Poker Stories: Jesse Martin

Jesse Martin is a highly-respected poker pro and sports gambler from Massachusetts. Although he started out as a cash game player and has always competed in high-stakes mixed games, Martin has also done quite well on the tournament circuit, racking up more than $3.2 million. He has also won millions online playing under the name 'MazeOrBowie', and had a fourth-place finish in the SCOOP main event for $401,600.

Martin has several final-table finishes at the World Series of Poker, including a third-place showing in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship for $594,570, along with two bracelet wins. His first came in the 2013 $10,000 No-Limit Deuce-To-Seven event, where he won $253,524. His second title came in 2017, when he pocketed $130,948 for taking down the $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw event.

In the last few years following the birth of his son, Martin has started playing less poker and devoting more of his working time to daily fantasy sports. In December, he beat a field of 180 in the DraftKings Fantasy Football World Championship in Miami to earn a massive $2 million payday.

Highlights from this interview include catching poker right before the boom, Syracuse to TurningStone, Red Sox and Phish, talent vs. hard work, chasing a fish into a H.O.R.S.E. game, a painful finish at the LAPC, bracelet or watch?, $3,000-$6,000 game in Bobby's Room, dirty looks from Gus Hansen, thriving in crazy games, one hand at $200-$400 no-limit, getting paid by Chino Rheem, barbershop quartet conventions in Austria, being bad at bagels, Larry Bird words, what winning $2 million feels like, Joey Chestnut, running good/bad against John Hennigan, 175 concerts, why you shouldn't compliment his stack size, and how Rudy Gobert gave him a big COVID-19 win.