"Compared to my day job, poker is relaxing," jokes Scott. Or maybe he's serious. We're not too sure. We wouldn't expect run-of-the-mill answers from one of the most atypical online poker players to ever hit the Texas Hold'em circuit.
In fact, if you hopped in a time machine, traveled back to early 2007 (clearly that's the first place most people would go), and sat down at a Texas Hold'em table with the rock star, you'd be blown away by what you saw.
"I sucked," says the blatantly honest Anthrax guitarist. "No idea what I was doing. My first tournament win was mostly because I had amazing cards. My instinct was all I had."
Fast-forward to today and the story is a radically different one.
Scott Ian's poker career kicked off after he secured his spot in the 2007 Aruba Poker Classic by winning VH1's Rock Stars of Poker charity Texas Hold'em tournament. It was while spending a week with 11-time World Series of Poker® bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth and world poker champion Annie Duke in Aruba that Scott Ian was introduced to the world of professional poker life.
Those seven days in paradise would prove to be one of the most valuable experiences of Scott's career. He left Aruba armed with some of the best poker insight on planet earth, practiced his online poker skills both on his own and with Annie Duke, and ultimately elevated his game to unparalleled levels over the next several months. Today, Scott Ian is a true online poker pro.
Born in New York on New Year's Eve in 1963, and a current resident of Los Angeles, Scott Ian has spent the better part of three decades as the guitarist for a little heavy metal band he formed in 1981 called Anthrax. As he toured the world entertaining his fans, a poker career was the last thing on Scott's mind.
Oh, how things have changed. Since his week in paradise with poker's best players, Scott has received the equivalent of 10 years of poker lessons from UltimateBet's online pros in less than a year. Today, he joins the likes of P0ker H0, Debo34, and Shawn Rice as an UltimateBet online poker professional.
While he's definitely learned the tricks of the trade from poker's best, he hasn't modeled his game after any of them. "I'm trying to take everything I learn and make it my game."
As a member of Online Team UB, Scott Ian can be found destroying player after player at UltimateBet's online poker tables. "I'm either a shark because I'm always moving forward or a big cat because I'm always thinking about my next meal."
Consider yourself warned.
