Joe Sebok: Poker pro shifts to wine industry
Matt Villano
Published 4:08 pm, Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Former poker pro Joe Sebok is a superstar. He has competed in dozens of tournaments over the years. His stepfather, Barry Greenstein, is one of the most famous names in the sport. And together, Sebok and Greenstein founded PokerRoad.com, a multimedia outlet for all things poker.
Unlike most other professionals in the sport, though, Sebok has other interests.
Naturally, then, when he took a break from professional poker at the end of 2011, the 35-year-old sought out a challenge in an unrelated field. Ultimately, he moved to the Bay Area from Los Angeles and worked the 2012 harvest for Vinify, a custom crush facility in Santa Rosa.
This means Sebok spent the fall working with grapes. He was charged with punchdowns, the rigorous task of "punching" the top layer of grapes down to the bottom of a fermenting bin, so the fruit is distributed evenly. He engaged in pumpovers, the process of pumping wine from one holding tank to another.
"I did typical cellar rat stuff," Sebok explained recently from his new home in Guerneville. "Basically, I came up here and got my ass kicked."
Poker prepared Sebok for at least a few aspects of the experience. In poker, he grew accustomed to "working" late into the night on a regular basis, on some occasions for 12 hours or more. At the winery, his typical workday ran from 4 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Another similarity: The long hours of both activities require mental toughness.
"It's not like you can sit back and turn on autopilot in either case," he said. "These are challenging jobs."
In some cases, Sebok found the winery job a little too challenging; he said he lost 17 pounds over the course of the three-month harvest, noting: "It's well documented that poker players are lazy, and we don't exactly keep ourselves in the best shape."
Sebok said passion qualifies as a third (and perhaps the most significant) similarity between wine and poker. Here, he cited not only the passion with which professionals in each industry practice their craft, but also the passion with which fans of each industry support and embrace their favorites.
"People who love poker really love poker, and people who love wine really love wine," he said. "There's something to be said for strong opinions and the passion that drives them."
With this in mind, Sebok said he might stick around the local wine scene for a while. He is looking for a job in marketing or social media in the wine business, and has had preliminary discussions with a handful of local wineries.
And while he plans to explore cardrooms on the local scene, Sebok sees his long-term future in something else.
"The game of poker is great and has been good to me over the years," he said. "But at the end of the day, if you're not doing other stuff, all you are doing is counting money."
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