http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/insi...3fid%3d4302038

can someone with insider access please post the rest of this?

sometimes, it just is not meant to be to someone. These Cousineaus and Kesslers just are in a wrong place at the wrong time over and over again.

must suck not to mincash

i mean if he really makes 200k a year playing its not really a bad life. i understand you have to put away a certain amount for future bankroll etc. but really, if he lives a somewhat normal life (not spending like crazy) he should be doing alright. the real problem as every grinder knows is you at times lose a bit of control and play to high etc.

Ya, really heartwarming story..I'm so glad I opened this thinking he fought cancer like Jen Harman or was a rags to riches story like some pros..

Tough life imo going to the bahamas and around the country playing tournaments for a living averaging 200k profit per year...

GTFO

is Tony C still super rock-tight?

Kinda sad when you read it, "He makes $400k a year, and more 1/2 goes to entries" so if he cashed for $400k a year are they trying to make people feel bad for him because he makes 100k a year? weird article

last year i believe it was 200-400/25, i opened for 1200 utg w/ ako, he made it 7200 in the CO or something w/ like 20k behind, i ship for around the same amount behind, he folds AKo face up.

lol @ a full time tournament pro who doesn't have more than 400k/yr in buyins/expenses, he's def not making 200k a year, he only has 1 cash over 80k in 10 years

i really want to see the rest of this article

Think about Peter Eastgate, who, at 22, came from nowhere to win $9 million in the World Series of Poker's main event last year.

Tony Cousineau does.

Think about Mike Eise, that out-of-work plumber whose $1,500 buy-in this year turned into a WSOP bracelet and $600,000 in cash in his first event.

Tony Cousineau does.

And after nearly a decade of playing pro poker, he wonders: What must that be like?

Cousineau holds a WSOP record for most cashes without ever winning a bracelet. And he's closing in on Phil Hellmuth's record of most cashes ever, bracelet or not. "If I could trade all my cashes to be the one lucky kid who won an event on his first try, I would," Cousineau says. "But I have to take what the cards deal me and accept my poker lot in life and just stay positive."

While everyone marvels at Phil Ivey, grinders like Cousineau get overlooked. Which is why I'm making him BTB's official favorite poker player. After all, the man rings the register more than a counter kid at Mickey D's. He is a poker pro, grinding it out in 50 to 70 tourneys a year, from Vegas to the Bahamas. If he wins $400,000 in a season, which is about what he's on pace to win this year, he'll spend more than half of that on buy-ins, plane tickets, hotels and food.

"Last year at the World Series I finished 704th, and the top 666 cashed," he says. "For a day I wanted to jump off the top of the Stratosphere."

Cousineau laughs when he says this. The guy's so upbeat he makes those Technicolor Prius commercials seem gloomy. He's a poker lover who sees the game as a lifelong pursuit, not a get-rich-quick scheme. He talks about the steep learning curve he still has and speaks with awe about Ivey's ability to read opponents and act on his hunches. And he appreciates the great underdog stories as much as the rest of us watching them on TV. Even if they come at his expense.

In a lot of ways, he's still the guy who first started playing poker in college at Arizona two decades ago, after his career as a walk-on defensive back for the Wildcats ended with a spring practice knee injury. Cash games with some frat brothers turned into an obsession. Trips to the local bookstore inevitably became six-hour crash courses as he read about poker strategy and philosophy. When he moved back home to Florida to work in the family business selling billiards equipment, he kept playing. Cash games with doctors, lawyers and judges, mostly. "Good guys," he remembers. "I could have done well just playing with them."

Instead, he sold his car for $30,000, told his grandpa he was quitting the billiards biz and turned himself into a wise guy. At first he was making bank betting on sports and dabbling in poker. But, eventually, he realized he couldn't be a serious pro unless he acted like one.

"I remember the game that sent me into sports-betting retirement," Cousineau says. "It was Florida State versus Virginia Tech in the national title game back in 2000. The year Vick was at Tech. Florida State was favored by five, and Vick kept the game close all night. In the fourth quarter Tech was actually winning by one. I thought I would lose."

"I have to consider, do I want to change my style and go for it and then be disappointed if I don't cash for several days?" Cousineau says. "I'd like to tweak my game without abandoning my chips."

But the Seminoles scored 18 unanswered points. Cousineau won $105,000. And bankrolled his poker career.

In his first WSOP event, a limit hold 'em tourney, he cashed. He was hooked. And probably cursed.

As much as Cousineau wants to win a bracelet, he loves finishing in the money. The moment when the room erupts after the bubble bursts and those who will cash know it is as filled with relief as it is euphoria. And his style of play, tight-aggressive, is geared toward being safe and smart. Bet big when you have a good hand. But don't get greedy. "I have to consider, do I want to change my style and go for it and then be disappointed if I don't cash for several days?" Cousineau says. "I'd like to tweak my game without abandoning my chips."

Heading into the WSOP's main event, Cousineau's been in the money seven times ("I'd really like to break that single-year record of 10 one day," he says) and figures he's made close to $80,000, while paying out $65,000.

"In the main event, if I don't cash, I will have achieved a small margin and put in a lot of work," he says. "Will it be worth the mental anguish? Probably not. But if you look at it as being snakebite, it's bull; I have come to the determination no one is due anything. All you can do is play to the best of your ability and hope skill and luck will get you to your goal."

No matter how many times the bubble bursts before you get there.

Cousineau needs to start drinking at the tables imo

This guy shouldn't complain over bad luck, he should feel pretty fortunate that he always gets action when he's got aces which allows him to reach a stacksize big enough to not die the ante death until right around the bubble.

I was at a table with him at this years WSOP, when he told a story about how he recently bet something like $340k to win $40k on the recent Lakers / Rockets series. You know the series the Rockets took the Lakers to 7 games without Yao or Mcgrady.... now that's grinding.

Tony is a very nice guy, very smart, told me a story of how he picks up $50K - $100K every year from wearing FullTilt stuff on TV....seems like he knows how to make the most out of his poker playing.... he took a beat at the Final table @ the Caesars $10K a year or 2 ago.... 1st was $1M...4 handed got it all in w/ his KK vs QQ.....Q on flop and he is out in 4th....that would have been what he has been playing for the years...watch him final table the ME this year after that article

Event List 2007 Caesars Palace Classic Buy-In: $9,800 + $200
Prize Pool: $2,728,222
Entrants: 287
No-Limit Hold'em Championship
Oct 22, '07 - Oct 24, '07 Event Info
Live Updates
Results

Event Results
Place Player Winnings POY Points

1 David Singer $1,000,000 1392
2 Kido Pham $480,167 1160
3 Scott Fischman $245,540 928
4 Tony Cousineau $190,976 696
5 Justin Bonomo $163,693 580
6 Alex Bolotin $136,411 464
7 Jose Valdes $109,123 348
8 George Unich $81,847 232
9 Vivek Rajkumar $54,564 116
10 Alan Jaffray $32,739 70
11 Jordan Siegel $32,739 70
12 Jerry Spinner $32,739 70
13 Tad Jurgens $27,282 70
14 Michael Mizrachi $27,282 70
15 Jose Tavares $27,282 70
16 Billy Dalton $21,826 70
17 Osmin Dardon $21,826 70
18 Randy Gil $21,826 70
19 Tom Franklin $16,369 35
20 Daniel Moorman

Hand #79 - Tony Cousineau Eliminated in 4th Place ($190,976)
Posted: Wed, Oct 24, 07, 11:03 AM

Cousineau limps from the small blind and Pham raises 60,000 more from the big blind. Cousineau raises another 120,000 more. Pham moves all in and Cousineau calls. Cousineau shows KK and Pham is behind with QQ. The board comes Q97102 and Cousineau is eliminated by the set of Kido Pham.

That's the ugly side of the game...had he won that hand, he may have won the tourney and the million and he would be in a totally different place...sometimes it makes you ill to think about how ONE hand could make so much difference in a lifetime! (this can also be said about so many hands at the final tables, including the Main Event)