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Curious Office Partners co-founder Adrian Hanauer, the Seattle angel investor who has made early bets in companies such as aQuantive, ImageKind and WishPot, has found another money-making pursuit: competitive poker.
Hanauer has traveled to Las Vegas three times in the past month, participating in about six Texas Hold'em tournaments.
Adrian Hanauer
While he lost his $10,000 at the World Series of Poker on the second day of the competition, the Seattle investor came back strong recently at the Bellagio Cup III. He entered two tournaments at $5,000 each, winning $27,000 in the first and about $80,000 in the second.
That means Hanauer, who has been playing tournament poker for about three years, made 10 times his money (not counting his losses at the World Series of Poker and other tournaments).
That's not a bad venture return, with Hanauer's partner at Curious Office, Kelly Smith, saying it would be a "great return for a tech investor too."
I asked Hanauer, who is currently playing in a $10,000 tournament, if there are any skills from poker that he uses in the venture business. Here's what he said:
"Probably the best skill I have learned from poker that translates into (venture capital) is reading people. If you can figure out when people are bluffing a little more often, that can certainly help in negotiating an investment. I have always been a numbers guy, so poker has just re-confirmed that math and statistics are very reliable sources of determining the value of an investment.
There is something in poker called 'pot odds.' This means that if a pot starts with 10,000 chips, and I have to call another bet for 4,000 chips, I would be winning 14,000 chips for my investment of 4,000 chips. This is a 3.5 to 1 return on my money. If my chances of winning the hand are 1 in 3, then my correct decision is to make the call. This type of calculation is also pertinent in (venture capital), if you are looking at angel, series A (or) preferred (investments)..."
Posted by CameronNewland at 11/12/07 9:20 p.m.
Response to unregistered user
If Mr. Hanauer were in Los Angeles, doing cocaine on a weekday, blowing his family's money away, then surely you'd be right to call him silver-spooned. However, this "silver-spooned nerd" happens to be making all the right moves (the fact he's making moves at all confirms he's not your typical rich-kid, resting on his laurels).
Adrian, though I haven't had the opportunity to get to know him, is in a much more enviable position than you; as you spend your time spreading negativity anonymously on the internet (is there anything more cowardly?), he spends his time pursuing his own goals.
Perhaps you should be inspired instead of bitter and jealous.
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Posted by unregistered user at 7/12/07 4:37 p.m.
Honestly, John. With a piece like this we might think you are trying to lessen the Zillow ratio or simply move the most recent down the page a bit. Moneyed nerds hitting the nouveau chic poker tables is a bit sterile. Now if a certain blogging CEO went to Vegas and trashed the Hef room we might have something.