February Magazine Feature: Chatting with Everett Carlton

This article appeared in the February issue of Minnesota Poker Magazine. Three weeks after the issue hit the racks, Everett Carlton made a deep run in the Minnesota State Poker Tour event at Grand Casino Mille Lacs. For his 4th-place finish, Carlton earned $9,021.

Everett Carlton: Among the State’s Best
by Phil Mackey

Everett Carlton has become a fixture on the Minnesota poker tournament circuit, although some people may recognize him from an ESPN final table at the 2006 World Series of Poker. Everett finished 7th in the $1,000 rebuy event for $92,000. Allen Cunningham went on to win the event, and the table was littered with notable pros.
Since his poker career began five years ago, Everett — a St. Paul native with a large family and an athletic background — has earned over $300,000 in tournaments.

I caught up with Everett while he was playing cash games in Amsterdam — one of the many places he loves to travel. In fact, Everett says he travels nearly six months out of the year, playing tournaments and no-limit cash games ($5/10 and $10/20 NL).

Phil Mackey (PM): I’m guessing you are a professional poker player, right? As in, you don’t have a traditional day job?

Everett Carlton (EC): I never know how to answer that. If you mean is poker the only thing I do to earn money, then I’m not a professional and would never really want to be. But I do play poker for money and I do make money playing poker. And investing and trading the markets has kept me very busy. I  think I know more about the stock market than most stock brokers, and have done very well over the last 30 years. But poker has scratched my competitive itch, and the money is good too.

As for a traditional day job, that hasn’t happened to me since 1976.

PM: What did you do before playing poker and the stock market?

EC: Up until five years ago, I had never played a hand of poker. It’s funny, but I only got into poker to promote something else. A childhood friend of mine has been living in Vegas for 25 years and has made a fortune beating college football and college basketball. I mean that’s all he does, just college football and college basketball.

He’s an amazing handicapper. For years, I’ve encouraged him to sell his picks, but he was never interested. I realized that by playing the poker circuit, I would be surrounded by hundreds of people who may need that service. The rest is history. After five years, I found that I can make money playing poker, and the other business is doing well, with many clients, among them three well known poker pros. And my childhood friend hasn’t had a losing year since 1998. Things are good.

PM: Your tournament resume is very impressive, with several WSOP cashes, etc.

EC: My resume is only impressive if you omit the fact that I don’t have a major tournament win. I’ve had lots of cashes and final tables in my first five years, but no major wins other than some local wins. That’s not only disappointing, but it’s unacceptable to me. I’m working on some things that hopefully will change that. I primarily play tournaments, but haven’t traveled to a tournament since last summer for the WSOP. I’m getting ready for a trip to Biloxi to play in a week of preliminary events. I’m excited to get back into the tournament swing.

PM: What was your 2006 WSOP TV final table experience like? Pretty stacked final table, with Chino Rheem, Allen Cunningham, Andy Bloch, Alex Jacob and Steve Wong.

EC: That was an amazing final table. I think I was the only unknown player at that table. I actually met Steve Wong in Amsterdam six months prior playing cash games over there. I remember talking about the WSOP coming up. And here we are, both on the final table. I still see him around, he’s a great guy. And I was able to talk with Cunningham later about some situations. He couldn’t have been nicer, and the same for Andy Bloch and Alex Jacob. I went into that table as the second short stack behind Alex. I never wanted to just move up. I wanted the bracelet, but ended up finishing 7th. Very disappointing.

PM: Is traveling one of your passions? How often do you go to Amsterdam and/or Europe?

EC: Traveling has always been a big passion of mine. I lived in Europe for a few years in the early 80′s and traveled all over. Now with poker, I’m making at least eight trips a year to play cash games. I love Paris, an amazing city. And the Aviation Club is right on the Champs-Elysees. The French love to bluff and they hate giving up a pot. There’s consistently more action in those games than any I’ve ever seen. Same goes for Amsterdam. Although in Amsterdam, the biggest no-limit game is 5E/10E ($8/$16), but it plays like a $20/$40 no-limit game. I’ve been spending lots of time over there this year. Lately, my Euro bankroll is growing faster than my dollar bankroll.

PM: When playing tournaments, do you have a specific style or strategy? Are you more mathematical, or do you play by “feel”? A lot of people would look at your resume and wonder, ‘how does he do it?’

EC: I like to think I change styles depending on my table. A table is like fingerprint — no two are alike. There are 9 players with different styles and in different states of mind, which will both change as the game goes on. It’s a poker players job to figure out what those other players are doing and why. And how to best exploit that.

If, in life, you can quickly process information, both seen and unseen, and are able to make a good decision based on that information, you’ll succeed at poker. Although I know the math, I’m primarily a ”feel” player. If I think my opponent is weak, I’ll put the maximum pressure on him. I’m not always right, but I’ll always go with my read.

PM: Do you have poker industry friends, or people you travel with? People you talk poker with?

EC: I talk about poker situations with local friends, as well as with the Vegas poker pros who subscribe to my handicapping service. As for traveling, I prefer going solo. I can make my own schedule and come and go as I please. There are friends and people I know at almost every destination, even in Europe.

Actually, when I go to Vegas for two weeks in April to play in the WSOP Circuit Events at Caesars, I bring my 79-year-old mother. I set her up in a room at the Mirage. I think it’s her favorite two weeks of the year. She loves it there and loves the slots. It’s fun to watch a 79-year-old turn into a 25-year-old. I hardly see her the whole time, except to meet for dinner. If she shows up!