. Instead it has to be all rosy, white and virginal. I wrote about real life. I was asked to write something else. I don’t want to fake it. Not on this occasion. I think I will pass.

You cannot control how the world will receive you. I know that you want to be valued and respected. That you try very hard. But everyone has a built in bullshit detector. Inauthenticity reeks of skunk tail soup.

That’s why I have been proud of my poker peeps this week.

The place has smelled absolutely lovely.