Poker Stories: Wolfgang

Ali Imsirovic is just 26 years old, but has already established himself as a dominant force on the high roller circuit. The Bosnia-born, Washington-raised poker pro broke out in 2018 when he captured the purple jacket at the Poker Masters, and in the time since has gone on to rack up numerous final tables and wins totaling almost $11 million in cashes.  Last August, Imsirovic broke the record for the largest no-limit hold'em cash game pot in online poker history, winning a hand against Tan Xuan worth $974,631. He has also been one of the more active players since live tournaments resumed, cashing in eight of the 14 high rollers held at Aria so far in 2021, and winning four. As a result, he is now one of the front-runners for the Card Player Player of the Year title.Highlights from this interview include fleeing the war in Bosnia, how a basketball injury led to poker, skipping grades and going to college at 16, using his guitar money for a tournament buy-in, trading in a date for a win at the casino, getting robbed, ice cream inspiration from Bryn Kenney, getting humbled in his first round of high rollers, winning the purple jacket at the Poker Masters, six-figure bubbles, being able to pull the trigger, bad beat for the bracelet, winning a million dollar pot, never having a job, and Eminem's Stan.

5 Huhti 20211h 1min

Lee Markholt has been a professional poker player for the last three decades, competing in some of the biggest cash games around while racking up $4.4 million in live tournament earnings along the way. The Washington native had aspirations to continue the family business of bull riding, but a long string of injuries ultimately derailed his career. Fortunately for Markholt, he found his father's poker books and was a quick study.  Markholt cut his teeth in Washington limit games before switching his focus to pot-limit hold'em in the years before the poker boom. In 2005 he won the PPT main event at Bellagio, taking home $220,000 which bankrolled him for high-stakes cash games. He ultimately found himself playing in games as big as $200-$400 no-limit, while continuing travel the tournament circuit. In 2008, he won a WPT title at the World Poker Challenge in Reno for $493,815, and for many years held the record for most cashes on the World Poker Tour. In 2013, he narrowly missed out on a World Series of Poker bracelet, finishing runner-up in the $5,000 six-max no-limit hold'em event for $374,960.Highlights from this episode include his first summer off in 30 years, farm life, the luck and variance of bull riding, broken ribs and punctured lungs, chasing an adrenaline rush, borrowing his dad's poker books, Daniel Negreanu's styrofoam cup habit, getting backed by Erik Seidel and John Juanda, the unlikely win that kickstarted his career, winning a WPT title, the hole in his resume, waiting a whole day to play $200-$400 in Bobby's Room, losing a $570k pot to Rick Salomon, a timely swap with Ben Lamb, chicken slaughter, the 24-hour swimming pool prop bet, Haralabos battles, duck head antennas, and the missing social aspect of poker.

23 Maalis 20211h 19min

Benny Glaser didn't earn his first cash at the World Series of Poker until 2015, but the Southampton, England pro has been able to accomplish a lot in his limited time on the felt. The 31-year-old part-time musician has won three WSOP bracelets during his short career, which is enough to make him the UK's most decorated player at the annual summer series.Glaser's first title came in 2015 in the $1,500 2-7 Triple Draw event, where he earned $136,215. A year later, he went back to back in Omaha eight-or-better events, taking down the $1,500 buy-in for $244,103, and the $10,000 Championship buy-in for $407,194. In the years since, he's also made final tables at the €25,000 WSOP Europe Mixed Games Championship and the $50,000 WSOP Poker Players Championship, and finished runner-up in the $10,000 Stud eight-or-better Championship. The mixed-games specialist has also been very successful online, winning five SCOOP (Spring Championship of Online Poker) and three WCOOP (World Championship of Online Poker) titles on PokerStars.Highlights from this interview include his first love of music, embarrassing band names, being introduced to poker by his father, the gradual process of turning pro, bricking his first summer in Las Vegas, why he excels at Omaha eight-or-better, being England's top winner at WSOP, close calls, trying to find mixed-game action, $1,000-$2,000 in Bobby's Room, his short-lived career as a paper boy, how poker ruined speed dating, and learning new poker variations like badugaha.

9 Maalis 20211h 8min

Lon McEachern is a longtime sports commentator that is best known for being the "voice of poker," having worked as part of the broadcast team for ESPN's annual coverage of the World Series of Poker. Prior to that, he covered numerous other sports such as bowling, cycling, mixed-martial arts, skiing, fishing, billiards, and even Scrabble. McEachern won a Golden Mic Award during his time in radio, and was nominated for an Emmy for his play-by-play work on the X-Games. In addition to ESPN, he has also done work for the Outdoor Life Network, NBC, and Fox Sports.  McEachern first covered the main event in 2002 alongside Gabe Kaplan, and the next year formed his iconic partnership with Norman Chad as Chris Moneymaker won the tournament and helped spark the poker boom. Remarkably, he almost didn't take the gig. At the time, he had mostly moved on from the sports broadcasting world and had taken a day job as a mortgage banker. The duo's work over the last two decades has become such a fixture of televised poker that McEachern and Chad were jointly nominated for the Poker Hall of Fame in 2020, ultimately finishing with 20 votes from the panel of living members.  Highlights from this episode include getting into the family business, playing baseball with a Hall of Famer, losing his dream gig to Michelle Tafoya, scaring Tim McCarver at the 1989 MLB World Series, earthquake souvenirs, finding his niche at ESPN, having to get a day job, trading in Gabe Kaplan for Norman Chad, getting snubbed by Roy Disney, the series that shall not be named, introducing the porch and the kitchen, interviewing Vin Scully, Wayne Gretzky, and Muhammad Ali, fortunate boat trouble, Alan Alda, secret socks and underwear, golf bets with Gavin Smith, ignoring expiration dates, and his time covering the X-Games, the Tour de France, and every sport in between.

24 Helmi 20211h 25min

Ronnie Bardah is fresh off of a career-best score of $566,135 after he chopped the $3,500 buy-in World Poker Tour Lucky Hearts Poker Open in late January. The 38-year-old poker pro from Brockton, Massachusetts now has nearly $2 million in career live tournament earnings. The limit hold'em standout won his World Series of Poker bracelet in the 2012 $2,500 six-handed limit hold'em event, earning $182,088. The next year, he finished third in the $5,000 limit hold'em event. Bardah also currently holds the record for the most consecutive WSOP main event cashes, with five. His deepest run was in 2010, when he finished 24th for $317,161.In 2019, Bardah competed on the 39th season of the CBS show Survivor: Island of the Idols. He was the fourth poker player to be cast on the American game show, joining Jean-Robert Bellande, Garrett Adelstein, and Anna Khait. Additionally, Ilari Sahamies competed on the Finnish version of the show, while Jackie Glazier was on the Australian broadcast.Highlights from this interview include a history lesson, the arcade kids, growing up at Foxwoods Casino, a different kind of dealing, why poker was his way out, private vs. public games, the streak, running deep in the WSOP main event, the war of limit hold'em, what he keeps in his box at Bellagio, splurging on Mickey Mantle, what went wrong on Survivor, getting bluffed by Miss Finland, running bad on a swap, backwards poker in Egypt, David Blaine to David Copperfield, beatboxing, and singing Boyz II Men.

8 Helmi 20211h 23min

Norman Chad has been a familiar sight on World Series of Poker broadcasts since 2003, half of the iconic commentary duo along with Lon McEachern that helped to spark the poker boom with ESPN's main event coverage. "This is beyond fairy tale, it's inconceivable," Chad exclaimed as Chris Moneymaker secured the title.In the years since, Chad has become a fan favorite, adding in catch phrases such as 'whamboozled' or 'squadoosh' while cracking jokes about his past failed marriages. His contributions to growing the game were recognized in 2020, when he and McEachern were jointly nominated for the Poker Hall of Fame.Outside of poker, Chad has worked as a sportswriter for The Washington Post and Sports Illustrated, and appeared on ESPN's Pardon The Interruption and as the host of Reel Classics. He also wrote the book Hold On, Honey, I'll Take You To The Hospital At Halftime (Confessions Of A TV Sports Junkie), and was credited on episodes for the TV shows Arliss and Coach.Highlights from this interview include being more of a watcher, the university of poker, stand up comedy and a premeditated egg, winning awards with Ed Asner, why he quit betting sports in 1984, how poker paid for someone else's law school, sleeping with angels, the secret Lon, a short-lived blackjack card counting team, stalking George McGovern, Sam Simon's home game, getting angled by Norm Macdonald, Wallace Shawn and Paul Giamatti, the Hellmuth of bowling, and the final table setting of his third wedding.

25 Tammi 20211h 16min

Jonathan Van Fleet was one of original stars of the online poker boom, terrorizing opponents on the virtual tables under the name 'apestyles.' The Texas Tech graduate racked up millions in cashes and was one of the top-ranked MTT players, although his battles with addiction cost him his bankroll on more than a few occasions.  These days, however, the 39-year-old is once again on top of the online poker world. Van Fleet won the $5,000 buy-in partypoker Millions online in December of 2017 for more than $1 million. He has also done quite well in the $25,000 buy-in high roller events on GGPoker, cashing for several million along the way. According to PocketFives, he is now no. 4 on the online tournament all-time money list with $16.8 million behind just Sweden's Niklas Astedt, Hungary's Peter Traply, and the UK's Chris Moorman.  Highlights from this interview include online poker wake up calls, hot pink shoelaces, starting college in recovery, bluffing for beer, apologizing for sleeping, punting his bankroll to Ben Sulsky, the meaning behind his online poker name, what he didn't do with a million dollars, his GTO study group with Stephen Chidwick and Elio Fox, losing $400,000 in a day, swaps with Timex, Fred Savage as a kid, holding his breath, and a bad rendition of Stairway To Heaven.

22 Joulu 20201h 14min

Michael Schwimer grew up a standout athlete in Fairfax, Virginia and in high school was a star on his baseball and basketball teams. The 6'8'', 240-pound guard led his team to a championship and was even named MVP over future NBA center Roy Hibbert, but ultimately decided to turn down scholarship offers from Coach Mike Krzyzewski at Duke and Coach Rick Pitino at Louisville in order to pitch for his hometown University of Virginia.Schwimer decided to finish his degree, and even interned at a hedge fund, before he was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies. He spent three years in the minor leagues before making his major league debut, and finished his career with a 3-2 record. Schwimer says he made more money in the poker games on team road trips than he did as a player during his time in the league.After retiring, Schwimer started Big League Advance, a company that invests in (or stakes) minor league baseball players in exchange for a percentage of their future earnings. His second company, Jambos, is now positioning itself in the rapidly-expanding sports betting market.This December, Schwimer will be appearing on new episodes of High Stakes Poker, which has returned for an eighth season with original hosts Gabe Kaplan and A.J. Benza. Schwimer will be competing against the lineup that includes Tom Dwan, Bryn Kenney, Rick Salomon, Nick Petrangelo, Jean-Robert Bellande, and Brandon Steven.Highlights from this interview include being born two feet tall, an early appreciation for data, beating Roy Hibbert for MVP, saying no to Rick Pitino and Mike Krzyzewski, the scorecard of hedge funds, being drafted by the Phillies, the truth about his signing bonus, how 'Houdini' got from the minors to the majors, short-stacking the team $100-$200 poker game, Jonathan Papelbon's favorite hand, big buy-in games with Tom Dwan in London, using the element of surprise on High Stakes Poker, the staking business of baseball, sports betting expansion, singing to Bruce Springsteen, reffing sixth-grade basketball games, pizza socks and slaps in the face, and betting $780,000 on the Super Bowl.

11 Joulu 20201h 13min