Borgata Poker Pro Noah Schwartz
Interview with World Poker Tour's New Star, "fourUhaters" Schwartz
Having recently placed 4th at the Borgata World Poker Tour event, Noah Schwartz is turning heads and inspiring young poker players everywhere.
About Schwartz
Noah Schwartz, who recently took 4th place at the WPT Borgata Winter Classic is relatively new to the live circuit, but he's already turning heads. His fate was sealed at the Classic when he pushed all-in against David Tran. Tran showed K-Q, Schwartz had pocket 9's.
Schwartz, 24, was born and raised in Miami Beach, Florida. His first passion wasn't poker, it was baseball. After graduating from high school, Schwartz enrolled at FIU [Florida International University] on a scholarship he earned not only for sports, but for academics as well. Majoring in entrepreneurship and finance, Schwartz managed to graduate with a 3.8 GPA, putting him in the top five percent of his class. What no one knew, or at least acknowledged, was the mountain of debt Schwartz was accumulating, and his spending entire weekends in an online poker room.
Online Poker Sites
"I got turned on to poker my senior year in high school. I went to a couple of home games and started catching on. I thought it was pretty interesting. My uncle co-signed on a credit card for me, and I made my first deposit [$200] on PartyPoker.com. At that time, I was known as a 'fish'. I didn't know the game, I was playing way above my bankroll" Schwartz said. His first deposit was gone within an hour. Schwartz, who has always played under the name "fourUHaters", was determined. "I was a high school student; I didn't know what I was doing. Thankfully, the credit card laws weren't that stringent at that time. Within the first week I maxed out $3,000. I'm competitive in everything that I do, and whatever I put my mind to, in my short 24 years, I've been able to be successful at it." Schwartz certainly showed that he was either pot committed, or had entirely lost his mind. He managed to finagle about $35,000 in student loans, and since his school was already taken care of with a scholarship, he deposited his student loans into more online poker. Eventually, he saw a little return on his investment. "I won one of the Party Poker weekly tournaments with a $200 buy in, and I cashed out with about $28,000. I proceeded to stay up the entire night. I want to say that I was playing 3/6 limit, which was almost the biggest game you could play at that time. In that one night, I made $50,000" Schwartz said.
Making Money at Online Poker
Had luck finally changed for Schwartz, giving him the success that would ultimately lead to his present day stature? Not hardly. "My mindset was young, I said 'Hey, I can do this every day!' so the next day I stayed up and played for 20 hours straight. I lost $18,000 very quickly, and then went on tilt. I was multi-tabling and within a week, the $50,000 was gone. At this point, my student loans were maxed out, as well as $35,000 in credit card debt, with more accumulating daily. The stress was starting to build. I realized I was at a crossroads and really needed to do something with my life" Schwartz said. At this point, he was using student loan money from his second semester in college just to pay the mounting credit card bills. With $500 dollars left to his name, he entered a Party Poker tournament with a large payout, and landed in the money bubble cashing out with $94,000. "This time, I said, let's be smart here. Lets pay off all my debt, and continue playing steady. By my second semester in college, I was seeing success. I had learned to play within my bankroll" Schwartz said with relief.
Okay, so now he's making money online routinely, he's beginning to get his feet wet with live tournaments. Why not drop out of school and go pro? Schwartz answered "It was never my goal, to drop out of school. My father passed away my junior year to lung cancer and he was the one who always said he'd back me no matter what. After he passed away, I went through a tough time, and Poker became my therapy. I played on the weekends so it didn't interfere with school. I retain things very well, and don't really have to study. During my freshman year of college, I tour the ligaments in my elbow, rendering me useless to a great many things, and to deal with it, I focused on poker." On family support, Schwartz said "My family, they're all very successful, and they were skeptical that I could turn poker into a career. With the success I've had in the past 12 months, they're supportive now."
Sunday Million on Poker Starz
Schwartz wholeheartedly attacked poker, looking at it as a challenge he must beat. For awhile, he was making pretty good money. It was last year that he got his big break. During a "Sunday Million" tournament on Poker Stars, he won $298,000. "I remained pretty humble. A lot of young guys don't understand that when you're winning there are ramifications, like taxes. I set aside money to report my internet winnings. I stored the money, and then started playing the live circuit."
For more information on Schwartz, read "Transitions and Bad Beats" at poker.suite101.com/article.cfm/schwartz_on_transition_bad_beats
