High hand in hold 'em

Jason Senti used to think he wanted to be famous. Now that he's on ESPN all the time, he just wants to be normal.

Senti, 29, is a professional poker player from St. Louis Park who will be at the big table this weekend -- the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. He's already won more than $800,000, and Saturday afternoon when the final nine players resume their quest, the winner will take home another $8 million and change in the Texas Hold 'em main event.

"I'm not looking for a big life change, because I like my life," Senti said. As for taking down the table: "So many things have to go your way."

So many things already have. Senti, a native of Grand Forks, N.D., who graduated from UND with a degree in electrical engineering, got his poker start six years ago when he deposited $40 in an online account.

A couple years later, over Christmas, he made more money in a week playing poker online than he did in a month at his engineering job. By 2007, he'd banked enough money to quit his job and play poker for a living. He had a two-month hot streak right away, "and there was no turning back," Senti said.

His wife, Jessica, trusted him, but she admits to worrying about how their friends and family would perceive such a move.

"A lot of people were thinking he was a degenerate gambler, which is so not him at all," she said. "Some of our friends were confused why he was throwing away a career to play poker."

They're along for the ride now. Jessica said more than 80 friends and family members will be in Las Vegas this weekend.

Senti, though, has been cautious about what he lets the World Series affect, and what stays the same. He and Jessica are looking to buy a new house. He's been doing plenty of interviews. But once the dust settles, he wants life as he knew it to essentially resume.

Said Jessica, who attends the University of Minnesota: "It really hasn't affected our life in a negative way. It's been fun -- a whirlwind."

And it picks up again Saturday. Once play resumes, Senti knows he is facing an uphill climb -- and another test of endurance while he holds the fewest chips of the remaining players.

Living the dream

Senti usually works from home, and his job is something most people consider a hobby. Turn on ESPN and there he is, as the sports channel shows the winnowing of more than 7,300 entrants down to nine.

To get into the final nine, Senti said, he needed a combination of instincts, luck, natural ability, logical thinking from his math and engineering background, and the ability to not be overwhelmed by big situations. Going deep into hands against a top player requires multiple levels of "I know what he knows what I know what he knows," he said. The player that goes deepest usually wins.

"Poker is just problem solving over and over again," Senti said. "You have incomplete information. And you're trying to figure out the best course of action."

The only down side: Poker players often "invest" in other players at tournaments. At the main event, Senti was invested in other players, and other players were invested in him. So his cut of his $811,000 ninth-place share is only about 55 percent. When the big check came, he had to send almost half of it back out.

Keeping an even keel

Even the best players, though, lose plenty of hands. On a recent weekday morning, Senti welcomed a visitor into his townhouse's "office" for an hour of work.

On his 30-inch computer monitor -- used solely for poker -- he opened up online poker rooms in several windows. The advantage of playing online instead of in a card room, he said, is volume. In person, you might play 30 hands in an hour. Online, with virtual dealers and multiple tables, you might play 500.

A sink and mini-fridge are nearby for seamless hydration. He has a backup computer battery and a backup internet connection -- even a backup mouse. When there are potentially thousands of dollars at stake in multiple hands, a player can't afford to have anything crash -- though Senti concedes of his carefully constructed setup, "I wouldn't expect most pros to do this."

As he plays, Senti shuffles chips between his fingers as many poker players do. It's 10:45 a.m., and most of the players are likely Europeans or American pros, Senti says. Playing late in the night is better, he says, because there are more after-work (real work) amateurs playing. But he prefers a schedule of normalcy in his life.

In a corner of the room is a guitar. Senti is in a band called "Suburban Hero," fitting for his location and burgeoning poker status.

Since his big score at the WSOP, though, he's been on a cold streak online. For a while on this day, his luck improves. After 15 minutes, he's up $1,500. By the end, however, he's down about that amount.

"That was an expensive interview," Senti said with a laugh. He paused for a moment. "I must be saving all my good luck for the final table."