Did the shooter do that? There are claims he didn’t like to deal with people and liked to play in a quiet area. So could he do tournaments that way? I don’t know anything about how it works, I thought the tournaments were more public.
If he could do tournaments then possibly he was able to make that kind of money gambling.
Yes, he was a professional gambler specializing in video poker.
Since winning requires a player to make correct betting and card selection decisions quickly over an extended period of time...at the professional level there really isn't time for small talk.
In fact a lot of Paddock's 'odd' behavior can be explained by understanding he was a professional gambler moving around between Vegas and Reno depending on which casino was sponsoring a high stakes video poker tournament.