Poker Player Q&A

By: Austin Pratt

A University of Georgia student has found a way to make a sizable amount money from the comfort of his own couch—online poker.

Benjamin Barrows, a fourth-year telecommunications major at UGA, has been playing poker online for a few years and has increased his bankroll dramatically since late last year.

Q: How did you discover the game of poker and when did you start playing?
A: I got into poker around the time it started to get really popular on TV. Chris Moneymaker had won the World Series of Poker Main Event as a no name guy. He won his seat in the tournament by playing online. I was interested so I signed up to play on Pokerstars. I started playing with real money online during my senior year of high school.

Q: Did you have high expectations about winning money when you first started out or were you playing more for fun?
A: I guess I’d always hoped I could win a good amount of money, but at that time a “good amount” to me was like $50. For the most part I played because I really enjoyed the game. I was playing games that cost about $1 to play in which is extremely cheap. If someone would have told me in a couple years I’ll have close to $150,000 in winnings from poker I would have thought it was a joke.

Q: When did you first realize you were getting good enough at poker to consistently earn money from it?
A: About a year after I first started playing for real money I won a tournament for about $150. At that time I couldn’t believe it. Two months after winning that tournament I had gotten up to about $3,000. That’s when I first told my parents I was making good money playing poker. From then on I got really serious about becoming a better player and improving my skills at the game.

Q: What was the most money you won from a single tournament?
A: At one of the World Championship of Online Poker tournaments for Pokerstars I got 7th place for $64,000.

Q: What did you do to work on becoming a better playing and building on your skills?
A: Playing a lot of tournaments helps. Just playing a lot and experiencing different situations and seeing how people play is really beneficial. I also read a lot on poker forums and blogs online and just talked to other poker players about strategy and playing style. Bouncing ideas off of other players was good because it showed me different perspectives on how to approach the game.

Q: In your opinion, what separates a good player from a bad one?
A: The thing that separates a good player from a bad one is the decisions you make. Great players will almost always make the correct decision based on the situation, and they have reasons for why they made that decision. This ability helps take the luck out of the game and turns it into more of a skill.

Q: Has your earnings this past year changed your plans for the future concerning college and possibly playing professionally full time as your job?
A: I would love to make a living off of poker. If I don’t win a ton of money, then I might get a normal job and just play poker on the side. But, if I’m able to keep up my current win rat, I think it is very possible to make a career out of it. Regardless, I still want to graduate with my telecommunications degree.

Edited by: Sloane Wimberly