Fun is in the cards - La Casa de Esperanza leader takes home more than $37,799 from poker tournaments in a few months

Waukesha -- Anselmo Villarreal, executive director of La Casa de Esperanza, doesn't go for a jog, down a beer or take a nap when he wants to relax.

He takes his place at a poker table.

In the past few months, Villarreal, of Greenfield, has taken home more than $37,799 in poker tournaments, according to the poker Web site www.cardplayer.com. Buy-ins for Villarreal's profitable card-table endeavors ranged from $200 to $2,500.

"I can sit for three hours just talking to people and having a good time without really playing," Villarreal said. "Another thing, I didn't have anything to lose, so I could take a risk."

Villarreal said he doesn't have anything to lose yet because he hasn't really stopped winning since he got into the tournaments. Villarreal said he has been playing for about nine months and picked up the game from a couple of friends.

"Some of my friends, they play a lot of poker," he said. "They're very good poker players and they invited me."

Villarreal said he's not as good as his buddies yet, but he'd like to keep playing in the tournaments.

He said he and his wife have traveled to Las Vegas about two times a year for several years, but he doesn't plan to make more trips because of the tournaments.

"I would like to do maybe three tournaments a year," Villarreal said. "It's something that I think that I like."

After mastering game basics, players have to learn patience if they want to rake in the big bucks, he said.

"I wait for the right opportunity to risk," Villarreal said. "I don't like to risk my chips on bluffing."

Eric Lynch, a professional poker player from Olathe, Kan., said the key to any player's success is "knowing how to wait for the right spots." He said people who make sound choices and show self-control excel.

"When you're playing 12, 15 hours a day sometimes, you can make one mistake and you're out," Lynch said.

Easy access to game tips and instruction on the Internet and through books, coupled with televised tournaments, has helped poker build a fan base, said Joe Willi, poker room manager at Potawatomi Bingo Casino in Milwaukee.

"Now, everybody's sharing their knowledge, which is a great thing, because it creates more players," Willi said.

Willi said poker is an "intellectual game."

"Naturally, a little bit of luck doesn't hurt you, but it's a game of skill, poker is," Willi said. "You make the decisions."

Villarreal said he enjoyed weighing risks and rewards and calculating the economic weight of each hand.

But, when deciding what to do with his winnings, Villarreal said he shares the choices and the cash.

"I just give it to my wife," he said.