Aussie Millions:It’s Good to Be Richard Brodie

The title of this post is an irrefutable fact. For those of you who might have missed the ESPN WSOP Nuts segment on Mr. Brodie, I’ll tell you a little bit about his background. A brilliant computer scientist, he left Harvard to work for XEROX, where he wrote code for early word processors. He was hired away by Microsoft, and once there he did most of the original programming for Microsoft Word. He’s reaped the rewards that came form being the 71st employee (or thereabouts) of one of the most successful companies in recorded history.

Richard now spends his time pursuing his interests, one of which is poker. Like many of the brainy pros, Richard is an advocate of game theory and its applications in poker.

He plays poker because the game presents a challenge that intrigues him. He wants to be known as a world-class player, so he’s putting in the time and thought that will allow him to achieve that goal.

I’m fortunate enough to share a couple of other interests with Mr. Brodie — cigars and Scotch. This afternoon we ventured to a cigar shop in the Crown, where we smoked a light Cuban Partagas and sipped Lagavuilin.

We talked poker mostly. He talked about the importance of value betting the river and discussed some flaws he saw in Sklansky’s Fundamental Theorem. I wasn’t taking notes (did I mention the cigars and scotch?) but hopefully I’ll be able to write more fully about his thoughts on these topics when I’m in a more reporter-ly state of mind.

Richard busted form the tournament yesterday, so he’s leaving town tomorrow, heading to Thailand. He’ll be flying first class on Cathay Pacific, which, Richard tells me, has dazzling service. When he described the luxury he could expect on the flight I said, “It’s good to be Richard Brodie.”

“Yes it is,” he replied.

Richard is an avid blogger. You can read more about him at Lion Tales.