Pro-File Amir Vahedi: The Emir of Poker
Guess what, kids? There’s more to life than poker. Just ask Amir Vahedi. Here’s everyone’s favorite cigar-chomping poker genius on bluffing, ripping up rulebooks, and why we should all just chill out a little bit.
Amir, you led an interesting life before you discovered poker…
(Laughs) Yes, I sure did. I’ll keep it short. I was born in Iran and, after the revolution, I went to fight in the Iran/Iraq war. I later left the country, skipping over the border to Afghanistan and through to Pakistan. I eventually ended up in East Berlin and made it through to West Berlin, then on to France and London. It took me all of two-and-a-half years before I reached the United States. When I got here, I became involved in business and opened up a little Italian restaurant in San Francisco. Then I moved to LA.
I used to go and play the casino games in Las Vegas. In 1997 I sold my businesses because I wanted to retire, but I knew I’d go broke playing the casino games, so that’s when I decided to play poker for a living. I took a shot at a small tournament, and won – the very first tournament I’d played. So I got hooked on tournaments, and then I began traveling around, playing bigger tournaments. In 2002, I played my first ever $10,000 event, and the very next year, I was on the final table of the World Series Main Event. So that’s it. Poker’s my only source of income, so I guess that makes me a professional (laughs).
Did you have a mentor?
No. To this day, I haven’t read a single book about poker. What really helped me was that I’m a very good observer. Back when I was learning the game, no one would talk to you or give you any tips. It was a very closeted community. So you just had to watch people closely. I paid attention to the guys who were winning a lot. I spent hours watching the final tables, and while I was getting limited information, it still helped me to see how they attacked, how they defended, and so on. I could get upset when I was losing money, but I just kept my eyes open and realized that every loss was a valuable lesson. What you have to realize is that, with poker, there is no book; each situation is different, and you have to respond to each situation by being open-minded. You can’t follow a formula.
That explains why you have a very aggressive style that’s very much of your own making…
A lot of people think I’m aggressive, but really, I’m an opportunist. I take advantage of opportunities that arise during the game. I don’t call that aggression because there are times when I’ll sit on my stack for hours and hours. You have to know when to change gears. But I’ll exploit any opportunity I see, and that takes a lot of hard work. You have to be so aware of what’s going on at the table in order to recognize those opportunities. And of course you need that killer instinct (laughs).
As a great tournament specialist, what advice can you give all these new young players on the scene?
Well, to be honest with you, I think they’re doing better than a lot of the old timers. In fact, some of these kids are taking my breath away, the way they’re playing. But the advice I would give is that you’ve got be open-minded and able to change your strategy at any time. I’ve seen players come along, and they may win one or two tournaments, but they’re using the same strategy. They can only do well for so long, because, once the pros have figured them out, they just become a readable pattern. In poker, you have to keep changing your game because the pros are always watching you and recording what you do. That’s our job. Retain that element of surprise at all times.
My second piece of advice is about the lifestyle. When some of these kids win big money so young – well, they have no concept of what money is and of what it can do for their young lives. They haven’t been through the graft and the ups and downs that you get in life – and in this business especially. Some of them win millions and, a year later, they go broke, because they think that money is easy to come by and that it always will be. They don’t realize that they may not win another tournament for a long time. You have to cherish that money and use it for your future; invest it. You also have to have a life away from poker. Poker’s nice, but it’s not life; it’s work. Because these kids are so young, when they go broke they can’t go to any other job. Once you’ve been a millionaire, you can’t go back to work for a salary – it’s hard. Why work for $100,000 a year when you know you can make a million overnight?
What’s the greatest bluff you’ve ever pulled?
I’ve made a lot of good bluffs; in fact, that’s the main part of my game. I wouldn’t call them bluffs, though. It’s more about making calculated hand reads and being able to act on those reads. On the 2003 WSOP final table, everyone says that I made a bad bluff against Sammy Farha, but it wasn’t a bluff; it was a very simple case of misreading the situation. But that’s the price you pay: You make a read and you know what the chances are that your opponent cannot call you because of the hand that you’re representing. Sometimes you’re wrong, but you have to do it, because if you’re right nine out of ten times, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t have faith in your judgment. Some people make reads on their opponents, but they don’t act on them; they prefer to be cautious in case they’re wrong. But I’ll put my money in there if I think I can win the pot – that’s just the kind of player I am.
You talk about the importance of seeing poker as a job, so what do you do when you’re not at work?
Anything to get away from the poker table (laughs). I’ll be honest with you: I don’t really enjoy poker anymore. I kid you not: it’s nothing but a job to me now. I like the sense of competition, and I like to win tournaments – besides the money, I like to know that everything I’ve worked for has come to fruition; that I have the discipline to make the right decisions. But I also try to stay away from cards as much as possible (I try to… I’m not saying I’m very successful…). I take vacations in places where there are no casinos and just sit back and enjoy life. What use is all this money if you don’t enjoy yourself? Some players – they make so much money, and the only thing they change about their lives is the limit of the game they are playing. That sucks (laughs). Life is short. You wanna spend it all at the poker table? Be my guest… Not me!
I like to go watch movies. Every movie you see, it’s a two-hour experience in totally different personalities, and that helps you as a poker player. Don’t forget, you have to be a good people-reader. It’s not like you study people like they’re laboratory mice, it’s just you have to have an interest in humanity. The more interest you have, the more accurate you will be about people’s personalities. To me, there is no such thing as a bad person; there’s only your expectation of that person. Even if a guy robs your house; well, he’s still a hero to his father, or to his kids, because he brings the bread home. Everybody has a good side; it’s just up to you to look into it. As a poker player, it will help you do your job better if you look deeper into people. So get away from the table, watch movies, read books, meet as many people as you can in life, and that will help your game.
So to relax, I like to dine out – I love to have good food in a good restaurant. I love to go fishing, although I don’t get a chance to do that very often. Eating, though – I do quite a lot of that (laughs). Oh, and smoking cigars, obviously…
What’s your favorite cigar?
Definitely Cuban. Once you go Cuban, you can’t go back (laughs). I have a variety of Cubans that I smoke. I keep changing them. It’s like wine: you don’t want to drink the same stuff all the time. French wine and Cuban cigars; that’s me happy…
You’re a popular figure at the poker table because you like to joke around and entertain people. What’s your favorite table joke?
There’s so many. When I joke around with my American colleagues, and I’m getting the better of them, I always hear the last resort tactic: “Hey, why don’t you learn to speak English?” I always say, “Listen buddy, if I could speak English as well as you do, I wouldn’t be making a living playing poker. I’d probably have a job!” (laughs) It doesn’t take English to play poker! That usually quiets them down a bit.
But I like to have fun at the table. I like to make people laugh. There are some miserable people out there, but I always say: “What? Are we all going to die during this tournament? We’re all going to get knocked out at some point; we may as well have fun.” We all get our fair share of bad beats; we’ve got to lighten up. It’s not the end of the world. It’s just a day at the office and there are bad days and good days, like there are at any office. Some guy might say to me, “I’m going to knock you of this tournament.” I’ll say, “Well, you might, but it’s going to cost you a lot of money to try.” And maybe he does, but I just go home, watch a movie, have nice food, and come back again the next day to try again.
What’s the strangest thing you ever saw happen at the poker table?
I once saw a guy ask a woman to marry him at the table. I thought, “God help you both!” (Laughs). There are so many funny things that happen at the table; it’s the greatest place in the world. You see all these people of different ages and different backgrounds and cultures – it’s the only place in the world where they all come together, put everything aside, and all that matters is the game of poker. That’s why it’s unique and that’s why I love it. I’ve been playing so many years and I’ve met so many people: strange people, nice people, nasty people… so many characters,
What has been the proudest moment of your career?
I’ve been in this business for almost ten years, and I’ve kept my head up. I have a good name and a good reputation. It’s hard to maintain that with the ups and downs you have in this business. That’s what makes me proud – that I have the respect of the poker community. And because of the poker boom, I’m proud in front of my kids. They’re proud of me, too. They brag about me in school, and that’s the best feeling any dad can have. For years I used to hide my job from people, and I didn’t know how to explain to my kids that I made a living on the poker table. In other people’s eyes I was a gambler, and that was a very irresponsible thing to be for someone bringing up children. The poker boom is the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and it’s not about the prize money, it’s about making my job legit to my family. I can go home and be a proud father.
Finally, is there any thing you want to promote?
The only thing I want to promote is this: To all you poker players out there, try to get together to form some kind of union or association. Trust me, you guys deserve to make more than what you’re getting. All the corporations are making millions off you and some of that should go into your pockets. By standing together you can help each other. Don’t just be happy with the very short-term individual profit. In the long run, it’s better for everybody, from the top guys to the little guys. We all need to work together.
