His resume includes stand-up comedy, appearing in dozens of commercials, and writing and producing TV shows. Apparently, the Hollywood lifestyle can take its toll on a man, as Robert Dewberry left that world behind and is now producing poker vlogs as The Poker Monk.
He's been pumping out poker vlogs for almost half a year, grinding it out at the low stakes tables. I was curious to know a bit more about The Poker Monk and he was gracious enough to sit down and answer a few questions.
PokerTube: What made you jump on the poker vlogging bandwagon and get into the game?
Like a lot of players my age, I started playing during the Moneymaker boom. It was a great time to get in the game. Poker was so popular. Rooms were popping up in every casino. Poker was all over TV. Books were being published every few minutes. It was fantastic. And the games weren't filled with as many pros and serious recs, so even new players had a chance to learn the intricacies of the game without taking too big of a financial hit. It really was a great time to be a poker player. I was hooked from the start and other than a short break in my late 30s/early 40s to go back to school and get my degree, I've been playing pretty consistently ever since.
As far as vlogging is concerned, I had started a blog to chronicle my journey of utilizing poker as a means of self-improvement, and thought that it might be interesting to add some kind of video component to give the blog a little variety. I started researching YouTube for ideas and came across The Trooper who, at the time, was pretty much the only full-time poker vlogger out there. I really liked what he was doing, how he was integrating poker into the vlog format, and often times doing it in a humorous way. I really missed the creative outlet writing comedy had given me in my previous career, and this seemed like a good way to combine several of my passions - writing, comedy, and poker.
So I did a ton of research on producing YouTube content, bought some basic equipment, and jumped in. Of course, I wasn't the only one having this idea. It seems like right about the same time there were several players who decided to give poker vlogging a try - Neeme, Boski, Owens, Kraut, and Cody come immediately to mind.
PokerTube: What does your wife and family think of your poker vlogging?
I'm very lucky to have an extremely supportive wife. I'm not the kind of person who can half-heartedly get involved in a new hobby. I have to go all-in (excuse the poker pun). I buy all the books, do tons of research, get coaching, etc. So when I start something new, like vlogging, she knows that it's going to become a big part of our life and consume a ton of time. That kind of sudden whirlwind of equipment purchases, classes, research, that comes every time I take up something new can be difficult to deal with, but my wife Patti, always deals with it with grace, encouragement, and endless support and patience. I’m a very lucky man.
Regarding poker itself, she’s supportive but I don’t think she’s personally all that interested in the game. But she loves the vlog. She’s definitely my biggest fan and is constantly pushing me to shoot and release more content.
PokerTube: Do you have any favorite YouTubers whose vlogs you watch regularly?
Absolutely. I try to keep up with what the other poker vloggers are doing. There are so many of us now that it can be difficult to find the time, but I am definitely a fan of poker vlogs and think they’re a great way to stay inspired about poker and doing what I need to do to improve. I keep up with Trooper, Neeme, Boski, Owens, and the PokerKraut. I also try and check out the newer vloggers and see if they're doing anything new or interesting.
But I probably spend much more of my time on YouTube watching non-poker related content and vloggers. Like everyone else I'm a big fan of Casey Neistat's work.Though my absolute favorite is Peter McKinnon's YouTube channel and I never miss an episode. He's had a huge influence on me as a YouTube creator, and continues to inspire me to improve and experiment.
PokerTube: You've been very straightforward with your anxiety and depression issues. When did you first start experiencing such symptoms?
I was in my early twenties when I had my first panic attack. Like most people who experience these attacks, I had no idea what was going on. My first thought was that I was having a heart attack. In fact, I spent a week in the hospital and about the next six months afterwards being tested by doctors trying to figure out what was going on. It was a good two or three years before someone suggested that the problem could possibly be panic or anxiety disorder.
PokerTube: Doesn't the anxiety associated with competing at poker affect you in a negative way?
Sometimes, but not as often as you might think. When I'm super-focused on something, like I am at the table (or at least as I should be), it's rare that I'll have a panic attack. I tend to have attacks when my mind is unoccupied or distracted, or of course when I'm experiencing a high level of anxiety for some reason. It seems that my fight or flight reflex kicks in much more quickly and intensely than it does for most people. Since I always play well within my bankroll and feel very relaxed and comfortable at the table, poker is usually a refuge for me and not usually a point of anxiety. The drive to and from the casino, well, that's another matter.
PokerTube: PokerTube viewers would like to know more about your background as a comedy writer. Can you expound on that, including what caused you to leave that line of work?
After high school, I started pursuing a career in stand-up comedy and comedy writing, which basically consisted of working odd jobs during the day, doing open mics at night, and working on whatever script I was writing in-between. One of my early managers suggested trying to book some gigs in commercials as a means of making extra money while I pursued my writing career. It turned out that I had a knack for it and found myself booking commercials pretty regularly. Over the next seven or eight years I would end up being in over three dozen local, national, and international commercials for brands ranging from Best Buy to Pepsi to Mercedes Benz. It was a great way to make a pretty steady income while I continued knocking out scripts.
Eventually, I landed a job as a writing assistant on a late night talk show titled Talk Show With Spike Feresten. Soon, I was promoted to associate producer which led to various other writing and producing gigs. I worked on several Comedy Central shows including some of the Roasts and the Jeff Dunham show, wrote for a reality show on ABC called High School Musical (yes, reality shows have writers), and a variety of other mildly successful and, more frequently, failed shows that you've probably never heard of.
As I got older (being in your late 30s in Hollywood is old) and a little more jaded, I started to realize that I wasn't satisfied with the direction my career was headed. I wasn't working on the types of shows that were the reason I had started pursuing writing in the first place and grew up dreaming that I'd one day work on, shows like Saturday Night Live and the David Letterman Show. I didn't want to become just another bitter comedy writer, always feeling like I was under appreciated and unjustly being left behind. Hollywood is filled with writers who are always unhappy with where they are in their career, bitter because they believe they deserve so much better and that the industry is filled with idiots not smart enough to recognize their genius. I definitely didn’t want to join that club.
About this same time, a long lingering and growing regret about never attending college, moved to the forefront of my thinking. My wife was able to convince her employer to allow her to telecommute which enabled us to move someplace with a much lower cost of living. The following year we found ourselves in Charlottesville and I was attending the University of Virginia getting my degree in American history. We fell in love with Charlottesville and have decided to stay. It's made playing live poker difficult but it's a small price to pay for living in such a great community with such beautiful surroundings.
PokerTube: What was it like to work with Dana Carvey and other well-known comedians?
Working with Dana was a dream come true. In high school, I fantasized of being on Saturday Night Live; this was during the seasons that included Mike Myers, Kevin Nealon, and of course, Dana Carvey. By far my favorite sketches back then were things like The Church Lady, Hanz and Franz, and Wayne's World. So to not only work with Dana but to get to know him on a personal level was simply amazing. It's rare that you get to actually meet or work with your idols. And even rarer that they live up to your expectations. But Dana did that and more. He is incredibly kind and generous, and of course one of the most naturally funny people I've ever met.
PokerTube: Your viewership is slowly growing, however, it still lags behind most of the other poker vloggers. Are you in this for the long haul? Are you having fun vlogging?
I love vlogging. It's so great to have the opportunity to be funny (or at least try to be funny) on camera again and to have an opportunity to possibly inspire and encourage my fellow low-limit players. What I didn't know when I started was how much I was going to love editing. I started vlogging with virtually no experience in editing, so it's taken a ton of research and practice to just get to the point I'm at now. But it's become one of the parts of the process I'm most passionate about and I look forward to increasing my skill and knowledge of the editing process. So I definitely see myself producing content and videos in some capacity for many years to come.
Though my channel is growing steadily, you're absolutely right that it's growing much slower than the other poker vloggers that started about the same time as I did. I think there's a couple of reasons for that. First, I think not being in Vegas hurts me. With all that poker in one place it adds natural variety to the vlog and makes it much more scenic. Plus, how can you be a poker player and not have at least some level of fascination with Vegas – all that poker and gambling history in one place draws you in. I really miss Vegas and often find myself looking to vlogs like the Trooper’s to fill that void. I've tried to make up for that with showing a little more of Virginia’s scenic offerings, but in the end it is a poker vlog so I spend a lot of time in the same couple of casinos, which I think hurts the variety a little. I do plan on doing more traveling in the near future to cover places in the east that don't get enough love in the vlogs, places like Philadelphia, Atlantic City, Maryland, and maybe even some places south of me like Cherokee. I had hoped to get out to Vegas for the WSOP but unfortunately the timing didn’t work out, so I plan to get out there, and to LA, later in the year, which I’ll of course be vlogging as well.
I also think my age doesn't help. I feel like I'm a bit older than the other vloggers and probably older than many of those who look to YouTube for their entertainment.
The stakes I'm playing are very small, which doesn't add the kind of excitement you might get when playing pots that are in the thousands. But I’m hoping to move up to $2/$5 fairly soon and think that might help with this a little.
Posters on the forums at 2+2 have mentioned that part of my problem is I'm too nice and normal, which of course makes me laugh. But they may have a point. I’m not exactly controversial or a huge character/personality, which of course can tend to draw in big viewer numbers. But I’m also okay with it. I'm hoping to develop a kind of niche within a niche and maybe reach an audience that is being underserved.
PokerTube: You seem quite intent on improving your game of poker, actively soliciting feedback from your subscribers with regard to the plays you've made in various situations. While viewers can relate to you as a sort of everyman, that approach may actually turn off some of the more hardcore poker players who are looking to follow vloggers who are in more of the "pro" category. Any thoughts on this?
I think you’re absolutely right here. I think a lot of the players looking for extensive hand analysis, huge pots and stakes, etc., aren’t watching my vlog, and I’m cool with that. That’s not really the audience I’m pursuing. We’ve all got to find our audience, our niche, and I think mine is people who are interested in watching what it’s like to start at the beginning and work your way up through hard work and study, keeping a positive attitude, and using poker as a means not only to build your bankroll, but to improve your entire life. Poker has led me to such great things, meditation, a clearer focus and direction in life, a sense of community, many of the things that make me happy to wake up in the morning, and I feel a real desire to share that with anyone who will listen. I really hope that I can inspire those players at the lower levels like myself - let them know that if becoming a pro is what they want, they can definitely do that if they’re willing to put in the effort needed.
But I also want them to know that there are things poker can give them other than money – things like community, mental toughness and wellness, humility, an appreciation for fairness and the variance of life – regardless of the stakes they’re playing or the skill or experience they might have. There’s a ton of different levels of poker players out there from complete newbies to nosebleed pros, and therefore plenty of room for not only vloggers at the level of someone like Daniel Negreanu, but also small time vloggers like myself or say, the Poker Kraut, bringing a different perspective to the game.
PokerTube: The floor is yours. Anything you'd like to add about poker, vlogging, or anything else that's on your mind?
I feel very humbled and grateful for the outpouring of support I’ve received from people watching the vlog or checking out the website, from the forums at Red Chip Poker and 2+2, from my coach Dr. Cardner, from yourself and PokerTube, and of course my wife and family, and just hope that you all know how endlessly thankful I am for all that support and encouragement. Thank you.
Everyone should feel free to contact me through my website, follow me on Twitter and, of course, check out the YouTube channel.