Poker Player’s Travels Not All Fun and Games

As business travel goes, what could be more glamorous than if your business is poker and your travel is to poker tournaments around the world?

Yet for Barry Greenstein, one of the top professional poker players in the world, the grind of business travel is just that, a grind.

Because of the surge in popularity of poker in the last few years, the demands on Greenstein’s time have greatly increased. He has the opportunity to play poker in exciting cities such as Madrid, London and Copenhagen but is reluctant to commit his time and energy.

Already away from his home in Rancho Palos Verdes six months out of the year -- half of which is spent in Las Vegas -- Greenstein would love to visit those places but wants to be able to take time out and actually enjoy them.

“You play in the tournament, get knocked out and fly back home,” he said. “You feel like you missed out on an opportunity.”

On a recent afternoon, I spoke by phone with Greenstein, who was in Las Vegas where he was waiting to see whether a big game would materialize -- “big game” being the chance to take home $100,000. In one session.

It is in the definition of “session” that the true nature of business travel for a professional poker player comes to light. All-night sessions of high-pressure, big-stakes games are not uncommon. Professional poker players in a cash game will often play as long as there is money on the table.

Tournaments differ from cash games. At the start of a tournament, you buy in and receive a stack of chips. When those chips are gone, your play is over. In a cash game, the only such limit is the size of your -- or your opponent’s -- bankroll.

Greenstein is known as the Robin Hood of Poker because he donates the net proceeds (after subtracting travel expenses and entry fees) to charity.

His net tournament winnings go to Children Incorporated, a Richmond, Va.-based charity that provides assistance to needy children in the U.S. and 24 other countries.

During the 2004 World Poker Open tournament in Memphis, Tenn., Greenstein had not been playing well in the side cash games that are ubiquitous at tournaments. He was ready to go home but was committed to the tournament.

At one point, he bet all his chips on a draw, fully expecting to be knocked out of the tournament and make his 6:45 p.m. flight home. Instead he won the hand.

He survived the tournament that day and later played in a cash game until 6 the next morning. Because he had already checked out of his hotel room the afternoon before, he retrieved his bags and checked back in to get some sleep before continuing in the tournament later that day.

Again he checked out of his room expecting to get knocked out and catch a 4:15 flight that afternoon, only to again survive and play late into the night and repeat the check-in, check-out procedure the next morning.

He went on to win the tournament, but it is this kind of uncertainty to a poker player’s business travel that can wreak havoc on his personal life.

Greenstein dedicates his 2005 book, “Ace on the River,” to the children of gamblers and apologizes to his four boys and two girls, ages 17 to 31, for when he failed them as a parent.

Greenstein’s flying habits are as variable as they come. For flights to Las Vegas, he prefers Southwest Airlines for its frequent flights from Los Angeles.

“Again in typical gambler fashion, I’m very often getting to the gate within 10 minutes of when the flight takes off,” he said. “With Southwest I always get on at the last second.”

For longer flights, Greenstein often borrows friend and Hustler Casino owner Larry Flynt’s Gulfstream IV private jet.

The G IV, as it is affectionately known, is a long-range, large jet capable of carrying as many as 14 passengers, according to NetJets Inc., which sells fractional jet ownerships. Another option for flying on NetJets is the Marquis Jet Card, which allows travelers to buy as little as 25 hours of jet time. Twenty-five hours in a G IV costs $319,900.

Fortunately for Greenstein, who sometimes uses NetJets, he has generous friends. Flynt charges him only for fuel and pilot time. A flight in the U.S. runs about $12,000; a trip to Europe, about $100,000, which is about the same as what he might expect to win in a big cash game.

Greenstein often travels to tournaments with poker player friends such as Phil Ivey and Chip Reese, and they all chip in for gas. As they are knocked out of a tournament one by one, they wait like vultures for their final fellow traveler to get eliminated so that they can all leave.

“As soon as that guy gets knocked out, we take off within an hour and a half,” Greenstein said. That’s the luxury of not being bound to a commercial airline’s flight schedule. Gamblers don’t like to wait around.

“It’s the nature of being a gambler,” he said. “We always want to be in action.”

Like many frequent business travelers, Greenstein is agnostic about hotels. He often travels to casinos with hotels attached, and each one looks like the other to him.

“My favorite hotel is the one that has the best poker game,” he said. “They all look the same to me, lots of green felt tables.”

Because he is such a high-profile player, his hotel stays are often provided free by hotel management. Still, the glamour quotient remains low for him.

“I’ve lived out of suitcases my whole life,” he said. “Sometimes I run off with no suitcase and just buy my shirts at the hotel.

“I’ve spent so much time in hotels, there is nothing better than being at home.”

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James Gilden can be reached at james.gilden@latimes.com.