Roofing Rounder: Bart Bogard Crushes Events at Choctaw

By Sean Chaffin

While he may not have cashed in the WPT Choctaw Championship, Choctaw Casino & Resort regular Bart Bogard ran well during the festival’s preliminary events, winning two. Bogard then capped that off by taking down the casino’s recent $240 nightly tournament for $5,646 after busting Day 2 of the WPT Choctaw Championship on Sunday.

Bogard started playing seriously about three years ago and has about $250,000 in live tournament winnings during that time. On July 29, he won the $130 Deep Stack Nightly for $2,811 and followed that up a day later by winning a $240 No-Limit Hold’em event for $4,608. He has numerous other nice cashes at Choctaw and in other Oklahoma casinos.

“It’s fun,” Bogard said of playing at Choctaw. “I know almost everybody in there and everybody knows me.”

The last two years, Bogard has also played the World Series of Poker Main Event, cashing both times. In 2017, he finished 883rd for $16,024, and this year took 730th for $19,900.

What does he credit all the recent success to?

“I guess just playing a lot,” Bogard said. “I play as much as I can. I’ve never really read any books or anything like that. I’m good friends with a lot of the tournament grinders and we talk about hands and stuff like that.”

Bogard considers himself more of a “feel” player than a math guy, making use of good reads and instincts at the table.

“I’m super tight,” Bogard said. “I don’t put myself in positions where I’m all in. In the WSOP Main Event both years, I didn’t go all in until the last day.”

As a single guy with no children, Bogard says he doesn’t enjoy just sitting around the house. When he’s not working and has some time on his hands, he heads north of the Red River for some poker. His results show his efforts are working. In the WPT Choctaw Championship, Bogard won two satellites and was able to fire two bullets in the event.

The 37-year-old part-time player lives in Wylie, Texas, where he’s run a roofing business for the last three years. Much like his poker game, the venture is going well. His business and poker life cross paths regularly at the card table.

“That’s actually one of the ways I network and get more business for my roofing company as well,” Bogard said. “There are probably 20 to 30 people in there who I’ve done roofs for because they’re all from North Texas.”

Bogard originally got into poker by playing online while attending Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State). He majored in business and held jobs in management and sales before venturing out with his own company, Exquisite Exteriors. He regularly logged on for some action when not in classes – not always with great results.

“I lost a lot of money that way,” Bogard told WPT.com.

Fortunately, his game improved. As Day 3 of WPT Choctaw played out in the Grand Theater, Bogard was sticking around and ready to play one last afternoon tournament before heading back to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Was yet another win in the cards? He offered a simple response: “Hopefully.”

Sean Chaffin is a freelance writer in Crandall, Texas, and host of the True Gambling Stories podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @PokerTraditions.

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