what ever happened to one of my friends on the poker tournament
circuit — Kenny Buntjer. I had not seen him at any of the tournaments in
about a year. A few weeks ago, I ran into one of our mutual friends, Tex
“TEARS” Morgan. I asked him about Kenny, and he told me that he had
quit the tournament circuit. I wondered why a top player like Kenny had
done that. I finally got his E-mail address and wrote to him. I asked how
he is doing, and then asked if he would care to share why he had
stopped following the tournament circuit.
I think it is interesting to know what motivates people who are on or
near the top of a profession to quit. After all, the day will probably come
for most of us who travel and play in poker tournaments to think about
making the same type of decision.
I received the following E-mail from Kenny and thought others would be
as interested as I was in hearing from an old friend. After I read the E-
mail a couple of times, I realized that Kenny had received a tremendous
amount more out of playing on the tournament trail than he had given
up. Believe it or not, it made me want to go play a poker tournament.
Here’s the E-mail as I received it:
Hi, Vince:
Thanks for your E-mail and the kind words.
I am doing just fine. My health is good and I have been enjoying my
year of retirement from poker.
Although I think quite often about my many poker friendships and my
personal struggle with tournament poker, I have never considered
myself to be a real significant person in the poker world, or that most
players would really care about why I stopped playing. But, since you
are considerate enough to ask, I’m happy to respond.
For a long time, I had been considering quitting (retiring), or at least
cutting back from the active tournament poker scene. I had been playing
poker quite continuously since 1984, mostly in the minor leagues (buy-
ins of $200 and less). Although I was getting a little tired of playing, I
refused to quit until I had a chance to play with the big boys in the
major leagues. I wanted to find out just how good I was.
I was unable to accumulate enough money on my own to comfortably
play with these fellows in the majors. So, when I had an opportunity to
pick up a backer in June of 1996, I took it, and played big league poker
for the next four years.
During this four-year period, I had three backers, went on 32
tournament trips, played 446 tournaments, spent approximately 510
days away from home living in hotels, and made a reasonable profit for
my efforts.
I had a chance to test my ability, and found that I was pretty good.
Among my accomplishments, I list the following:
1. Each of my three backers made a nice profit.
2. I won the Northwest Poker Championship.
3. I won the California Poker Championship.
4. I won a world championship (World Series of Poker, $3,000 no-limit
hold’em, 1998).
5. I am still the only poker player in history to win three major poker
tournaments in three consecutive days (back-to-back-to-back at the
Gold Coast Open).
6. The book that I wrote, The Secret to Winning Big in Tournament
Poker, is still a big seller and provides many players with a good
understanding of tournament poker strategy.
7. Poker has taught me a lot about myself and advanced my personal
growth in self-discipline and control.
8. I have made many friends among the very best poker players from
literally all over the world.
I believed that I had reached a point in my development where I was
playing at nearly 100 percent of my ability. Thanks to my backers, I was
given the opportunity to find out just how good I was, and I found out
that I was close to the best. I also found out how good I wasn’t. I’m not
a Tiger Woods or a Michael Jordan. I don’t believe there are any existing
players in poker in that category. When a group of players reaches the
point where I was, luck and errors become the determining factor in who
wins. My error rate began increasing. I couldn’t seem to be able to hold
my concentration as well as I had in the past. I think this might be called
“burnout.” I had gotten to the point where I really dreaded going on
each trip. I had reached a constant state of depression. I love my home
and family, and was tired of being gone so often. I believed that I had
accomplished my poker objectives. It was time to quit.
So, where does all this leave me? Well, I still love poker. I have had
many great memorable moments in poker. I try to keep up on what’s
happening in poker via the Internet chat rooms, Card Player, and some
special poker friends. I get my poker fix twice a week at my local Elks
lodge, where we play crazy low-limit games and spend most of our time
laughing and having a good time.
Vince, I hope this answers your questions. If any of my friends would
like to contact me, feel free to give out my E-mail address. I would enjoy
hearing from nearly anyone and talking poker.
Thanks for your interest.
Your friend, KenBuntjer@aol.com.
For what it’s worth …
