Young Superstar
Young Superstar - The Life of John D'Agostino
John D'Agostino is very young, very good, and already a poker millionaire. Let's ask him what is it like to be a young poker professional.
Question: What do you like to do in your spare time?
Answer: When I'm not traveling for a tournament, I am back home. I like to spend time with my family, I have an 8-year-old-brother, and I spend a lot of time with him when I'm home. I hang out with my friends, and go out to bars sometimes, and then other nights I just hang out with my family. I play a lot of poker, so I really don't do that much.
Question: How did your family react when you told them that you were going to play poker for a living?
Answer: At first, my family didn't really like it, because I dropped out of college. Poker and gambling were perceived badly, so they weren't really fond of it. Once I got on TV a few times, though, and won a lot of money in a couple of tournaments, they didn't have a problem with it. They have accepted it a lot more.
Question: Is it an advantage or a disadvantage to be a younger player?
Answer: I definitely picked the right time to turn 21! Ten, 15 years ago, poker wasn't very popular. It just got very popular, there's a lot of money in it, and there are a lot of very, very bad players. Most of them are just having fun, but there's a lot of money out in the poker world right now. It is definitely a great time to have just turned 21!
Question: How did you get started in poker?
Answer: When I was in college, I would go to the casino every weekend and play a little just for fun, and then I started playing on the Internet, and then I just started winning. I was making some money. My last year of college, every Thursday through Sunday I was at the casino, so school didn't go well. I just kept winning, though, and decided to try doing it for a living.
Question: Which do you like better, cash games or tournaments? Answer: I much prefer cash games. Tournaments are very streaky. You can play perfect and go months at a time without ever winning or even doing well. Cash games are really where the money is. I told people, if tournaments weren't on TV, I would never play one. Cash games are where they money is; tournaments are where the fame is.
Question: Do you like the fame?
Answer: It's all right. I mean, you have to be nice to everyone. When you have just gotten knocked out of a tournament, you don't want to be bombarded by people, you kind of want to have some space; right when you bust out you are never in a good mood, whether you played well or not. In general, it's a good thing, but there are certain times where you kinda want to be left alone.
Question: Do you see yourself playing poker for the rest of your life?
Answer: Yeah, I think I will probably do this for the rest of my life. Now that I have been doing this for two years, it's so much better than a regular job. It is very up and down. I've had a couple of real bad months in a row, actually, for the first time in two or three years, but you have to get over it, and it's much better than a job, so I don't see myself getting a job.
Question: What would you be doing if you weren't playing poker?
Answer: If I weren't playing poker… I was majoring in accounting in college, but I didn't really like it, and I didn't really like anything else, so I don't know what I would be doing. Poker is my life now.
This article is about the life of John D'Agostino known as the young poker superstar. The article shows how he enjoys life in and outside of the game.