Poker Stories: Brad Owen

Brad Owen discovered poker while in high school, learning the game by studying poker software his dad brought home from work. He continued to play throughout college and even as he earned his masters degree in accounting, but a nine-to-five job was never in the cards for the Santa Rosa, California native.

Owen ultimately gave up his day job as a CPA to move to Las Vegas and try his hand at professional poker. He spent years grinding away anonymously at the cash game tables, but wanted a way he could share his journey with his friends and family back home. Taking a cue from his good friend Andrew Neeme, Owen started his own YouTube channel, vlogging his poker sessions for all to see.

A little over five years later, Owen has become one of the most popular vloggers on YouTube. The 34-year-old has racked up more than 600,000 subscribers, which puts him alongside Daniel Negreanu as the most watched poker channels online today. In 2019, he won Poker Personality of the Year at the Global Poker Awards, and this year, he added the Best Vlogger award to his mantel.

When he's not filming his play, Owen stays busy with Meet-Up Games (MUGs) that take place all over the country, including his very own poker room. Owen recently became a minority owner of The Lodge Card Club House near Austin, Texas along with Doug Polk and the aforementioned Neeme. Owen is also the newest brand ambassador for the World Poker Tour and will be appearing at various events throughout the season.

Highlights from this interview include flipping rundown card rooms with dad, learning poker from a CD-ROM, main event nightmares, almost deleting his first video, inventing nicknames for hands, how the vlog affects play, buying a poker room, being poker's Jim Halpert, rocking out as 'Central Idea,' being an inactive CPA, having sleep envy, avoiding sharks in open water, telling dad jokes, and the karma of cleaning up the casino parking lot.