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O'Neil Longson Does Not Play Poker for Money But for Happiness

Poker has been the source of income of most poker professionals. Most of them have abandoned their previous careers to play full-time poker because they can earn more than what they earn if they are employed. Some poker professionals used to regard poker as a hobby but since poker has the capability of supporting them financially, they have started to look at it as a profession.

Perhaps, this is also true in the case of poker professional O'Neil Longson. He is considered a veteran in the poker industry, which means that it is possible that he also regards poker as a profession. Well, it's true. He would not be called a poker professional if he did not think of the game as a profession. But what we probably did not know about O'Neil Longson is the fact that he does not play poker to earn money or to become rich out of it despite the fact that it is what poker has been doing to his life. More than anything else, this poker professional just loves playing for fun. He finds happiness in playing poker and in playing against the best professional poker players of the world.

What has probably made O'Neil Longson successful in the poker world is such thinking. Bearing in mind that he only plays poker to have fun does not make him pressured when he is in front of poker tables, allowing him to emerge successful in most of his games. Furthermore, having such outlook in life allows him not to be negatively affected when he experiences losses.

Well, we would not mind playing for fun if it would bring us World Series of Poker bracelets, would we? If happiness is the reason why O'Neil Longson won't stop playing poker, well, he is probably very happy with his poker accomplishments. With his feats in the World Series of Poker alone, we are definitely sure that what he feels is more than just happiness.

In 1994, O'Neil Longson won a US$1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event that allowed him to take home not only the cash prize of US$100,800 but also his very first World Series of Poker bracelet. Such bracelet was followed by another one in 2003 when he participated in a US$5,000 No Limit Deuce-to-Seven Draw game. His cash prize from the said event was US$147,680. This poker professional earned his third and latest World Series of Poker bracelet in 2005 from a US$1,500 Razz game, allowing him to take home US$125,690. From all these events, he also had the opportunity to play against such poker giants as Mickey Wernick, Bruno Fitoussi, Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, Bill Baxter, Allen Cunningham, T. J. Cloutier, and Surinder Sunar. For O'Neil Longson, the real perk of participating in the World Series of Poker was being able to compete with the big names in the poker world.

The hometown of O'Neil Longson is Utah but he currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada. We don't see this poker professional at poker tables as often as before due to hearing problems, but he still does compete in some major poker tournaments not to earn money, but just to make himself happy.