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It's OK for Thomas Keller to play games at work, after all, his "job" is playing Texas Holdem poker.

If you want to call that a job.

But there is no arguing that Keller is earning a handsome living. On May 5, he won $382,020 for finishing first among 254 players in a $5,000 buy-in no-limit Texas Holdem event at the prestigious World Series of Poker under way in Las Vegas.

With it, he earned one of the series' coveted gold bracelets.

He says he has won more than $1 million in tournament play in the past three years, most of it recently, including $284,025 in a December tourney in Vegas.

And he's only 23.

"It would be hard to get a real job at this point," Keller said last week from his Chandler home before returning to Binion's Horseshoe casino for the 35th annual World Series championship May 22-28, where the winner could rake in $3 million.

ESPN is taping the action, and Keller admits to liking the camera and the energy of tournaments. Televised poker events, such as the World Poker Tour on the Travel Channel, have helped fuel a surge in poker's popularity, especially tournament play at casinos.

"You have to be pretty business-savvy to do well in this kind of life," Keller said. "It's not like a regular job where you go and get your paycheck every month."

The World Series' Web site quotes one Arizona local, known as "Shoe," as calling Keller "the best young poker player in the world. I must have played with him 50 times, and 50 times he won. I've never seen anything like him."

Those who have watched Keller say a strong suit is his ability to read players.

"If he thinks he's read something right, he has no problems putting all his money in the pot," said Tom Schneider, 44, of Phoenix, who quit his job as chief financial officer of ProLink Inc. 1 1/2 years ago to play poker professionally.

"He's a great player," Schneider said. "He's fearless, which is really important, especially in no-limit. He beat guys who write books, and that's very impressive."

While he is enjoying his run, Keller knows that making good money is not always in the cards as a poker player. So he's diversifying, something he learned the value of while graduating in three years from Stanford University with a degree in economics.

He said he has

contributed to the purchase of three homes in Las Vegas with his father and older brother who plan to incorporate their real estate business.

His father is Gary Keller, director of the Hispanic Research Center at Arizona State University, who was traveling overseas and could not be contacted for this story.

"We may rent some (homes) out to have a positive cash flow, or at least something," Keller said. "Vegas is a great market right now." Keller became a Nevada resident this year, but also maintains his home in Chandler.

"I'm planning on residing in Vegas - that's where the poker action is, and with these (home) investments, it makes things easier, too," he said. "But I'll always have a special place in my heart for Phoenix."

Playing Texas Holdem poker for a living is not for everyone, he said. But he encourages friends who don't like their jobs to quit, saying, "Life's too short to do something you don't love."

He's teaching his older brother, Randy, who has degrees from Harvard University and the University of California-Berkeley, to play professionally. He also has a twin brother, Shawn.

The best way to learn about poker is reading books and playing online, which is less intimidating, he said. He calls HoldEm Poker for Advanced Players, by David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth, "the main book that got me started."

Keller is sponsored by Ultimatebet.com, an online poker site operated by eWorld Holdings Inc. of Antigua.

While Keller's passion for poker has paid dividends, he admits that playing the game for a living is not for everyone.

"You've got to manage your money well, and you have to kind of become emotionally insensitive to the money, at least as much as possible," he said.

His new wife, Andra, supports her husband's work.

"It's something that he really loves, so I'm very supportive of that," she said.

For his part, Schneider admits that playing poker for a living beats the voice mails, deadlines and other stress of corporate life. He enjoys much the same lifestyle but without the perks of bonuses, stock options and the like. He admits he'll burn out on poker eventually and probably go back to corporate life.

"It's tough, you have to be really dedicated to it if you're going to do it," Keller said of playing poker professionally.

His advice: "Don't play in games that are over your head, don't gamble with money you can't afford to lose, study hard" and watch good players' moves. "And . . . try not to get frustrated when you have bad swings, because everybody does."

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