Dutch Boyd on ‘More Rake’ and ‘Maddening Rules’ in Boski’s PokerTube Podcast

(Photo: Cardplayer.com)

Las Vegas pro Dutch Boyd may have courted plenty of controversy in his poker past, but the 37-year old with over $2.5million in tournament cashes to his name appears to have mellowed with age – although his views on the Venetian Casino, tournament rules and rake still manage to get him riled after almost two decades in and around the poker world.

PokerTube’s well-known vlogger – and fellow Vegas tournament regular – Jeff Boski spent an hour discussing all sorts of topics with the man who gained a law degree at the age of eighteen, a deep run in the WSOP Main Event in the year that Chris Moneymaker made history and who boasts 3 of his own WSOP bracelets.

I promise to pay the rake, the whole rake, and nothing but the rake

This is where Boyd himself gets most animated – the same old problems with rake still there, with the Venetian Casino and the WSOP Circuit events coming for the most criticism.

 “We get so used to being in this –EV environment,” he tells Boski, adding that the two regular spots named above are the “worst offenders”, asking how a positive ROI is viable with 20%+ rake, adding that:

“It gets to a spot where no-one can win”.

Boyd’s ‘solution’ to the rake problem – for tournaments at least – is bringing in outside sponsors stating:

“I would like to see poker change… to the point where we show up for an event and there’s no rake – it’s all subsidised by sponsors.”

From child genius to poker pro

Boyd’s background is a very unusual one, the term child genius being bandied about, his accelerated school progress seeing him land a law degree at only 18 years old.

“It sounds crazier than it actually was,” says Boyd. “I hit 4th grade, top of the class… I didn’t really feel any different. Straight into 7th grade… a tough adjustment being 2 years younger…. started Law school at 15, graduated at 18… and then had no idea what to do!”

It’s a long story short, but Boyd wouldn’t encourage it himself for others… but believes it may have led to his choice of tournament poker over cash games –  a ‘getting there quickly rather than following the grind approach’.

Of his life as a poker pro – beyond the “piece of paper” as Boski describes Boyd’s law degree – Boyd explains:

“It feels good not having anybody who can yell at you or tell you what to do… I got into poker for the freedom of it… but at the end of the day it is still sitting at a table trading time for money just like any other job.”

Crypto-currency: “One of the coolest developments we’ve had in the last century”

One area where Boyd seems to have a keen interest is in the crypto-boom, happy to discuss in detail the Bitcoin and associated areas where he invests his own money.

“You’re not using your computer right now? You’re not using your smartphone right now? Why not let some researcher at the University of Alberta use it to run their machine-learning algorithms…” and describes the “crytpo rollercoaster” with 20% swings in investments as “a normal Thursday”.

“If there’s one thing that tournament poker has done for us, it’s beaten the risk aversion out of us… we’re more suited to weather those storms” he says of the crypto-markets and, perhaps strangely to many who consider it rife, he says that even in poker circles, ‘crypto’ is still not widely held or understood by poker players..

“I keep on hearing the same argument from some of these older (poker) guys: ‘Well, you know what the problem with Bitcoin is…’ Boyd asking the 60-or-so year old to enlighten him. ‘Well, it’s really only used for drugs and money laundering’… an amused Boski adding:

“Paedophiles too, and hitmen, prostitutes – that’s all it’s good for”.

“It’s one of the coolest developments we’ve had in the last century” says Boyd, and that’s about as emphatic as it gets with him.

Tournament rule idiocy

 “Ok, I want to talk about the Venetian… about a little something that has really been bugging me…,” Boyd says recalling a game there which he and Boski were both in, where ‘early exposure’ of hands came into play – and an automatic one-round penalty – regardless of the reason.

“It’s embarrassing getting a penalty like that in a tournament, it makes you not want to show up again, it creates a bad experience – for the life of me I don’t understand why the Venetian keep doing this,” says Boyd. “Every time I’ve seen this happen it’s been a recreational making a simple mistake. It’s completely maddening.”

There’s more to the chat – much more – although if you’re looking at a reprise of the PokerSpot debacle at the start of his career you’ll be left disappointed. The rest, however, is well worth the time!