This isn't the neighborhood where you expect a professional poker player to live. Nothing about this Elk Grove house tells of the $2 million payday Aaron Kanter had last year.
It's modest.
It's homey.
And the couple who greet you at the door are young and soft-spoken.
But the hints are there. There's a wood-encased poker set on the coffee table. A Card Player magazine peeks out from the corner of the living room. Upstairs, pictures frame one of the most incredible moments of Kanter's life -- his whirlwind fourth-place finish at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.
Sitting at last year's final table, Kanter became the latest rookie to inspire card players to enter the highly publicized tournament after beating 5,616 people. He inspired other Texas Hold 'em junkies with the hope that they, too, could turn a $10,000 entry fee into millions with a little luck on "the river" and a bit of trickery in a bluff.
He'll take another stab at the pot as the World Series of Poker's opens its tables July 28. This year, he will pay his own entry fee.
"It's made a big difference in my life," Kanter, 28, said. "A lot more people come up to me asking about the experience, especially around the Elk Grove area."
The celebrity and the money attached to the World Series of Poker final table isn't lost on onlookers or other poker players. Poker pro J.C. Tran, who spent 15 years in Elk Grove before moving to Natomas recently, said he's made 30 or 40 final tables in his career, but those aren't in the same league with the Vegas event.
"The World Series of Poker final table is what people remember," said Tran in a telephone interview while on a dinner break from a Hold 'em tournament leading to the main event. "For him to make that final table is a life change."
A lot has changed since last July, but Kanter likes to think he's still the same guy who fell in love with his future wife, Jenny, while studying at California State University, Chico. They married in April in a ceremony that -- no surprise -- was upgraded with the poker winnings.
Only his profession has changed, said Kanter. He went from loan officer to professional poker player with the approval of family and friends by winning his way into the poker event online through Partypoker.com.
"I didn't tell my parents when I first started playing (in college)," Kanter said. "I eventually eased my parents into the idea. It was tough at first. My family was skeptical. My grandparents asked me questions about it. They thought it was a problem."
Kanter's mom, Gina, said the way he gradually told her he was playing poker made it easier to handle. She said she didn't really find out how often her son was playing poker until after he won his bid into the World Series of Online Poker.
"That's when I found out how much he was playing and where he was going with it," said Gina Kanter, who also lives in Elk Grove. "It's not something I see him doing all his life because he is frugal and smart with his money. He will live off his investments and then poker would be for entertainment purposes."
There were days he second-guessed himself, especially while attending Chico State when he stopped going to work in order to play poker online. His earnings soon paid for his tuition, books and other expenses.
"At first he was just dabbling in college," said his wife, Jenny Kanter, 26. "I didn't mind. Then he was not going to work and playing poker instead.
"I figured as long as he stayed consistent, what could I say? I was still a little 'sketch' about it."
Jenny Kanter said it's hard to have a problem with her husband's profession when he's winning trips to the Bahamas.
"As long as the bills are getting paid," she said with a shrug.
Kanter plays poker online like it's a regular job, sitting in an all-but-empty room upstairs from 4 p.m. to midnight. He plays up to nine tables at a time, cascading them across his computer screen, betting with around $21,000 in his online account. It's not a game, though. Kanter has studied poker. He reads books and studies video of tournaments. He keeps a binder labeled "Poker Profit/Loss" next to his computer.
Since he began playing, the Lodi native said he has yet to be in the red. Luck is involved, admits Kanter. But it doesn't override the skill. He said the longer a person plays, the less likely luck will be a factor.
That's easy for Kanter to say, because he's known for getting lucky. Kanter was nicknamed "Giant Killer" during last year's poker series because he managed to make hands with the fifth and final community card.
"That can be tough at times because I didn't get the credit I deserved," Kanter said. "I gambled on occasion and it worked out for me."
Kanter doesn't see poker as a long-term career. He is focused on investing his earnings, mostly in real estate across the country, so when he and his wife are ready for kids, he can give up poker for a bit.
"I travel a lot to poker tournaments and I don't want to be on the road that much," Kanter said. "I only have a few years left playing these tournaments regularly. I'm going to do my best at enjoying it while I play it. I'm not sure I'm going to play that much longer."
source : http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/14278875p-15087671c.html
