RockStar Holdem: You’ve been playing poker for about five years and are still a young guy. Do you see this as a stepping stone to something else or is this looking like a solid career to you? (It does to us.)
Joe Sebok: Everything in my life has always been a stepping stone to something else. Translation: I get bored easy. Haha. I’m sure I will always play poker in some capacity, but there are other aspirations that I have in life, aspirations that poker is helping me to achieve incidentally. I’ll always be invovled, but I’ll definitely be involved in other things as well.
RH: We’ve read that you’re an entrepreneurial type of guy. What kind of business would you be running had you not clicked so well with poker? And, growing up with The Bear (Barry Greenstein) what took you so long to get hooked?
JS: Well Bear never played cards with me as a kid, to his credit. He pushed sports and education, so those were the things I focused on most. I think he understood that those foundations would enable me to have a strong and successful life, more so than poker alone. I owe the poker boom itself to getting involved with the game. Without it, I probably would never have at all.
As far as another business, it would probably either be a web one (like PokerRoad.com) or something in music. Maybe a mixture of both. I just like to be doing new things all the time, so maybe it would be several. You never know…
RH: We’ve read that you are pretty competitive; do you and your poker buddies ever play heads up just for bragging rights?
JS: Haha. Nope, not at all. More like headsup for shots of vodka. :) I think we all love having fun, more than we love having money. Maybe that’s just me though…wait a minute…
RH: We know you’re a big fan of prop bets. Tell us about a crazy one and with whom you bet and who won.
JS: The most public one was the one with Gav and myself at the WSOP, where I lost and had to dress up as superheroes for 4 days. It was…the best.
The best ones that never happened were when I was trying to create a poker reality show based around prop betting. Would have been super sweet, but it ended up collappsing in pre-production. Too many cooks in the kitchen…sigh…
RH: According to Wikipedia (I guess you’ve made it if you have a Wiki entry), your three-year winnings total close to $2 million. That’s not a bad living. What do you splurge on?
JS: Man, I see that number and all I can think of are all the close finishes and almosts. It probably should have been about 5mill. The funny thing about me is that I really don’t value or care about money at all. I am probably the least materialistic person that you will ever meet. In fact, I still drive my old Nissan Xterra that I had in college. Not even a new car! I really enjoy doing things rather than having things, so my money will always go towards trips and things like that.
RH: Have you seen any good movies lately, perhaps Jeff Goldblum’s The Fly?
JS: Ahhhhhhh! Why you gotta bring that up!?!? Terrible childhood memories…see my blog, as I guess you already have!
I love movies actually and it’s one of my favorite things to do; go out to see them. Haven’t seen anything amazing recently, but did catch “Last of the Mohicans” on tv, and that’s one of my favorites.
RH: For anyone who has never been to your site pokerroad.com, tell us why we should check it out.
JS: Wow. It’s a one-stop-shop for all things poker entertainment related. No one else has the kind of access into the professional poker world that we do. They just don’t. We will continue to bring that world to all of you, and we’ll only get better at it. In fact, I have some pretty sick plans for the ‘09 WSOP on PokerRoad, so stay tuned for it…you won’t want to miss it!
RH: You’re becoming a well-recognized face. What are the perks of being a hot young poker player?
JS: Haha. Well, thank you. Hmmm, I dunno. Panties thrown at you? Millionaires giving you their car keys? Nah, none of that happens of course. The coolest thing is when fans come up and tell me how much they love PokerRoad and how whether it was a funny radio show or an interview they saw, it helped them through something that they were going through. That kind of stuff is just priceless.
RH: We’re music lovers here at RockStar Hold’Em. What types of music might we find on Joe Sebok’s Ipod?
JS: Oh man, right in my wheelhouse! There’s nothing I love more in life than music, so you asked the right question. I have over 70 gigs of music and I have been seeking out new stuff since I was about 14…it’s my passion for sure. Some of my favorites are Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Butler Trio, Beatles, Fall Out Boy, Citizen Cope…trust me, the list goes on and on and on and on and on and…
RH: Being the music aficionado that you are, given the choice, would you rather win a grammy or a WSOP Main Event bracelet?
JS: Hmmm, I think the Grammys have really gone down in appreciation. It seems that they have the same people voting on the awards for 50 years, so a ton of the newer stuff always gets lost on them. I would probably have to go with a WSOP main event bracelet here. Now, if the question was to be a huge rock star of a huge poker star…that answer is easy…rock star!
RH: Thank you very much for taking the time to answer our questions Joe. Good luck at the tables!
JS: Ty, ty… :)
You can find more on Joe Sebok at www.PokerRoad.com. Joe Sebok is the founder of PokerRoad.com, Co-Host of widely popular PokerRoad Radio show and regular blog contributor. PokerRoad reaches out and provides industry news as only poker insiders can. As well, PokerRoad is reinventing the concept of poker radio, one show at a time. PokerRoad has your ears covered for everything from strategy to gossip to just general poker tomfoolery. PokerRoad is a one-stop radio network. Along with the addition of video content in the pipe line, it is obvious that PokerRoad is a must for any serious poker fan. PokerRoad supplies the very best in “PokerTainment,” from the people who invented it.
RockStar Hold'Em
Interview with
Joe Sebok
Joe Sebok burst on to the poker scene in 2005 in a huge way and has been going non-stop ever since. This is one poker player with his hands in several pots (pun intended). Between playing world class poker, running his website PokerRoad.com, and doing whatever young rich guys do, he was cool enough to take a few minutes of his time to answer a few questions for us.
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