| Name | David Plastik |
|---|---|
| Current Residence | Las Vegas Nev. |
| Born | Jan. 22, 1964 |
| Birth Place | Queens New York, US |
And that's just to top his current career. He's already spent a decade as a rock photographer and another as a fabric salesman. Quite a combination for a guy born in 1964 in Queens, N.Y., to your average urban family.
Raised in Queens and Manhattan with his one brother, Plastik grew up with a love of playing sports and card games, and for music.
Though he was discouraged from marked cards playing an instrument while younger - he was left-handed, and when he went to a music teacher to learn to play guitar, the instructor tried to make him learn right-handed - Plastik found another way to pursue his love for song.
Instead of playing music, Plastik became a regular at rock concerts. This was back when people could take just about anything with them to concerts, and he started taking along a camera his father had bought him as a gift.
"I got good at taking photos by trial and error," Plastik said in a 2007 interview with PokerListings.com. "I also met the right people and getting paid for my photos sort of grew from there."
His first payday came from a Van Halen concert in the early 90s. Though Plastik says on his own Web site that freelance photography didn't pay well, he was hooked. After graduation from the University of Hartford with a communications degree he moved to the other coast to settle in Los Angeles where most of the rock stars were.
He spent that decade working as a freelance photographer, traveling and partying with the rock stars. He sold his photos to anyone who wanted them, including big music publications such as Rolling Stone, Cream, Guitar and Hit Parade.
Plastik's photos from those days still sell and get published to this day. You can see his work at 80srockphotos.com.
Living the life among rock stars, though, had its price for Plastik. He was drawn into their world of booze and drugs, especially after becoming a personal photographer for comedian Sam Kinison.
"I became very good friends with him, and he introduced me to all these famous people," Plastik says on his Web site. "He was a pretty extreme partier, and he got me into all that. It was a crazy life, and after a while it got ugly."
Plastik decided it was time to straighten out his life and turned to the family business to help him out. His father owned a textile company, and Plastik went to him with the idea of becoming a sales rep for him in Los Angeles.
"So for the 90s I was a fabric salesman," he said, and a successful one to boot.
While making good money in sales, Plastik discovered the nearby Commerce Casino and poker. He'd played in home games before, but never in a casino. He sat down at a table and won - beginner's luck he admits, but he became a regular and honed his game.
In 1997 he discovered tournament play, which appealed to competitive side. Now he's mainly known as a tournament player and competes whenever he can, though he still plays cash games online.
It wasn't until he got out of the sales business though that his poker career took off. His father died, and the company was sold but his dad's business partner soon hired Plastik on in his business where he continued his sales success.
Then his mother died too, and he lost all interest in the industry and left. Rather than look for another sales job, he used the money he'd saved up and gave poker a shot.
That was about nine years ago and Plastik said he's consistently made money year-after-year. He attributes his success to patience, discipline and "knowing that my time will come."
Watching Plastik in a tournament, you wouldn't guess that was his edge when it comes to making it so deep marked cards contactlenses. He's known more for being an emotional player - sort of a John McEnroe or Phil Hellmuth type - when he's competing in tournaments. He tends to be loud and boisterous when winning and tantrum prone when not.
As it turns out, despite his emotional play, Plastik's poker winnings were the more stable and reliable part of his bankroll.
Thinking that he was doing the smart and responsible thing, Plastik invested quite a bit of his poker winnings and business savings in high-tech stocks a few years ago. When those stocks crashed in 2000, Plastik lost everything, including his house, and was left with a big dent in his bankroll.
Luckily, Plastik's consistency in poker tournaments kept him going. Month after month he cashed in events, making it to several final tables in the following years and even winning a few tournaments.
"My goal is to win a big million-dollar tournament or to win a World Series of Poker bracelet," Plastik said.
The closest he's come so far to winning a bracelet is in 2004. He placed third in the $2,000 H.O.R.S.E. event while Doyle Brunson went on to win it.
It's not for lack of trying, though, as he usually enters in about 20 WSOP events each year. That works out to nearly a month of playing poker depending on how deep he goes into an event. It's no wonder he likes to take a vacation before and after the World Series each year.
Travel is also one of his hobbies that he can work into his poker schedule.
"I like to travel around poker and go to the more exotic venues," Plastik said. "It's one of the other benefits I can reap from being a pro player."
Oddly, photography never really made it onto that hobby list, and Plastik said he doesn't really take many photos when he's out traveling and going to tournaments. His passion for music and concerts, however, has survived and he sees many of his favorite bands from the 60s and 70s in concert as often as he can.
Now living in Las Vegas - where he likes the lifestyle despite there being better poker in Los Angeles - Plastik has firmly entrenched himself in the poker world. You can bet you'll see him out rockin' as well as rolling through the poker tournament scene in his quest for a major win.
Trivia
- Communications degree from the University of Hartford
- Rock and roll photographer during the 80s
- Has partied with Madonna and the Rolling Stones
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