Only seven can read his poker face

Though Hawrilenko said he prefers to play in online tournaments, he has been in London for the past few days, participating in the main event at the World Series of Poker Europe. He bowed out in eighth place on Thursday, taking home 87,074 British pounds (about $138,874) in prize money from the tournament.

Hawrilenko, who was a Wilson School major, calls himself a very “math-based” player. He was a Tiger Inn member while he was at the University, and he wrestled for all four years. In his freshman year, he met Emily Kroshus ’04, whom he eventually married.

Hawrilenko first began playing online poker during a Washington, D.C., research internship in the summer after his junior year, and he continued playing at TI and in the Quadrangle Club library. Kroshus said Hawrilenko was playing poker online during his senior year “quite a bit.”

His practice eventually paid off. In his senior year, he won a small buy-in tournament that was a satellite event for the World Series of Poker. After he risked $100 and won a $10,000 seat in the World Series main event, Kroshus recalled high-fiving her husband in celebration of his success.

Since Hawrilenko typically plays online, playing poker has afforded him the ability to travel wherever there is an internet connection. He has visited Paris, Australia, New Zealand, Spain and Japan, and now, playing poker for a living gives him the flexibility to spend time with his wife, who does not enjoy Las Vegas, and work from home. When he does participate in in-person tournaments, Kroshus gets updates about his progress.

“The worst part,” Hawrilenko said, “is that being a professional poker player doesn’t exactly create much value for society, and that can feel unfulfilling.” He tries to remedy that shortcoming by giving to charity and being involved in his community, which last year included volunteering with a tutoring organization in which one of his former roommates, Amit Koren ‘04, had also participated. Kroshus said she had no reservations about her husband’s chosen career, explaining that he remains “balanced in life.”

The connection between a Princeton degree and poker may not be readily apparent, but Hawrilenko said in an e-mail that he approaches poker with “academic rigor.” The originality and discipline required for writing a senior thesis, he explained, translate to a sound preparation for certain skills needed in playing poker.

“You have to find not only a tractable, but a valuable, problem to solve, which is probably the most difficult part of the whole thing,” Hawrilenko said. “For me, writing my thesis, that was the most overwhelming part. I can certainly say that in poker, it’s also the most valuable part.”

Time at Princeton also helped Hawrilenko discover that learning comes from experience, from sharing with peers and from trial and error.

While at Princeton, Hawrilenko said, he did not envision such a future for himself, but he found playing poker an ideal fit. “If I had one piece of advice for Princeton grads,” he said, “it would be this: Don’t have tunnel vision.”