Ethan Briggs, born February 23, 1990, is a familiar face on the MSPT, but not as a player. Instead, Briggs is in the box slinging cards as a traveling poker dealer. He’s even here at the MSPT Meskwaki doing his thing.

Born and raised in Olathe, Kansas, Briggs learned about poker in high school but ended up really delving into the game while attending Baylor University.

“I stopped by Winstar World Casino on my way down to Baylor for my freshman year of college,” he told MSPT Magazine. “As beginner’s luck would have it, I won my first time ever playing in a casino and thought I was God’s gift to poker. Over the next two years at college I remember grinding out SNGs in classes online, listening to Deuces Cracked videos instead of lectures, and studying range charts.”

While going to college in Texas, Briggs eventually discovered home games when someone asked if he’d ever considered dealing.

“I told him that I hadn’t, but that I wouldn’t shy away from the experience,” he said. “He told me he would let me deal at one of his games and that I could see if I liked it. So, with the help of him and a few WSOP dealers who had quit the circuit to deal private games, I learned how to deal.”

Since then, Briggs has been traveling the country picking up freelance dealing jobs. Most recently he was at the 2017 MSPT Iowa State Poker Championship at Meskwaki Casino.

“The biggest difference from being a traveling dealer and one who has a home casino is all the travel associated with the job,” he explained. “As someone who is naturally a homebody, it’s easily the part that wears on me the most. Going from stop to stop is something that I think will always be the biggest drawback from the job.”

He continues: “It also gets frustrating sometimes filling out all the necessary gaming applications and applying for jobs. Knowing that you create your own schedule is both a blessing and a curse. It’s fantastic once you’ve built up a schedule that you like and have consistent work, but while you are first getting your foot in the door it can be a daunting task. Until you know staff well enough to get invited to different tours it can be hard to find work. Sometimes it just comes down to knowing someone who can get you an email address so that you can work a stop that you previously didn’t have access to otherwise.”

Despite the long hours, Briggs’ favorite part of the job is choosing when and where he wants to work. He also enjoys the people.

“My number one goal in poker will always be the same – I want to make people smile,” he said. “I want them to enjoy the game. It’s what originally drew me to poker, and I hope that spirit lives on past all the stalling, the headphones and hoodies, and all the other negative things that have since been associated with the game.”

Briggs concluded: “If you’re driven and don’t mind working long hours, you can make an excellent living dealing cards. It is nice knowing that if you want to put in the hours you can live a very comfortable lifestyle.”