Poker Stories: Dylan Weisman

Chris Brewer discovered poker while competing at the 2012 Olympic Trials, getting hooked after playing in a $5 home game. The San Diego native's first love was running, which led him to the 32-time national champion University of Oregon Ducks track and field team. He built his bankroll while in college, and graduated ready to take on the world as a professional player.With some aggressive shot taking and a desire to play the biggest game in the room, it wasn't long until Brewer found himself playing against some of the best players in the world. In fact, during the pandemic he played stakes as high as $1,000-$2,000 no-limit! When the live tournament circuit resumed, Brewer turned his attention to high rollers. He made 22 final tables in 2021, winning two titles and more than $3 million en route to a ninth-place finish in the Card Player Player of the Year race.Highlights from this interview include the drawer full of championship rings, chasing the four-minute mile, Nike fashion police, competing at the Olympic trials, being 'faster' than Usain Bolt, a near-death experience, graduating from the $1-$2 games, paying a guy to go all-in, emptying the box, heads-up matches with Andy Stacks, winning a $560k pot against Michael Addamo, getting crushed by money bubbles, tilting Daniel Negreanu, cashing in on the election, and being a ghost pepper.

1 Feb 20221h 12min

Dan Cates discovered poker in high school, and wasted no time immersing himself in the game online. By the time he dropped out of college, the man known as 'jungleman12' had already risen to the highest stakes and won millions against some of the top players in the world. According to HighStakesDB.com, Cates is one of the biggest high-stakes online cash game earners of all time.As it turns out, the Maryland native has also been a big winner on the live tournament circuit. In 2014, he finished runner-up in the €100,000 EPT Grand Final high roller for $1.7 million, and in 2019 he pocketed a combined $2.65 million in the Triton Super High Roller series. Last fall, the 32-year-old broke through at the World Series of Poker, picking up his first bracelet and $954,020 in the prestigious $50,000 buy-in Poker Players Championship. He now has nearly $10 million in live tournament earnings.Highlights from this interview include climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, high school scrap paper games, building a bankroll at McDonald's, quitting his college Game Theory course, getting trash talked by his grandma, rebuilding after a massive loss, calling his shot in the Poker Players Championship, bracelet or necklace?, final table cosplay, his ongoing "feud" with Phil Galfond, Jesus and Moses' old stomping grounds, Safariman12, karma and morality, shrugging off a HKD$200 million pot, fitness prop bets with ElkY, the 72-hour session, and where he ranks himself among his peers.

25 Jan 202257min

Ryan Leng's first love was hockey, competing at the highest junior levels before catching the poker bug at his Illinois high school. He continued to play and deal cards while in college at Arizona State, eventually turning pro. He was a SuperNova Elite player online, splitting his time between Costa Rica, Mexico, and Canada before switching his focus to live play.  He broke out in 2017 with a runner-up finish in a WSOP $1,500 no-limit hold'em event for $237,776, along with a deep run in the $10,000 main event for another $176,399. The next year, Leng won his first bracelet in the $1,500 Bounty event, banking $272,504. He picked up his second bracelet in the 2021 online series in July.Then this fall, Leng nabbed his third bracelet in the $1,500 Eight-Game Mix, taking home $137,969. A week later he would finish runner-up in the $1,500 Monster Stack for another $377,220, and he later pocketed a career-best $589,628 for taking second in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship to Dan 'Jungleman' Cates. As a result, he finished seventh in the WSOP Player of the Year standings. In total, the 35-year-old has racked up nearly $3.3 million in career tournament earnings.  Highlights from this interview include seeing the country with his hockey team, battling Sidney Crosby and Phil Kessel, playing 'in between the sheets,' gambling with Petco gift cards, the ASU heads-up challenge, stud hi-lo with Doyle Brunson's partner's kid, Costa Rica to Mexico to Canada, main event heartbreak, GTO vs. exploitative play, Christopher Frank's motivating photo, being a 'bracelet hunter,' a birthday bracelet, overcoming 'the worst fold in poker history,' speed Rubik's Cube, singing the Beatles in Japan, and his goal of becoming a recreational whale.

28 Des 20211h 28min

Brian Hastings is only 33 years old but he has already been playing poker at the highest stakes for half of his life and has put together one of the best resumes in the game. The Pennsylvania native discovered poker from his high school math teacher, and by the end of his senior year, he had already amassed a bankroll of more than $250,000.  Hastings then enrolled at Cornell University, simultaneously earning his degree in economics while also helping to run a poker training site and continue his rise up the cash game ranks online. In December of 2009, he famously took on Viktor 'Isildur1' Blom in a record-breaking heads-up pot-limit Omaha match that saw him win $4.18 million.Black Friday forced him into the live arena for the first time, and he responded with his first bracelet win in the 2012 $10,000 Heads-Up Championship. He added two more titles in 2015, taking down the $1,500 Ten-Game Mix and the $10,000 Stud Championship. He was back in the winner's circle in 2018 for the $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. and just this fall, he earned his fifth career bracelet in the $10,000 Stud Hi-Lo Championship.  Hastings is one of just 29 players to have ever won five or more bracelets at the World Series of Poker. He also has a World Poker Tour final table finish under his belt, and he won a WSOP Circuit ring in 2019. The RunItOnce instructor now has more than $4.4 million in live tournament earnings.  Highlights from this interview include an inspirational teacher, big winner on campus, the Ivy League, how banking $4 million can spoil Disney World, sending his parents to Italy, earning his first bracelet, tackling mixed games, lucky baby socks, a $500,000 pot against Patrik Antonius, un-retiring, slinging pizza and waving signs, a Rounders limo to the casino, playing with Paul Pierce, and Ukrainian Christmas.

18 Des 202155min

Josh Arieh is best known for his deep run in the 2004 World Series of Poker main event, where he was featured on ESPN's broadcast en route to a third-place finish worth $2.5 million. But Arieh was not a product of the poker boom, having already won his first bracelet back in 1999.  The Atlanta, Georgia resident continued to travel the circuit for more than a decade, racking up numerous notable finishes. Along the way, he finished third in the World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open, runner-up in the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic at Bellagio, and won his second WSOP bracelet.Arieh was an unlikely candidate to win the 2021 WSOP Player of the Year race given his casual playing schedule. In fact, he mostly retired from full-time play about a decade ago. But after winning his third bracelet in the $1,500 pot-limit Omaha event, he found himself squarely in the hunt.  The 47-year-old then went on to win his fourth bracelet in the $10,000 pot-limit Omaha eight-or-better event. Arieh cashed 12 times overall, with seven top-10 finishes, for a total of $1.17 million. As a result, he narrowly beat out both Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu for WSOP POY honors. He now has lifetime career earnings of $9.3 million.Although he still has a limited playing schedule, Arieh has stayed involved in the poker world with PocketFives, helping to launch the online poker site's brand-new staking platform.  Highlights from this interview include eighth-grade hustles, J-Crew jacket heartbreak, pool hall games, getting busted by the cops, Disney telemarketing, going broke after a bracelet, buying a car from Hank Aaron, reasonable markup, caddying for John Smoltz while looking like Angel Cabrera, winning six-figures from NBA player Antoine Walker, and a miserable day with Michael Jordan.

2 Des 20211h 27min

Garrett Adelstein is a high-stakes professional poker player best known for being a regular on live-streamed cash games. The Tucson, Arizona native and University of Arizona graduate has made a name for himself with superb play on shows such as Poker After Dark, Live At The Bike, and Hustler Casino Live.  The 35-year-old was seemingly born to be in front of a camera, having also been cast on the CBS reality show Survivor. Adelstein competed on the 28th season of the gameshow in the Philippines for Survivor: Cagayan back in 2013.  Highlights from this interview include birthday mysteries, being the valedictorian of his high school, party school life, the big brother program, getting casted at a bar for Survivor, body building on two cups of rice, running it three times with Rick Salomon, getting busted by Johnny Chan on ESPN, playing with armed guards in Chula Vista, a 72-hour session, taking elder abuse at work, a long flight home from a Houston Rockets playoff game, Marty Funkhouser, and sitting on the throne of a commoner.

22 Nov 20211h 20min

Toby Lewis got a very early start in poker, picking up the game as a teenager and learning ups and downs of gambling from his father. He was just 20 years old when he broke out on the live tournament circuit, winning the EPT Vilamoura main event for nearly $600,000. He continued to travel the circuit for the next several years with numerous close calls, including final tables at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, the WPT Merit Classic, and the L.A. Poker Classic, twice!In 2018 he found the winner's circle once again, taking down the Aussie Millions main event for $1.15 million. He returned to Australia a year later and won another combined $1.2 million after finishing second in the AUD$25,000 high roller and then winning the AUD$50,000 high roller the next day. After winning two online _WSOP Circuit_ titles this year, Lewis returned to live poker and chopped the _Wynn Poker Classic_ in July for $1.235 million. The Southampton, England native now has nearly $8 million in career tournament earnings.  Highlights from this interview include pub poker, learning what not to do from dad, self-deal rooms, becoming an EPT champion at 20 years old, taking shots in Australia, 'volume coming out of your nose,' staking and bankroll management adventures, negotiating deals for others, going viral for quads over quads, getting berated by Tony G, retooling his game in Colombia, losing a WPT title to a criminal, a seven-figure return to live poker, bagging grocery and delivering newspapers, a 36-hour session in London, and finding popularity with the misfits.

30 Okt 202158min

Mike Watson has been one of the more consistent tournament performers over his 15-year poker career, having racked up more than $12.5 million on the circuit. The St. Johns, Newfoundland native broke out in 2008, winning the WPT Bellagio Cup main event for nearly $1.7 million. In addition to numerous final tables on the high roller circuit, he also took down the 2016 EPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, giving him two parts of poker's elusive Triple Crown.  Watson does have two wins at the World Series of Poker. The first came in a 2011 WSOP Europe side event, and the second was a year later at the WSOP Europe when he banked $1.3 million in the high roller event. Unfortunately, neither of those WSOP events awarded bracelets.In the last couple of years, 'SirWatts' has rededicated himself to online poker, bringing his career totals to $10 million. As a result, he is now Canada's top-ranked online player according to PocketFives, and reached a peak of no. 3 in the world earlier this year.  Highlights from this interview include when wedding season collides with poker season, having professors for parents, being a 'math nerd,' the Waterloo-poker connection, life-changing money at Bellagio, re-evaluating his game, winning two WSOP events and getting no bracelets, a big score in the Bahamas, a high-stakes online run, six-figure cash game pots, winning with Sam Greenwood, working as an umpire, fooling Dan Heimiller as Martin Jacobson, and enjoying sushi pizza for breakfast.

20 Okt 20211h 12min