August 14, 1945-The United States wins World War II. July 21, 1969-Man walks on Moon. April 10, 1985-Alex Nathan Schwartz born in Stamford, Connecticut. What Lew and Marjorie Schwartz didn’t know as they looked down at their son in the emergency room is that he would grow to become quite the poker addict, one with exquisite skill and sleeping capabilities.

Sophomore Alex Schwartz has made quite a name for himself in the poker world, managing to amass a quantity of money and resources that any college student would be envious of. It all started in Alex’s early years of high school, when he and his friends began playing socially to pass the time and gripe about acne and girls. Back then, Alex was only playing one to two times a week for “small” bets of $10, and occasionally kittens. By his summer before freshmen year at college, Alex had increased his poker addiction to include three to four nights and more people.

He credits this to the “poker bloom,” as he calls it, an American phenomenon that he is proud to say he was not a part of. “I began playing before much of America became hooked on poker, and those extra years of playing have helped me with experience against other players who have only recently began playing,” he claims. Nonetheless, Alex understands why poker has, indeed, become a national obsession for many. “It’s a game unlike all others. It’s a game in which there’s something innately appealing to see 10 people sit around a table and gamble with large amounts of money. The thing I like about poker the most is the fact that, essentially, everyone is given the same resources (cards) to play with and if one person comes out on top of another, it becomes an individualized game. You have to respect the fact that everyone starts off even and in the end it all comes down to skill and an understanding of the game. The level of competition is one major aspect that keeps bringing me back to poker everyday because I simply love that feeling.”

Alex has taken his love of the game and applied it to a daily setting in which he is spending about two to three hours a day playing poker, he estimates, or about 15 to 20 hours a week. It’s almost like a part-time job for him, something he acknowledges but does not readily admit. “Yes, the amount of time I put in to poker each week is basically like a part-time job, and I’m earning what I would earn if I did have a job. However, I don’t want to think of it like that. When you do think of it as a job, it takes away the satisfaction of outplaying others because you force yourself to win because it’s something you’re supposed to do. But I’m not going to lie and tell you that I don’t like the money. It’s just a bonus, a good bonus.”

So, where does the Hans Solo of poker get all his money from? After years of playing poker with his friends and other avid poker players, Alex began playing on Party Poker, an online poker program that allows users to play with real money from their bank accounts while playing against thousands of different users all over the country. “It seemed like it was my natural poker evolution to go to something bigger and more intense. Party poker allows thousands of people to play all over simultaneously, so it seemed like a good way to help improve my game and get some money out of it,” he said.

While some people are out taking drugs, griping about the results of the presidential election, or reading this article, Alex continues to improve his game. He is a self-proclaimed “Student of the Game.” He doesn’t only improve by playing on a continual basis, but also through reading several books by professional poker players. Alex cites these books as “a great resource for anyone who wants to truly understand the game. It’s not a game about cards and luck, but a game of probability and psychology. A student of the game must be willing to look at the hands you’ve played and figure out and understand what you could’ve done differently, and apply the knowledge you gain to later hands. You have to be smart; that is the key.” That, and keeping spare aces in your pocket.

Alex also maximizes his efforts by playing as many games as possible at once. “Usually I play four tables at once to get the most out of different tables,” he states. “I look for tables where I can get key positions and can capitalize on the players at each table and come out on top.” Obviously, Alex is quite serious about his poker.

It is this seriousness that has given him the idea of actually using his poker winnings for something more than trivial, materialistic things like Skittles. He affirms, “I’m not just playing for nice clothes, but because I enjoy it and if I can get something good with it, I take advantage of that.” For instance, Alex’s parents’ 25th anniversary is coming up this May, so he is thinking about getting them a little gift. “I found a 70 inch plasma screen TV online for about $7,000. It would be really nice to do that for them, especially since they’re not too approving of my poker playing. That, and they gave me shelter for 18 years and allowed me to eat on Tuesdays and Thursdays.” Some gift, Alex!

Right now Alex is using his earnings to, essentially, invest in his poker future. He is in the process of purchasing two 17 inch monitors, which would strictly be his “poker computers.” These monitors would allow him to maximize his poker playing to 8 tables at once and would double his total hands played. Instead of playing “only” 250 hands an hour on average, he’ll play somewhere in the area of 500, a number demonstrating just how serious he is about poker and just how insane he truly is. With infinite wisdom, he claims, “I decided to reinvest my money back into poker instead of getting that 65 inch TV I was looking at over the summer, because I feel that by doing so, I would gain the money back and increase my winnings even more.” He just cashed out $1600 to put into his two-monitor system, which shows just how smart of a player he is. “I don’t like to keep too much money in my account too long in case I do go on a cold streak, so I cash out pretty often. The most amount of money I’ve ever had in my account at one time was only about $2800.”

Believe it or not, Alex does have other interests besides poker. He enjoys movies, reading, sports (especially baseball and football) and cuddling with teddy bears. His favorite movie of all time is “Swingers,” though he is a fan of “Fight Club” and “The Princess Bride.” “Gigli” is a close fourth. His favorite Captain Planet character was Heart because “I felt bad for the guy. He was a little bit confused and no one really helped him figure himself out. Especially now, I feel sorry for him, because after the 2004 election he won’t be able to get married south of the Mason-Dixon line because of Bush’s gay marriage ideas.” Leonardo is his favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle character because “I don’t know… I like blue.” Eloquent words by an eloquent man.

As for this young man’s bright future, Alex is in a bit of a transitional period. Currently, he’s planning on being an anthropology student, but he might double major in psychology. When his time at Wash U is over and the Wash U community has recovered from the grief of seeing him go, Alex thinks he might want to take some time off to explore his interests before possibly going to business school. However, he states, “College, I feel, is a time to expand your knowledge and explore new areas. It’s not a career training program. When I get to that point, I’ll worry about it then.” In the meantime, Alex is dominating the poker scene and enjoying it all the same. This reporter played Alex a few hands in which Alex won all in demanding style. But then again, this reporter bet away his soul to sophomore Matt Rubin in a poker game earlier this semester. So it’s hard to judge since, after all, this reporter is soulless. Alex, on the other hand, possesses the soul of every player he has ever beaten. He is simply a poker machine.

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