The 888poker Ride series continues to deliver, featuring some of the best-known and most interesting people in all of poker.
In the most recent episode, David Tuchman was joined by Jonathan Little, a man who’s built his legacy as an accomplished player, coach, and best-selling poker author with 15 books to his name (and probably more to come).
As his known to do, Tuchman came armed with a series of questions to help the wider poker community learn more about the man himself, his career path, what drives him to do what he does the best, and what is in the future for Jonathan Little.
We’re bringing you an overview of this fun 888Ride, but do check out the full video as well when you have a moment. As always, in addition to the entertainment factor, there are some nuggets of wisdom in there that can help you set and achieve your personal goals in poker and beyond.
Poker Ruined My Patience
Jonathan Little grew up in Pensacola, Florida, and had a pretty normal and chilled childhood. Before falling in love with poker, he played chess, and during his early teen years, he was pretty good at the game.
However, over the years, he abandoned chess altogether, for a variety of reasons, one of it being that “poker ruined his patience.” Playing multiple tables day in and day out can certainly do that to a person.
The other reason is that he realized that he wouldn’t be one of the top chess players, and to him, if you can’t be at the top or near it, why bother at all?
It all boils down to his approach to life, where he’d rather be happy than frustrated. In poker, decisions are often close, and if you make a small mistake, it’s almost irrelevant. In chess, however, there are usually a few good decisions, and then the rest of them are horrible.
Like many from his generation, Little stumbled upon poker through Magic the Gathering. Upon discovering the game, he realized it was something he could learn and make money from, and that’s how it all started.
Life With & Away from Poker
As far as poker accomplishments go, Little has had an impressive career. On the felt, he has well over $9 million in tournament earnings and numerous accolades to go along.
As a poker author and coach, he penned 15 poker books and he owns one of the most successful training sites around.
Naturally, all this requires a lot of time and sacrifice, but he says that balancing things is very important. Unlike many poker players, who allow themselves to burn out, he takes regular breaks and focuses on things he loves doing and is good at.
Unlike many influential persons in the poker community, Little remains very quiet and reserved in sharing his opinions outside of poker. His approach is that he’d rather be liked than not, as he believes this to be a good business strategy, and certain topics, like sports and politics, are going to divide people no matter what side you take.
When not working or playing, he tries to spend as much time as possible with his family: his two boys (seven and five years old) and his wife. His approach to tournaments is showing up and doing the work, without focusing on individual results.
Little’s Poker Arc
Little has been playing, coaching and living poker for over half of his natural life now. By the time he turned 19, he accumulated a bankroll of $100,000 playing online sit and goes, before going on a downswing that saw him lose a half of it in a very short span.
With $30,000 he spent on a condo deposit, he was left with just $20,000, but instead of losing his cool, he dropped down in stakes and decided to grind it out, beating every limit for 100 buy-ins before moving back up — starting at just $10.
This discipline and methodical approach helped him rebuild and also showed him what he was most curious about — that he was actually good at poker and that he could make a career out of it.
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He’s been applying this approach to other things in his life, too, trying to stay focused and not stress too much about anything. Even when it comes to his coaching business, he prefers to delegate and have other people deal with things he’s not good at or doesn’t enjoy doing while focusing on what he knows is his forte: content creation.
His message to all aspiring poker players out there is that the game is still very much beatable at lower and medium stakes, especially in the live environment. At the highest of stakes, things do get much tougher, but even in that setting, there are still certain games and tournaments that can be beaten.
