SIOUX CITY -- Playing poker professionally was once strictly the domain of fictional riverboat types like Bret Maverick or grizzled, cheroot-chomping tough guys like Doc Holliday.

Marcus Steinhauer also makes his living playing poker, but the Blink-182 - loving Sioux City man is more likely to know heavy metal than gun metal.

"People think poker is a game only their dads play," the twentysomething Steinhauer said, "yet it's the young guys who are moving up in the ranks."

Already a fan of televised poker tournaments, Steinhauer picked up poker at the tender age of 14.

"I played constantly as a kid," he remembered, "and so did most of my friends."

For Steinhauer and his friends, poker piqued their competitive nature more than any game of chance.

"Poker is a game of strategy," he said. "The player controls his own destiny, and a winning player is someone who makes all of the right decisions."

While Steinhauer's friends were content playing Texas Hold 'Em, he preferred more obscure poker variants such as Seven Card Stud and Omaha Hi-Lo.

It wasn't until after he graduated from Western Iowa Tech Community College that Steinhauer decided to make the leap from card-carrying amateur to pro poker powerbroker.

Leaving a job as a part-time radio announcer for Powell Broadcasting, Steinhauer hooked up with the San Ramos, Calif.- based Rounders Network four months ago.

Rounders Network's Web site has an online poker game locator as well as a poker-related social network.

For a base salary, Steinhauer provides the company with a blog as well as maintaining Twitter and Facebook accounts chronicling his poker playing.

In exchange, Rounders Network pays for travel and entry fees that allow Steinhauer to compete in tournaments across the country, sponsoring him in hopes he'll make a name for himself.

"I've played in 13 tournaments already," Steinhauer said as he prepares for the Heartland Poker Tour at Mahnomen, Minn.'s Shooting Star Casino on Saturday. "Most of 'em have been in the Midwest, but I'm hoping to go beyond that."

What separates a professional poker player from an amateur, he said, is confidence.

"That's what it takes to be able to sit at the table with the likes of (seven time World Series of Poker Tour winner) Phil Ivey," Steinhauer said with a smile. "I know I'm not at that level yet, but I soon will be."

To get to that level, Steinhauer said, he plays seven days week, often as many as 13 hours a day.

Some of it must be done online, which he admits is not good training for tournament play.

"In order to play at a professional level, you need more direct interaction with other players," Steinhauer explained. "You need to know your opponent. That's why I play locally as well as hitting the tournament circuit at least twice a month."

But one thing he said he's not willing to gamble away is time with his 3-year-old daughter, Riley Jane.

"As far as I'm concerned, I'm a dad first and a poker player second," he said.

Although becoming a professional poker player allows him to do what he loves to do, Steinhauer already has a plan for his future. Ultimately, the game is just a means to an end, which he said is to own a chain of hotels.

"They say poker is a game that takes five years to learn but a lifetime to learn," he said, smiling. "If that's the case, I'll be patient. After all, I do have time on my side."