Posted by The Captain | Filed under The Pros Speak
Welcome back to The Pros Speak. This week we have Andy Bloch - truly a man of many talents. In addition to being a world-class poker player, he holds degrees in electrical engineering and law, was a member of the MIT Blackjack Team, and runs the (Unofficial) World Poker Tour Fan Site. Clearly, he’s got a lot going on.
In spite of his busy schedule, Andy was good enough to give us a few minutes of his time and share his thoughts on a few things. Here’s what he had to say:
What’s an "average" day consist of for you?
There really is no average day in my life. For the six weeks of the WSOP, I get up at about 10:30 a.m. and get to the Rio for the noon tournament (or later if I’m playing a later event). The rest of the year, if I’m not playing in a live tournament, I’ll often play on line. But I don’t have a set schedule and I do travel a lot. In the past year, I’ve traveled all around the world, from Australia for the Aussie Millions in January, to London for the WSOP Europe, all over Germany for Full Tilt’s Million Euro Challenge, to Washington, DC for a charity poker tournament and to lobby Congress with the Poker Players Alliance. I’ve also been to Ireland, the Netherlands, and Israel.
Sure, I play for fun – once a week or more. In fact, I only play if it’s fun, even when I’m playing high limits. Sometimes I’ll play for play money or $1 Sit & Gos, or join a friend at a low buy-in tournament around town. Sometimes I’ll be out with other pros in a casino, and we’ll play low limits while making much bigger side bets on the flop. A couple of months ago, after a concert at the House of Blues, I beat Phil Gordon for about $4500 betting on the flops while we played 2-4 no limit at the Mandalay Bay.
What would you do if you weren’t playing poker for a living?
I might be doing some other gambling, or making use of one of my degrees – Law and Electrical Engineering.
I’ve started to play golf. Last year, I tried playing for the first time in Melbourne, lost a dozen balls, and didn’t finish most of the holes. Chris Ferguson and I started taking lessons at the end of the summer.
Chris Ferguson – I’ve never seen him be mean to anyone.
What something interesting about you that people might not know?
I’ve been arrested five times. Four incidents took place in casinos because of my blackjack skills (in three different countries plus a Native American reservation), where the bogus charges were always dropped. My other arrest was at an anti-war demonstration in front of the White House. Representing myself, I had my conviction overturned on appeal on First Amendment grounds.
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