Ask Chip and Karina

Q: What is your poker background?

Karina: I started watching my mother play, and I played some cards in high school. I learned by playing $1-$5 stud at The Mirage, then I moved up to $3-$6 hold'em not too long thereafter. Since I married Chip, I have been playing in some tournaments.

Chip: I started playing seriously in 1992 when Fort McDowell Casino opened just outside of Scottsdale, Arizona, where I was making a living as a lifeguard at a public pool. My buddies and I would scrounge together money and go play $4-$8 hold'em. When I found out how much the dealers were making, I immediately enrolled in dealer school. After getting a job dealing, I held positions as a floorman and shift supervisor before finally becoming a proposition player and supplementing my income with the weekly tournaments at the local casinos.

Q: What is it like to be married to another poker player?

Karina: It's nice because he can relate to what I do, but then it's bad when everybody wants to knowyour business.

Chip: Picture in your mind all the bad beats and misery that playing for a living provides. Then, multiply it by two. That's the good part.

Q: You live in Las Vegas. What are the pros and cons of living in Sin City?

Karina: All pros, no cons. Vegas is the best city to live in. I love it here.

Chip: One of the great things about living in Vegas is you don't have to travel to see your out-of-town friends. Everyone wants to come here to hang out, so if you are patient, eventually they will all come to you. Other pros and cons would be the abundance of pros and cons.

Q: How does it feel to be the second choice for this column (after Evelyn Ng and Adam Schoenfeld)?

Karina: Ha-ha. Actually, we weren't chosen; we won the silent auction for the privilege of paying this fine publication for the right to grace its pages with our column. How's my credit, Jeff?