Poker pro Brian Rast on gambling for a living | Forensic Files

my name is Brian rast I'm a poker player living in Las Vegas Nevada and in the 2011 World Series of Poker I won two
bracelets I mean I got into poker when I was in college and you know I didn't really have any money and I started
playing with like the little money that I did have and I kind of like built it up I eventually dropped out of school
cuz I had enough money and I decided this is what I want to do with my life I chose poker for freedom but I didn't
want to work for anyone I didn't want a 9 to5 I wanted I didn't want to have a boss I wanted to
just do what I wanted there's definitely kind of a Mystique about it and you know
for every person that maybe has my story there's countless of people that it like
doesn't work out that well for them winning and losing in a lot of things in life and gambling with money something
that people care about like gives people a rush some people just want to feel something the the TV tournament poker
just looks like this seductive easy way to win a lot of money that's why people play the lottery that's why people you
know do a lot of things in life everyone would like to win a million dollars easily that's why people put a dollar in
a slot machine you know and so poker's like some people slot machine but a little bit more fun cuz you have to
think poker players like small businesses it's like over 90% fail in the first 5 years that's just the way
things are it's a difficult game it's hard to become good enough to have Edge and win the truth is if that you're not
careful you lose all your money and if you don't have money you can't play poker you need money to make money in
poker there's poker players that have gone broken you know they like might try to borrow money and if they can't then
they'll like go find something else to do with their life and that would kind of be the rational like hey I'm a normal
person response to the situation but you know not everybody works like that poker
players especially in Las Vegas are kind of like many celebrities or you know poker is something that's very
popular in Las Vegas like most of the people know who poker players are a lot of the people work in casinos so they're
kind of around and poker players are kind of people that come in some of them are successful they win you know a lot
of money I mean you know if you're one of the better poker players at like say the Bellagio I mean you could make over
100 or 200,000 a year and that's I mean that's a lot of money by almost anyone's
standards

"I chose poker for freedom," professional poker player Brian Rast told "48 Hours." The Las Vegas-based player talks about the lure and mystique of the game and why poker players are like small businesses.

Brief Summary

Brian Rast discusses his poker journey, the risks of the game, and the lifestyle of poker players in Las Vegas.

Key points

Brian Rast's Poker Journey. Brian Rast shares his journey from college dropout to World Series of Poker champion.
The Reality of Poker. Brian discusses the harsh realities and risks of being a poker player.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I chose poker for freedom.

Brian Rast on his motivation for playing poker.

0:22WatchFeb 9, 2014

More from 48 Hours

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.