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There are two basic types of big-money tournament players in the poker world:
those who play for the money, and those who play for fun. You can safely file
Alan Goehring away in the latter category. The Henderson, NV, resident is a
retired junk bond analyst and trader who doesn't need the big cash that major
tournament prize pools offer in order to live. For Goehring, competition is
the big draw. For the last 7 years Goehring has been playing in big events on
the poker tournament circuit. While one could call him a professional player,
that would imply that he lived off his earnings from poker tournaments. He's
more like Paul Phillips than Chip Jett - comfortable thanks to his previous
career, he now pursues the game of poker as an intellectual challenge.
Goehring's tournament record is an impressive one. His first major cash came
in the $3,000 no-limit hold'em event at the 1997 World Series Of Poker, which
featured 217 entrants and other accomplished money finishers such as Kathy
Liebert, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Dan Harrington, and Bill Gazes. His next cash
also came at the WSOP, when he finished 13th in a field of 112 at the $5,000
no-limit hold'em event of the 1998 WSOP. It wasn't until the 1999 WSOP,
though, that Goehring truly gained a reputation as a great player. That year
he finished 2nd in the $10,000 Main Event to Ireland's Noel Furlong. His
runner-up position was good enough for over $768,000 in winnings.
Though he had proven his mettle, Goehring gained a reputation as someone who
couldn't win the big tournaments. While he made final tables regularly, he
didn't have any major wins to his credit. That all changed in 2003 when the
World Poker Tour broke onto the scene. At the inaugural WPT Championship at
Bellagio, Goehring bested the entire 111-man field to take home over $1
million in prize money. He also outlasted a tough final table that included
the likes of Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson, Ted Forrest, and his heads-up opponent,
Kirill Gerasimov. Goehring could no longer be considered an also-ran - he was
now officially a champion.
After Goehring's big win at Bellagio, it would be another three years before
he would claim another major title. There may have been plenty of doubters,
but with the WPT title under his belt Goehring had plenty of status in the
poker world. In the meantime, he had good showings at a variety of tournaments
on the circuit. In 2004, he took home over $375,000 with top-20 finishes in
four different WPT events and a 2nd-place finish in a preliminary event at the
Five-Star World Classic at Bellagio in December. 2005 was also a solid year
for Goehring. He cashed in three WPT main events, including a final table at
the Grand Prix de Paris, and also cashed three times at the WSOP. That marked
the first money he'd won at the marquee poker event since his 2nd place finish
in the 1999 Main Event. In all, he took home over $257,000 in winnings over
the course of 2005.
In early 2006 Goehring finally broke his winless streak at the LA Poker
Classic and took home nearly $2.4 million. His win was truly a wire-to-wire
performance - he finished in the top 5 for the first five days of the
tournament. His victory catapulted him to 12th on the all-time money list and
4th on the WPT all-time list, and brought him near the $5 million mark in
career earnings. That's not too bad for a guy who only plays big tournaments
for fun - and not for the money.
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