Thinking Poker

Technical difficulties and vacation schedules nearly kept the show off the air for two weeks running, but there’s no keeping Nate and Andrew down! We’ve got a short, strategy-only show to tide you over until we return with an awesome guest next week! Strategy $2/$5 NLHE Hero ($1000) limps JJ UTG. MP limps, CO ($900) ... Read moreEpisode 182: It’s Better Than Nothing!

Ian Simpson is a former (and future) teacher in the United Kingdom. His fourth place finish in the 2012 Paddy Power Irish Poker Open proved literally life-changing, not only because of the money but because it presented the opportunity to spend a year playing poker professionally. Success bred success, and that year has turned into ... Read moreEpisode 181: Ian Simpson

Andrew, Nate, and THE Carlos Welch gather in a hotel room at the Gold Coast to discuss their first day in the WSOP Main Event. There’s loads of strategy talk, as Nate bet-folds the river, Carlos gets full value from a set, and Andrew navigates some dicey situations with AK. Plus, Andrew discusses his encounter ... Read moreEpisode 180: The WSOP Main Event!

The WSOP is obviously a busy time, so we just recorded a quick conversation this week, covering some general stuff about the World Series of Poker and a few of the first events/hands Andrew played. Please note that this was recorded before Nate arrived in Las Vegas, and before Andrew played with Chris Ferguson.

Ed Miller is back to talk about Daily Fantasy Sports, his writing, and finding edges not just on the felt but in life. All that plus a strategy segment from Nate! This episode is sponsored by Shark Clock and Tournament Poker Edge. Timestamps 0:30 hello 5:05 strategy with nate 24:33 ed miller

Alex Sutherland is a professional poker player and software designer, responsible for inflicting Table Ninja and GTO Range Builder on the poker world. We talk to him about transitioning back and forth between these worlds, common misunderstandings about the application of game theory to poker, and what working with a GTO solver has taught him ... Read moreEpisode 177: Alex Sutherland

Lukasz Grabowski has had a fair bit of success playing Spin-and-Gos as “grasiu”, but he’s very clear that poker is only a means to an end for him. In this interview, we talked about his lapsed Catholicism, his interest in Buddhism and meditation, and why there’s more to Live Action Role-Playing than most people realize. Books ... Read moreEpisode 176: Lukasz Grabowski

Christian Soto is a professional poker player and a video producer at Red Chip Poker. He is the co-author, with Doug Hull and James Sweeney, of Late Position. Learn how, with the help of Matt Berkey, the “Big Papi of Poker” went from selling phones at MetroPCS to reading souls in Atlantic City. This episode ... Read moreEpisode 175: Christian Soto

I’ve mentioned my cousin’s family a few times, here and on the podcast. I believe their first blog appearance was at the start of my road trip to Las Vegas in 2013, with the most notable being the 2014 Las Vegas road trip that I took with all three kids and their mother. Seeing them ... Read moreOliver Plays Poker

I wasn’t around for the recording of this episode and haven’t listened to it yet, so for the time being this is a mystery episode! But with Nate and Carlos Welch hosting, how bad can it be?

Isn’t that what all of our shows about? Kind of, but this time around we’re more explicit than usual. It’s just Nate and Andrew, talking about some specific, concrete, active (not just reading books or watching videos) ways to study poker. Plus we review bluffing and bluff-catching strategy in an illustrative example of one of ... Read moreEpisode 173: Getting Better at Poker

Elena Stover has a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience, and her studies focused on risk and decision-making, so when she decided not to pursue a career in academia, poker was a natural fit for her. We talk to Elena about her research, how it informs her thinking about on and off the felt, the short-comings of ... Read moreEpisode 172: Elena Stover

Andrew Moreno is a professional poker player who is also married to a professional poker player. His wife, Kristy Arnett, has mentioned him enough times on the show (including Episode 170!) that we figured it was about time he came on to speak for himself! Andrew discusses the pluses and minuses of sharing this unconventional ... Read moreEpisode 171: Andrew Moreno

Kristy Arnett returns to the show, and this time she’s the one dishing out the advice. She talks about her recent trip to Korea, what she’s learned from Choice Center, and the things she’s learned from poker have helped her elsewhere in life. She even gives out relationship advice! You can read and see more ... Read moreEpisode 170: Kristy Arnett on Learning From Poker

Matt Berkey shares his remarkable story of growing up in a small steel town with a drug addicted mother, pouring himself first into baseball and then into poker, and ultimately rising through the ranks to play as big as $300/$600/$1200 no-limit in Ivey’s room. We also discuss the Solve For Why coaching academy and Infinite ... Read moreEpisode 169: Matt Berkey

Benjamin Reason began playing the violin at the age of 4. It wasn’t so long after that that he discovered poker, and although the latter eventually subsumed the former, he remains a music aficionado (“a recovering music snob”, as he puts it). We talk poker, coaching, staking, traveling, Buddhism, literature, teaching music, and listening to ... Read moreEpisode 168: Benjamin Reason

Christopher George is a long-time poker professional, but his focus on Stud and other non-hold ’em games sets him apart from your average twenty- or thirty-something online grinder. You wouldn’t think it from his demeanor, but the swings he’s experienced set him apart as well. As he puts it, “I live my life like I ... Read moreEpisode 167: Christopher George

Collin Moshman is a widely respected sit-and-go player and coach and author, but he’s no one-trick pony. We talk to him about his background in Theoretical Mathematics, why he initially focused on sit-and-goes, how and why he branched out into other games, how he got into staking, how he manages his stable, and why on ... Read moreEpisode 166: Collin Moshman

When Max Silver isn’t busy crushing the UKIPT, the EPT, the WSOP, or a Super High-Roller somewhere, you’ll probably find him in the kitchen or on Twitch streaming one of his many online MTT wins. We talk to Max about his rise through the ranks to some of the world’s highest stakes MTTs, the massive downswing ... Read moreEpisode 165: Max Silver

In this pure strategy episode, Nate and Andrew talk about home game strategy and meta-strategy (e.g. how to get invited back), as well what you can learn from “silly” games like Baseball and Follow the Queen. Plus a microstakes strategy hand! Strategy No Limit Hold’em $0.10/$0.20 Winamax Poker 3 players Formatted by pokercopilot.com – Mac ... Read moreEpisode 164: Follow the Queen