What compels us to play sports? For most of us, it’s the competition, the physical and mental exercise, and/or the opportunity to socialize. But for professional athletes, it’s all of the above – plus the money. Lots and lots of money if they’re really good at it.
No wonder athletes can’t get enough poker. Once the spirit of competition gets into your blood, it stays there, even after the final whistle blows and everyone’s gone home. Good thing there’s always a poker game somewhere. Now, if only we could get some of these guys to make better choices about where they play.
Alex Rodriguez could certainly benefit from playing online at Bovada Poker. Not only would A-Rod be anonymous, he’d also avoid getting into trouble at those sketchy high-stakes underground games. Back in 2011, Star magazine did a piece on some of the games Rodriguez played in. It read like something from Rounders. Drugs, fighting, hired muscle… all that was missing were the bad Russian accents.
Of course, Major League Baseball wasn’t too happy when this story broke. They were reportedly trying to keep A-Rod away from underground games since as far back as 2005. No professional sports league wants its employees associated with shady figures. MLB officials are especially picky about this, given baseball’s long and checkered past with gambling and corruption.
Compare and contrast Rodriguez with former Cy Young winner Orel Hershiser. He did his poker right, starting in 2006 with the low-limit cash tables at the Red Rock in Summerlin, Nev. Two years later, Hershiser played in the World Series of Poker main event, and even reached the quarterfinals of the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship.
Now it’s commonplace to see athletes take to the felt for major tournaments. This year’s WSOP main event featured Paul Pierce, the former Boston Celtics great who recently signed with the Washington Wizards. Joining him was seven-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Richard Seymour, alongside FC Barcelona center-back Gerard Piqué and UFC welterweight contender Martin Kampmann.
Of all the professional sports outside of poker, hockey might have the biggest obsession when it comes to cards. By the time players reach the NHL, they’ve already spent thousands of hours riding the bus from small town to small town, wearing out countless decks of cards along the way. Then they reach the big leagues and keep playing poker on the plane.
In fact, if you could pick the perfect athlete to make the transition to poker, it might be a hockey goalie. More often than not, these guys are cerebral players with colorful personalities who look like they belong right next to Daniel Negreanu – himself an avid hockey fan. When Roberto Luongo isn’t busy stopping pucks for the Florida Panthers, you can find him at the tables, including his own charity tournament. Luongo even finished in the money at the 2012 WSOP Main Event. A-Rod, this could be you.