Poker Pro Beth Shak is many things. She is a mom, a world class poker player, a tireless philanthropist, and any guy who hasn’t been rendered speechless by her beauty probably has Mr. Pib coursing through their bodies instead of testosterone. She has been immensely popular in both the poker and entertainment communities. Recently, the lovely Ms. Shak was kind enough to free up some time and suffer our questions. Here is what she had to say.
Launchpoker: Beth, you are talented, smart, creative, and beautiful. You can probably succeed at anything you want. So the question is, what is a girl like you doing in a sport like this? What is it about poker that attracted you to the sport? Beth Shak: I started playing online, which is well publicized. I started playing on FullTilt for free money, and I liked it. And then I started playing for real money, and realized it was something I just had a knack for. Then I started playing tournaments. I hear people say they are bitten by a poker bug; I was just bitten by the bug. As much as you hate losing, I love the euphoria of winning a hand, of bluffing a hand, of using your mind and outplaying people. It’s really more of a mind challenging game than a lot of people give it credit for.
Launchpoker: A well publicized snippet of your life is how you learned the game on the “play money” section of FullTilt. What was your biggest shock when moved to real money play? Beth Shak: Oh, there was a huge shock. I swear, in free play, you seem to win more hands. I don’t know ~laughs~. I don’t know how the computer software is setup. The biggest shock of all is that it doesn’t mean anything to you. It’s just chips. There is no association to money, so you call, call, call, call, call. You really don’t get anyone off a hand, and you don’t go off of hands with play money, because you’re just like “I’ll call, I can reload”. When you go to real money, it’s just a completely different dynamic. Just like the dynamic of playing a tournament versus a cash game; knowing that these are the only chips you have, and at any point if you lose your chips that’s it. Whereas in a cash game, you can go back into your, in my case, handbag, and rebuy. It was a big shock to me
Launchpoker: In the early goings of your poker career, you have said in the past that you had to get over being intimidated. How would you advise new players to get over being intimidated at the poker table? Beth Shak: I think that time is the only thing that takes that away. It’s funny, when I teach people, like I just went and taught the Playboy bunnies (which was very interesting by the way), as much they were like “we don’t need to know this, I just bet a stack of chips”, I’m like, well if you ever want to be taken seriously, and respected, you have to know how to act right, and raise right. Not that I haven’t still made my share of mistakes, because I listen to my music way to loud, but I think that’s something that time takes care of and you have to learn the appropriate rules and how to play live at a poker table, which is totally different then playing on the internet.
Launchpoker: As you said, you learned to play online at FullTilt. Online pokers are notorious for being hyper-aggressive. Do you bring that style to tournaments with you?Beth Shak: I don’t and I should. It’s interesting that you say that. I just played in an FTOPS event, and cashed. I was up till two in the morning, I was so happy I cashed though. So I was actually playing really aggressive, because I was like “okay, fine, it’s getting late, I’m in bed”. In my case, I probably don’t take it as seriously when I play online, because I’m a mom, and my kids are here, and I’m cooking dinner, and their watching me, and it’s not where I’m playing like I’m focused in tournaments. I play much more aggressive online. Sometimes it leads me to lose, sometimes it leads me to win, but I should take that to the [tournament] table. I care about my chips more in the tournaments so I definitely have a tighter image in tournaments then online. But, yes, the online players are very aggressive and you really can never put them on a hand.
Launchpoker: And what are you listening to when you’re playing poker? Beth Shak: Oh, I’m completely eclectic. I listen to the top 100, I listen to hip-hop, I listen to rap, I listen to old rock. It kind of depends what time of day it is, how many chips I have, where I’m at in the tournament. You know, how I’m feeling at the moment.
Launchpoker: You have been very outspoken about women’s poker, and how it once had a place in the sport. You now shun the women’s events and have often talked about how you want to be known as a good player, not "a good player...for a woman." Does it still have its place? Beth Shak: I think it does have its place. I came in eighth when Jennifer Tilly won the bracelet. Jennifer and I were both at a charity event in Austin, and someone said “does anyone have a bracelet here?” Jennifer was like “yes I have one, but in a ladies event”. So it’s interesting that Jen would say that; she qualified it and modified it saying “I have one in a ladies event”. That’s kind of how I would feel too, because, men especially, look at her like she has a World Series of Poker bracelet, and she does, and it’s a major accomplishment, and I would love to have that ladies World Series of Poker bracelet, but it’s not the same as just having a World Series of Poker bracelet; a no-limit one; one that is in a mixed field. So I think it has its place because it will get women to feel comfortable with the sport. It is hard sitting down at a table full of men in the beginning. You have to be a fairly confident woman, but to have the same respect level you want to win a bracelet in a mixed event. That’s my opinion
Launchpoker: Is it time for the WSOP ladies events to go away? Beth Shak: I think it’s nice that there is an event that ladies can play, I don’t know if it should be a bracelet event. In all fairness, is there any events that women can’t play that are men’s events? We fight to be equal and we fight for everything to be the same, and I know there was such a big stink locally over something in the Philadelphia enquirer about a man playing in a ladies event at the Borgata, and won it. I didn’t even read the article, but I remember that someone commented to me about it. I felt like if women are allowed to enter men’s events, why shouldn’t men be allowed to enter ladies events? Why did people make such a big deal about a man entering?
Why should we be allowed to have our own event that men really aren’t allowed to play, and it’s a Worlds Series of Poker bracelet event? I don’t know, it just doesn’t seem fair, and I’m all for things being fair.
Launchpoker: You are obviously an extremely beautiful woman. Is this an advantage of disadvantage at the table? Beth Shak: It’s funny; I guess I should go there in sweats and a tee-shirt. I don’t really see it as either. I think that there’s a lot of times that men don’t have the same respect for women. On the same token, there’s a lot of men that know me, that have respect for me, or after they have played with me, they’ve sat down at the table for an hour and I’ve gained their respect. I always have a guy here and there that doesn’t want me to go, so maybe they won’t play me quite as hard, but for every one of those I have one that wants to get me. He’ll kill me. He’ll call me down till he sucks out on me, so I lose bigger pots and I win bigger pots being a woman. I will say that
Launchpoker: What is the worst “pickup” line you have heard at the poker table?Beth Shak: Let me think about this. Online the men are totally out of control, because they probably feel completely safe with the computer around them when I’m playing online. It’s interesting that people feel the safety of the barrier of the computer. I’m trying to think of the worst pickup line I’ve ever had, I know I’ve had some bad ones. I think I’ve had a lot of really brazen men ask me out. I don’t have any pickup lines standing out in my head. I won’t date a poker player, I will say that. I don’t want another poker player. I’m going to say that I won’t date another PRO poker player, because they’re so engulfed with this life, that they don’t know how to separate their poker life from a real life, and I have a real life. I’ve always been able to separate, and have family time and hopefully time for a relationship. I find that a lot of pros don’t have time for that.
Launchpoker: You mentioned how a lot of pros don’t have the ability to separate their poker lives from a real life. We have just had a 21 year old kid win the WSOP Main Event and become an instant millionaire. What advice would you have for him? Beth Shak: I would say, especially at 21, to try to keep your feet on the ground, and your life as normal as you can. I don’t play more than one live tournament a month. That’s why I think I had a bad year this year, but in general, when I was cashing every second or third tournament, people didn’t realize how few I play. I think these players that get so wrapped up in playing every single tournament, living and breathing and making their whole life “this”. I love it, it’s great, and I don’t want to bash it but I think it’s nice to have a stable life with a home, with a significant other, with children and I think if you make your life 100% poker there is now way you can achieve that.
We truly appreciate the time that Beth could make for us, and look forward to watching her success in the future.
