Playing Cards as a Part-time job
It’s midnight.
Jon Shaffer moves quietly through his apartment, turning off the lights as he prepares to go to work. The slapping sound of his flip flops against the linoleum in the kitchen echoes down the hall as he makes his way to the living room.
Gradually, he comes out of the darkness wearing a pair of gray sweatpants, a Metallica T-shirt and a black robe. Cradled in his left arm is an orange mixing bowl filled with Fruit Loops.
Recklessly, he flings himself into an olive green recliner and places the cereal on wooden television service tray by the chair. Shaffer sits alone in the dark and sparsely furnished room and lifts a glowing MacBook from the floor. Before lifting the screen, he takes two deep breaths and crosses himself.
“I usually play from midnight to about 4 a.m.” Shaffer said and grins like a boy caught sneaking a cookie before dinner. “I know it’s unconventional, but I make pretty good money playing poker.”
A second year senior at Washington State University, Shaffer has been using online poker as his main source of income since he was a sophomore. He said he treats his playing as a part-time job where he is the boss. On average, he works between 15 and 20 hours a week. His job allows him to take both sick leave and vacation days — he averages an income of $1,500 a month.
“I have good nights and bad ones, that’s why I live with my friends in Moscow,“ Shaffer said. “There have been times I couldn’t make the rent, so they spot me, and I pay them back later.”
Mark Collins, a University of Idaho graduate, said he enjoys having Shaffer as a roommate, and although his income isn’t always reliable, “he more than makes up for it.”
“He always pays (me and my roommate) back when he’s short, and when he has a good night, he’ll sometimes just cover the electric bill or the cable,” Collins said.
Shaffer said he tries to do whatever he can to avoid the stigma of online poker players, which includes unreliability and isolation.
Born and raised in Meridian, Wash., Shaffer’s father taught him how to play when he was 12 years old. He loved the game and taught his friends in middle school. Within a few months he found himself regularly relieved of his lunch money — everyone had surpassed him as a player.
“I have no poker face … sometimes it’s like I’m giving money away,” he said.
While Shaffer plays in the dark, he grins broadly at the small screen at some moments and gnaws his bottom lip at others. He flinches, taps his foot and clears his throat. It seems at times that Shaffer displays every possible tell while playing cards.
By the time he was 16, Shaffer had retired from playing cards. When his father, asks for a game, Shaffer usually said he would express a lack of interest or feign boredom.
“I’m not sure if he even knows I like poker to this day,” he said. “It’s not like it matters I guess — we bond over football now.”
When he began his freshman year at WSU, Shaffer delivered pizzas as a way to make money. He said the only skill he had for an résume was the ability to drive a car and “had to settle for whatever he could get.
“I hated that job,” Shaffer said. “Do you know how many douche bags you meet delivering pizzas? People would forget that I just drive the car, it was god-awful … I’m not customer service.”
One night while aimlessly surfing the Internet, he stumbled across an online gaming Web site. It was “love at first hand.” Although he said he was terrible the first few times he played, he gradually became better as he adjusted to the format. On his best night, he won $750, at his worst he lost $200.
“I never bet over my limit or play after 4:30 a.m.,” Shaffer said. “I’ve heard of a lot of people developing a problem because they lost the ability to set up boundaries, I never want to get to the point where I lose control.”
Collins said he sometimes worries about Shaffer’s lifestyle. Although he said he doesn’t believe Shaffer has a problem, the bizarre way in which he makes money makes him question his friend’s future.
“He’s a nice guy but it’s not exactly legal, it’s not like he can put it on an resume,” Collins said.
In Idaho, online gaming isn’t addressed in state law, but unauthorized gaming is nevertheless prohibited. Therefore, Shaffer’s gambling is a misdemeanor. Even though gaming laws in Idaho are far from strictly enforced, he said he still worries about getting into trouble with the law.
“But the way I look at it, I’m graduating in May and then I won’t have to do it anymore,” he said. “I’ll just get a real job.”
For now, he said he sees himself as a young man capable of taking risks that will be unacceptable once he’s “a real adult.”
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