How to Celebrate Big Wins: Poker Players’ Experiences

After a big win, poker players often face several questions. Should they celebrate the win, and if so, how? Where should they spend the money? What pitfalls should they be aware of?

In this new article from Pokeroff, we offer answers to these questions. Enjoy the read!

Why is it Important to Celebrate Every Win?

According to LinkedIn, numerous scientific studies confirm the importance of recognizing your success and celebrating achievements of any kind. This is beneficial because it:

Boosts self-esteem and confidence;
Helps combat impostor syndrome;
Reduces anxiety, irritability, and worry;
Improves productivity and endurance;
Promotes better self-understanding and a clearer sense of values.

To maximize these benefits, it’s important to celebrate success properly by following a five-step guide:

Acknowledge the Achievement: No victory is too small. You should recognize and feel it.
Share the Achievement: Inform friends or close ones, mentors, colleagues (if you combine work with poker), and discuss it with them to get an outside perspective.
Accept Praise Gracefully: Don’t deflect or downplay compliments. Don’t belittle yourself or try to argue against your contribution. If you feel the urge to do so, just say “Thank you.”
Set Realistic Expectations: Remind yourself that every poker pro was once a beginner and also went through small achievements and big failures on their way to the top.
Practice Mindfulness: Reflect on your achievement, analyzing your contribution and mistakes. This way, you’ll understand that it wasn’t just luck.

Safety Rules After a Big Win

Inform only trusted people whom you are sure of about your win. Be careful about whom and what you tell to avoid becoming a target for those looking to take advantage of you.
Don’t be overly generous, especially with some relatives and acquaintances.
Don’t withdraw all the money from the poker room to cash; it’s better to transfer most of it to USDT or another cryptocurrency.
Don’t rush to spend on your desires. Give yourself a week to process the emotions and then review your wants to see if they’re still relevant and significant.
If you want to invest, do it cautiously. High-roller and six-time WSOP bracelet winner Brian Hastings advises avoiding investments in friends’ friends’ startups, and well-known tournament player Patrick Leonard advises against doing business with friends. High-roller and poker coach Ryan Laplante recommends investing mainly in long-term instruments that can’t be quickly cashed out.

Where to Spend a Big Poker Win?

There are countless ways to use and enjoy a big win, limited only by your imagination and the amount of money. Below are some of the “most popular” expenses among poker players.

Invest in Health (Your Own or Close Ones)

Fix your teeth, undergo a comprehensive medical check-up, and get any other procedures (or pay for those for your loved ones) that have been postponed. You can also spend on cosmetic surgery, like GGPoker streamer Hristivoje “AllInPAV” Pavlovic, who got braces in 2022.

Pay for Education

Use the money for courses or educational programs outside of poker to protect yourself in case of career problems, or pay for poker training and materials to improve your game skill. Even if the education doesn’t directly apply, it will still be beneficial for your overall knowledge and thinking.

Buy Yourself a Gift

This can be any item or service you’ve long dreamed of. For example, Jamie Staples bought a painting called “Inga” with his prize money from third place in the $109 The Big in 2017, a piece he had wanted for many years:

GGPoker UK ambassador Niall Farrell bought a Jacob&Co watch with his first big win. Joshua Arieh and Brian Rast bought themselves cars.

Espen Jorstad, after winning $10M for his victory in the WSOP 2022 Main Event, treated himself to a massage gun.

By the way, you can treat yourself to a purchase even if you lose part of your bankroll, just to lift your spirits. Pedro Garagnani, for example, cheered himself up after losing 20% of his bankroll by buying a TV.

Pay for a Vacation

This can be a trip or even a lavish party—just make sure you relax thoroughly and don’t regret the money spent.

For example, in 2022, Georgios Sotiropoulos spent part of the $348K he won in the Main Event Merit Poker on a trip to Australia, which he had long dreamed of (and invested the rest in Ethereum).

Make Your Loved Ones Happy

If you’ve wanted to do something for friends or family for a long time, a poker win can help you with that. Just be reasonable with your spending—take friends to dinner at a restaurant they’ve always wanted to go to, as Benny Glaser does after every win. Or invite a close friend for a drink, like Jans Arends did after winning the Sunday Million. Or, make a big gift to someone important—like poker coach Carlos Welch, who bought a house for his elderly mother, even though he lives in a van himself.

Help Those in Need (But Carefully)

This can be giving or lending money to friends and family in difficult situations or donating to charity—it’s up to you.

The main thing is to be ready that if you lend money to people, do it with an amount you’re ready to lose without regrets. As for charity, choose organizations carefully to avoid accidentally funding fraudsters.

Invest in Real Estate

If the amount is substantial, you can spend it on buying real estate as an investment or to improve your living conditions.

For example, after winning $224K in the $3.5K WPT Championship Lucky Hearts 2021, Jesse Lonis bought a house.

Of course, if the money isn’t enough for a direct purchase, it can be used as a down payment on a mortgage or for a joint purchase with someone—like Dan Smith did in 2020, buying a house in Canada together with Stephen Chidwick.

By the way, you can even try to turn real estate into a business—like Men Nguyen, who once acquired a furniture store and a dry cleaner in Los Angeles.

Increase Your Bankroll

If you don’t need to solve any life problems with the win, investing in your own bankroll can be a good step for the future. As Alexander “Anticheck” said after a win in 2022: “When asked ‘where will you spend the winnings?’ the answer for regulars is—on the bankroll.”