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I just want to tell you one thing! If you paid this dealer twice as much as every other dealer in this room right now, he'd' STILL be underpaid!

Josh Arieh

Gutshot Player Profile: Jono

LuckyJim

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Jono says he wants to be a millionaire through gambling, but he's the only person at the Gutshot to ever ask me to borrow money.  He's 27 years old and lives in Rotherhithe with his 74 year old grandmother.  He doesn't pay  rent or for food or bills, but if he's had a win he'll help out.  Apart from a time with a girlfriend, he's lived with relatives all his life.

His father was a gambler, betting on horses and dogs, though not playing cards.  Jono didn't think much of it, since he and his brother were always well provided for.  His father's gambling didn't affect the family, and they always had what they wanted. 

Jono was gambling compulsively himself by 16, and his parents sent him to a couple of Gamblers Anonymous meetings.  Back then his particular problem was fruit machines, but he's always gambled on anything.  At the GA meetings he met people who'd robbed banks to gamble.  He was just a kid, and felt he had nothing in common with them.  Now he sees that he was a gambler just like them only he hadn't surrendered, just as he hasn't now.

He won a scholarship to a private school but didn't take it up, and was expelled from state school for being disruptive. He left at 16 without taking any GCSEs, and found work as a printers apprentice.  Then he was a trainee electrician and then a fire engineer, and worked more or less full time until the age of 24.

A keen footballer, from 18 to 23 he played in central midfield for Fisher Athletic in the Conference League.  He had a trial for Millwall when he was 16 and, in rather different circumstances, another when he was 22.  He'd gone to see them play Birmingham City in the Champonship playoffs to get into Premiership.   City scored in 90th minute and the Millwall fans started a riot.  Jono was amongst the crowd trying to get at the Birmingham supporters, with the police in the middle.   He was captured on CCTV throwing a steel dustbin at a line of police, and his picture appeared in the Sun.  He says he wasn't even drunk, but that goal "broke his heart" and it was the Millwall supporter's passion for their club that caused "all the shit outside."  He was working as a labourer for his dad's construction firm at the time.  He served nine months in Belmarsh with some serious people, and vowed never to be sent back. 

When he got out of prison, he found a job as an electrician's mate setting up CCTV.  After nine months he was put in charge of a big job at Maidenhead station while his boss went on holiday.  He didn't show up, spending the week in the bookies instead, and so no work got done and he was fired on his boss's return.  He always had good starts but always fucked them up.

Jono got into poker in 2004.  He owned a few greyhounds with a mate and they'd go to the Harlow dog track, which also hosted twice-weekly £20 Hold'Em rebuy tournaments.  There'd be 60 or 70 runners, decent comps where the winner would get about £1800.  He did well straight away, and soon won them back to back.  His poker skills are self-taught and he's never read any poker books beyond bits of "that Doyle Brunson book".  Instead, he's learnt a lot from other players such as Nik Persaud and Laurence Houghton.

He doesn't class poker as gambling, and says he's a winning player.  His skill in the late stages of hold'em tournaments is unquestionable.  There are always people willing to buy him into tournaments or put him into a game.  Last year he was nominated for a Goscar for best tournament player, having won the £300 freezeout and the £100 freezeout a couple of times.  He also won the $40k guaranteed online tournament twice in a fortnight.  In all, he thinks he may have won £30,000 at poker last year.  Sadly most of it went to the bookies or was tilted back.  But he isn't in any debt.  He hasn't got a bank account or credit cards and says he's paid off anyone who's lent him money.  When he did have a bank account, his statements would show hundreds of transactions with William Hill and nothing else, not even a supermarket shop.

Tales of his spin-ups and spin-downs are legendary.  He plays well when he's hungry, but recklessly when he has money, and he doesn't know how he can stop this.  He's had so many starts in poker, as in life.   One time he got his bankroll up to $20k then started playing $10/$20 PLO and quickly went skint.   Recently he put $1500 into a 100 rebuy tournament, but didn't even make it to the break.  He used to sit all night in the Gutshot cash games, turning his £100 into £500 but playing on until he'd lost it all.  He knows a win like that should be enough for him to stand up, but he has to sit there till it's all gone.  But because he doesn't have the urge to play or be in the bookies when he's skint, he doesn't feel he's addicted. 

But like all addicted gamblers, when he's short of funds he'll just play lower stakes.  He'll bet a few pounds one day and hundreds the next, depending on his finances.  Earlier this year he lost £1100 betting on horses and dogs in forty minutes.  At least he doesn't play roulette or fruit machines any more.  When he was younger he'd do things like put £100 into machines with a £15 jackpot.  In fact his biggest gambling loss was at roulette, spinning away £7000 at the Grosvenor in Reading in a three day binge.

Every big win is followed by a big loss, and his place in the Rich List is as far away as ever.  He gambles not to be rich, of course, but to fund the next day's gambling, and so no win will ever be big enough.   When he loses money it doesn't affect him like it should, it doesn't hurt him, because he doesn't have any responsibilities.  He needs to feel a sense of responsibility, to himself and to others, to be a success.  What has he got to show for all his wins?  Not much.  He's never let his appearance suffer, and is always nicely dressed, but he's never bought anything.  He hasn't even been on holiday in four years. 

 

One typical story is the time a couple of years ago when he was meant to go on holiday to Malaga with his friends.  He paid a large deposit on the flights and hotel but not the final amount.  In the meantime he lost the rest of the money, so forfeited what he'd put down.  He got hold of some more money so booked it again, this time paying the full sum.    This time he was going, for sure.  But when the guys came round in the minibus to pick him up, he'd lost his £3000 spending money so couldn't go.  He'd wasted £2500 on flights and accomodation on a holiday he never even went on.  His friends laughed, weren't surprised, and were half expecting something like that to happen.  He could have gone with nothing and they'd have looked after him, but he stayed at home instead.  They had a great time while he was at home wallowing.

 

At least he's avoided other vices.  He's never smoked cigarettes, although both his parents did.  He's never touched drugs.  His friends got into coke, but he never even tried it and wasn't even curious.  He's never had a drinking problem.  All of his energies go into gambling, although he sees that there should be more to life.   He's not hurting anyone any more except for himself.  There's nobody to disappoint, since his family and friends all know what he's like.  He plays up to his loveable rogue image, and knows he can always get away with it.  But he's aware of the life he's missing because of his gambling.  He'd like to settle down with a girl, have a relationship and be a father.  But he wouldn't want to go out with a girl who gambled - "It's not for women" - but what other woman would put up with him? 

He says he earns too much at poker to ever go back to conventional work.  All he needs to do is stop gambling in the bookies and apply a bit of bankroll management to his poker and he'll make a good living.   But, having gambled and lost everything he ever earnt and everything he ever won, he estimates his gambling losses to be £250,000 since leaving school.   A quarter of a millionaire.