From Bull Riding to Bellagio: How Lee Markholt Survived It All

Lee Markholt: Bull Riding, Old-School Poker, and the Wild West Era of Vegas Games | Table 1 Podcast

Some poker careers start with solvers and staking deals.

Lee Markholt’s started with bulls, butcher shops, and a $10 “please just get on this thing” rodeo spot… and somehow turned into a decades-long poker run that included early WSOP final tables (hello, Daniel Negreanu), WPT cash-game glory, and a whole lot of “I never went broke” discipline.

In this episode, Art and Justin sit down with Lee for one of those conversations that feels like you’re getting a peek behind the curtain of two disappearing worlds: rodeo and pre-boom poker.

What we talk about

• Growing up in Tacoma + a family story that sends him to the farm at 12
• The bull riding dream (and the injuries that came with it)
• Dropping out before high school… then out-working everyone anyway
• The moment poker “clicked” during shoulder surgery
• Early card rooms: dealer’s choice, stud games, wild stuff, and “IOU poker”
• Tournaments in the early days (including the legendary Seymour Flop story)
• Working as a floor / running rooms… and the twist that pushed him into full-time play
• WSOP memories + the final table where Negreanu won his first bracelet (and the brutal hand)
• The boom years, shot-taking, bankroll rules, and why Lee never borrowed to stay alive
• Bellagio’s golden era, private-game politics, and why phones changed the feel of poker
• Why Lee game-selects more than ever now (and what he’s chasing these days)

Quick shoutouts / links

Card Player stories from our episodes:
https://table1.vegas/cardplayer

Want a seat in our game at Aria?
Go to https://table1.vegas → click “Get a seat in the game” and fill out the form. Minimum buy-in $5,000. Art or Justin will text you.

Sponsors

Phenom Poker — now running daily MTTs (10–12 tournaments a day).
First-time depositors can get up to a 200% bonus on $2k when you use our link:
https://play.phenompoker.com/register?r=Table1

If you enjoyed this one, hit Subscribe and drop a comment with your favorite Lee story — we read them all.

Show Notes

00:00 Early Cowboy Life & Growing Up Fast
10:04 The Bull Riding Days
20:07 Lee’s Worst Injury & Biggest Rodeo Spots
24:01 Getting into Poker & Tournaments
31:18 Dropping Bulls for Poker
40:22 The Poker Boom & Money Management
47:36 From Backers to Binking
56:58 Family + Poker
1:00:30 Getting Stiffed & Almost Going Broke
1:13:39 Make Poker Fun Again!
1:25:18 Good Decisions & The Future
1:30:56 One More for the Road