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Carolina Bar Owner playing sharp
Don Emery has combined his work and is making a decent living at it. Emery
owns his own bar, The Dog House in Myrtle Beach, and has recently discovered
a passion and a gift for playing poker. He says that he loves the travel
that takes him to the big tournaments, and playing against the big boys on
the poker circuit, but would not want to be on the road full time.
Emery grew up playing games at home with his parents, and recently joined
the internet poker phenomenon, and has already finished second in two World
Poker Tour events, earning more than $158,000 in less than a year of a par
time professional career.
Emery began playing when Texas Hold ‘Em started to come on television, and
says, “I really got into it. I went to Costa Rica for vacation and a
tournament. It was a big adjustment form playing online, but it was a
learning experience and a nice travel opportunity.”
Since that first sitting which hooked him on the game, Emery has played in
15 events, taking time off from the bar to see the sites as well as play the
tournaments. He has begun to close the gap between playing over a computer
and sitting down with flesh and bone players.
“You can pick up reads on people and see if the pulse in their neck is
beating, if their hands are twitching, their eye movements. I rarely look at
the flop. I’m always looking at the players, especially the aggressors, to
see if they’re looking at their cards, the chips, or the flop.”
Emery says that watching a poker game on television is a lot different than
playing a tourney for real.
“It’s mentally exhausting, like playing a game of chess,: he says. “You
don’t want to make a mistake because it only takes one to knock you out at
any moment.”
Emery has learned the hard way that even when you play your best and seem to
do everything right, things can still go wrong. Both times Emery came in as
runner up, he went all in with a better hand than his opponent, but was
beaten by the final card. Emery looks at the bright side, though.
“I get to travel all over the world and pay for it by playing. And even if I
lose, it’s still a tax write off!”
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