Last Friday, former Bear Stearns executive Steven Begleiter joined Bloomberg news hosts Mark Crumpton and Lori Rothman to discuss his sixth place finish in the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event and his future in the game.
Crumpton incorrectly stated that the WSOP Main Event was a $10 million buy-in poker tournament, but, nevertheless, Begleiter turned out in a coat and tie with no logos for Full Tilt, which he represented in Las Vegas earlier this month. On his skill level compared to the eight others at the final table of the $10,000 buy-in tournament, Begleiter explained, “I thought I was pretty good for the guys I played against [in my home game]. I didn’t think I’d go toe to toe with Phil Ivey. That’s the great thing about the Main Event: it allows humble amateurs and pros to go side by side and they can’t use their big money skills to pressure you.”
Many in the industry have wondered what will happen to the 2009 version of the WSOP Main Event November Nine. Main Event champion Joe Cada, now five days removed from his 22nd birthday, has vowed to remain a regular in the online tournament scene and build his presence in live events. Runner-up Darvin Moon will likely return to the forests of Maryland and continue logging. Begleiter told Bloomberg what to expect in the future from the financial guru: “When I made the final table in July, my partners were very good in allowing me to have the time I needed to play a few more tournaments, but now that it’s over, I’m probably back to being a one tournament a year guy.”
Begleiter’s experience in the financial services industry may have helped fuel his run in the WSOP Main Event. With 6,494 players entering, Begleiter outlasted all but five and earned $1.6 million. He revealed the corollaries between the two industries to Crumpton and Rothman: “There are definitely some. You need to have an affinity for understanding your probabilities pretty quickly, but really your opponents are telling you stories. You either have to believe them or not. A lot of us in the investment business, we hear a lot of stories. We decide whether we believe them or not and we put our chips to work in one way or another.”
Today’s poker world is full of players in their 20s. According to Begleiter, some in the industry could excel in the world of Wall Street: “I got to meet a lot of people in their 20s who were very good card players that, were we still at Bear Stearns, I would have tried to get them to come join the firm. One of them coached me, Jonathan Little, who is a very accomplished player. People like him would do very well here on Wall Street.” Little is a two-time World Poker Tour (WPT) champion, having taken down the Season VI Mirage Poker Showdown and Season VII Foxwoods World Poker Finals. In Season VI, he captured Player of the Year honors.
Bloomberg’s hosts then asked if the 47 year-old amateur poker player was present at Bear Stearns for its eventual collapse and sale to J.P. Morgan. Begleiter responded, “It was really my only job. I started right out of college and I was there until we closed. I had a pretty good seat on what was happening and it was really my second family. It was a great disappointment the way things ended.” After his WSOP Main Event run in July, Begleiter took ninth in the WPT Legends of Poker for $39,000.
The five and a half minute segment ended with an uninformed Rothman asking if Begleiter had ever played “electronic poker.” The poker world will now wait and see if Begleiter truly becomes a one tournament per year player or if he’ll be more of a staple on the circuit.
