THE UNDERCOVER PRO
Poker Games on Tour Cocky players, good gossip and big money
I’M NOT A TOUR PRO BUT I’VE worked as credentialled player support for a long time. In my
career I’ve learned that some of the most interesting conversations behind the scenes of pro golf don’t happen on the range, the putting green or in player dining. They happen at the poker table. Broadly, underground poker games are a way to protect recreational play- ers. When a casual poker player with some cash to burn sits down to play in a casino, that table gets swarmed by low- er-level professionals looking to take advantage. Hosting a game at some- one’s rental house or even in a desig- nated space like a warehouse keeps that element away. In the golf world, you find there’s just a lot of overlap with people who love cards, too. There’s a legendary poker game known to golf people in Dallas and an- other in Las Vegas, both areas with low taxes and great airports that attract a lot of tour pros. You might also find these games at country clubs anywhere. Bring your own booze and don’t go where the house takes money, as those games are illegal. I see a lot of pots between $300 and $1 000, although I’ve watched a cou- ple of hands where guys had north of $250 000 in chips in front of them. I can’t play for that kind of money, but those nights have a different kind of energy. There’s no feeling like witness- ing a high-stakes poker game, just as nothing compares to watching some- one stand over a short putt with serious prize money on the line. Underground poker games attract a wide group within golf. There are more coaches and agents that frequent the table, but it’s not unusual for players to show up, too. I’ve seen everyone from
Ryder Cuppers to highly ranked ama- teurs make appearances. The real high rollers tend to be the friendly execs who are members at the same club as the tour pros. Some of the guys are genuinely good at poker. Others play like they’re used to winning at everything and can’t figure out why the cards aren’t cooperating. Regardless of who takes the big pots on a given night, it’s the love for poker and golf that bonds everyone. Also, some of the gossip that flows through these games is remarkable. Long before Anthony Kim’s LIV Golf comeback was ever a rumour on X, I heard about it from playing cards with someone in his inner circle. I heard about another prominent player need- ing season-ending surgery the same way. That’s how these things work. The poker table is the original group chat. You know how it is – once the cock- tails get poured, the conversations begin flowing just as freely. I’ve seen player-coach relationships form over poker games. Guys start chatting about the golf swing in a casual setting, and the next thing you know, you see them on the range together at a tour event. I
watched one player quickly double his career earnings after making such a change, which proves there’s more than one way of making money playing pok- er. Whenever you see a player show up with a new logo on his bag, understand there’s a chance that business relation- ship has its origin at a poker table. The longer I spend in both worlds, the more I realise how similar poker and golf are. Not every golfer likes poker, but the ones who do have the same analytical mind that helps them avoid bogeys on par 5s. They under- stand that winning or losing individual hands comes down to random variance. No one makes every putt, but you learn that if you have a good system and put enough good rolls on the ball, you’ll make enough of them. The mistakes are often the same, too. Whatever instinct makes a golfer try to carve a draw through a gap in the trees instead of pitching back into the fair- way is the same one that urges a poker player to run an elaborate bluff. Poker players call it fancy-play syndrome. Golfers don’t really have a word for it, but they suffer from it just as badly. – WITH LUKE KERR-DINEEN
8 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRIC A
JUNE 2026
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