Poker Stories: Dylan Weisman

Mark Gregorich has been making his living in high-limit cash games since the mid-'90s, but before that he followed in his parents footsteps, working as a high school teacher. When budget cuts cost him his job, he decided to make the move to Las Vegas, where he has been grinding ever since.  Gregorich, considered by his peers to be one of the nicest guys in the game, was also once voted as the best Omaha eight-or-better player. In fact, his skills in the game were so revered, that Doyle Brunson asked him to contribute to his book Super System II. Although he has always preferred cash games to tournaments, the Washington-raised Gregorich does have a solid record at the World Series of Poker, with 11 final table appearances.  Highlights from this interview include bear spotting with the kids, the family business, self-deal poker rooms, having a bad bluffing face, teaching high school at 22 years old, the only reasons to wear a tie, The Horseshoe and The Mirage, poker in the '90s, the who's who game at Bellagio, seeing Omaha8 games literally die out, writing for Doyle Brunson, losing a bracelet to Carlos Mortensen, the animal mentality in Bobby's Room, throwing cards at Sam Grizzle, home game raids, penguin betting, poker cruising, the long route home, and hitting lessons from Orel Hershiser while looking like Greg Maddux.

4 Aug 20201h 8min

Jennifer Harman is one of the most prolific card players in history, having competed for higher stakes than nearly anyone else in poker. The Reno-native used to play cards around the family dinner table, before becoming hooked on poker while working her way through college. After moving to Los Angeles, she began to grind her way up the cash game ranks, determined to play the biggest game available. She eventually made her way to Las Vegas, and found her place at table one at Bellagio, and later Bobby's Room among some of the most legendary players of all time.  Harman was one of the most important players for The Corporation, which was a group of poker players who pooled their money together to take on billionaire banker Andy Beal in a series of seven-figure heads-up matches. At one point in the series of games, Harman beat Beal three consecutive sessions, winning $3 million each time, and even took him on at stakes of $100,000-$200,000 when he returned for more action. Harman has two World Series of Poker bracelets, the first coming in the 2000 $5,000 no-limit 2-7 lowball event, and the second coming in the 2002 $5,000 limit hold'em event. The accomplishment made her the first woman to win two open events in WSOP history. In 2015, she was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.Highlights from this interview include the acoustics of live poker, mom's bar room pinochle games, burying the printing press in the backyard, not using her degree in biology, the recognizable cadaver of Reno, hand shakes, using her fake ID to play, finding poker in an LA grocery store, setting her eyes on the biggest game in the room, the non-issue of gender, Phil Ivey's struggles at $400-$800, Doyle Brunson's nickname for her, Chip Reese's $300k practical joke, investing in the Corporation while in surgery, proving Amarillo Slim wrong, losing her bracelets twice, the rigorous filming schedule of reality TV, the Poker Hall of Fame, seven-figure pots at $100k-$200k, profiting off of Daniel Negreanu's tournament success, being cheated in a New York home game, betting the wrong side with David Oppenheim, working as a "songwriter," and the perks of Air Force One.

20 Jul 20201h 10min

Kahle Burns has been playing poker professionally for more than a decade, grinding his way from play chips online to some of the biggest cash games spread in both Las Vegas and Macau. The Geelong, Australia native started focusing more on live tournaments in 2016, however, and the result has been a quick rise to the top of the high roller ranks.  The 31-year-old has $10.8 million in live tournament earnings, which is good for no. 2 on Australia's all-time money list, just behind WSOP main event winner Joe Hachem. Burns has two WSOP bracelets of his own, including the €25,000 high roller at the 2019 WSOP Europe series. Burns started 2020 off strong, winning the AUD$100,000 Aussie Millions high roller for $1.2 million, and finishing runner-up in the AUD$250,000 Super High Roller Bowl Australia for another another $828,000.Highlights from this interview include following the job, $10 high school games, racking up play chips, turning his game around after a downswing, climbing the cash game ranks, grinding for months in Macau, getting his pulse felt during a hand, why you show up early for high rollers, the poker faces of Stephen Chidwick and Adrian Mateos, passing up the WSOP for high-stakes cash, where he keeps his bracelets, winning a $1.6 million pot, playing $2,000-$4,000 heads-up for Sydney, Frankie Muniz, the Scrabble analogy, getting to the top of Australia's money list, show me your chips, the death of poker's middle class, and not complaining about runner-up finishes.

8 Jul 202052min

You won't find the name Houston Curtis on any poker leaderboards, but for a brief period of time during the height of the boom, he was among the biggest winners in the game. Curtis made his way to Los Angeles by way of Illinois, hoping to make it in the music business. He transitioned to TV production after doing audience warm up for Showtime At The Apollo, later working on shows such as Jerry Springer and The Dating Game, and as an executive at MTV. His Best Of Backyard Wrestling videos in the early 2000s made him a millionaire, and he went on to produce poker strategy videos for Phil Hellmuth, and the Ultimate Blackjack Tour.  By chance, Curtis was seated next to SpiderMan star Tobey Maguire one night while playing poker at the Commerce Casino. The two hit it off and became friends, moving their action from the casino to private high-stakes games filled with the Hollywood elite. The games were chronicled in the movie Molly's Game, as well as the book it was based on written by Molly Bloom. But according to Curtis and his book, Billion Dollar Hollywood Heist, it was actually he and Maguire, not Bloom, who ran the game while it was in L.A., taking upwards of $1 million per month from players such as Nelly, David Schwimmer, director Todd Phillips, Don Cheadle, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Pete Sampras, Jon Landau, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Leonardo DiCaprio, before it all came crashing down.Highlights from this interview include shooting music videos in the desert, being "related" to Minnesota Fats, Fortress: Stronghold Of Rock to Mind Over Matter, warming up crowds at Showtime At The Apollo, Jerry Springer and Backyard Wrestling, hiding his sleight-of-hand skills, car washing with Steve Perry, the ultra-competitive and eccentric Tobey Maguire, separating fact from fiction in Molly's Game, The Viper Room, Todd Phillips and Old Spice, $800,000 bluffs at $200-$400, integrity and honesty from Rick Salomon, telling Layne Flack and his bag of cash to go home, Leonardo DiCaprio and his Armani furniture, the disappointing poker skills of Matt Damon, why David Schwimmer is such as Ross, Don Cheadle at the Playboy Mansion, losing seven figures in one night, playing on the set of SpiderMan 3 and in a sex dungeon, a nightmare with Cheech and Chong, hustling a weight loss prop bet, and the sounds of Norm Macdonald.

22 Jun 20201h 38min

Kenny Hallaert is one of Belgium's top poker pros, having won more than $4.2 million in live tournaments, along with another $6.5 million online playing under the name 'SpaceyFCB.' The 38-year-old recently won his third SCOOP online title, and has four World Series of Poker final table appearances on his resume, along with four deep runs in the main event. In 2016, he finished sixth for nearly $1.5 million.Hallaert is currently no. 3 on Belgium's all-time money list, but despite his success, he never gave up his day job. He started his poker journey while working as an electrician, and then later took a marketing job at a local casino. He was tasked with bringing players to the property, and as a result helped to popularize live tournaments in Belgium. Eventually Hallaert took over duties as Tournament Director, and he has since worked EPT events for PokerStars, as well as Unibet.  Highlights from this interview working as an electrician, playing card games at the bar with mom, Dutch poker, how a football accident made him a better player, bringing tournaments to Belgium, his unusual path to tournament director, why he never gave up his day job, the mental game, Ivey the end boss, a brutal but important bad beat, burning a house down in Monte Carlo, the silver lining of a sixth-place finish, a lottery ticket in the WSOP, finishing the job he signed up for, bathroom stall gaps, double-cooked fries, factory work, the unbeatable Niklas Astedt, three-betting with industrial techno, and getting away with graffiti.

8 Jun 20201h 20min

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.

26 Mai 20201h 28min

Danny Tang was first introduced to poker by his older brother back in Wales, and dreamed of one day sitting head-to-head with the likes of Phil Ivey or Tom Dwan. Less than a decade later, Tang is now hopping from high roller-to-high roller stop on private jets with the very same Ivey and Dwan. The 28-year-old poker pro didn't start competing on the circuit regularly until 2016, but he quickly rose up the ranks and has now racked up more than $8.4 million in live tournament earnings.  Tang had a breakout victory at the PokerStars Championship Prague main event in December of 2017. The next summer, he went deep in the World Series of Poker main event, earning $230,475 for 31st place. Later that year, he very nearly repeated his win in Prague, ultimately settling for fourth place in back-to-back runs. In 2019, Tang picked up the three biggest scores of his career. The Hong Kong resident earned $1.83 million for his runner-up showing to Bryn Kenney at the Triton Montenegro Super High Roller, and then banked another $1.6 million and his first bracelet in Vegas. The Natural8 online poker ambassador followed that up with a third-place showing at the EPT Barcelona High Roller for another $940,803.Highlights from this interview include quarantine days in Malaysia, being in Neymar's shadow, a helpful nudge from J.C. Alvarado, being the last man standing in the Uber to the Rio, jumping into the high rollers with Paul Phua, not realizing he won a WSOP bracelet, a $1.6 million pot in Macau, thinking in big blinds, dropping Tony G off in Lithuania, skiing with Tom Dwan, being snubbed at the airport, a 'not-ridiculous' six-figure baccarat bet, from James on Geordie Shore to Bob Lam on TVB, God Of Gamblers, a shout out to Michael Addamo, the appeal of short deck poker, lucky underwear, avoiding the shoulder tap, and 7-Eleven chicken teriyaki sandwiches.

11 Mai 202056min

In this special episode of Poker Stories, we revisit two of our most popular early guests to catch up on what's happened in their lives over the last three years.  Barry Greenstein appeared on the podcast back in November of 2017. The Poker Hall of Fame inductee and two-time World Poker Tour champion has stayed pretty busy despite his age of 65, and has had a high cash rate at the World Series of Poker for the last two years, even finishing with 13 in one summer while looking to add to his three career bracelets.  Daniel Negreanu was featured in an episode in March of 2017, and has experienced quite a bit of personal change in the time since. Although he was passed at the top of the all-time money list by Justin Bonomo and then Bryn Kenney, he did add several million to his earnings and now sits at $41 million for his career. At the 2019 WSOP, he played well enough to earn his third Player of the Year title, only to be slowrolled by a clerical error. He also managed to marry longtime poker host Amanda Leatherman, while also ending his 12-year relationship with PokerStars. He is now a team pro at GGPoker.  Highlights from this interview include why jail isn't scary, a time for self-improvement, poker germs, finding the spots at the table, a pain in the eyes, Alice Cooper hair, the poker rope-a-dope strategy, slap boxing, an outgoing introvert, reading The Godfather, online poker sponsorships, what's really good for the players, Andre Agassi at the 1999 US Poker Championship, double hoop earrings, being mistaken for Phil, Scott Seiver wins the psychological war, gender swaps, and will the WSOP happen in the fall?

28 Apr 20201h