Poker Stories: Dylan Weisman

Dylan Weisman spent the pandemic "in the lab," pouring over numbers that few had ever bothered to look at before when it came to the game of PLO. While solvers had been in use for years by high-stakes pros for no-limit hold'em, pot-limit Omaha had been largely ignored, and Weisman saw an opportunity.

The work has paid off in a big way, with more than $6 million in recorded earnings since the summer of 2021. Of that, $4.4 million has come in some form of Omaha, putting him at no. 2 on the PLO all-time money list behind only Finland's Eelis Parssinen. The 32-year-old has earned wins at the PokerGO Cup, PGT Kickoff Series, U.S. Poker Open, PGT PLO Series, and PGT Mixed Game Series, as well as two World Series of Poker bracelets. In March, he chopped the Triton Montenegro $100,000 PLO high roller for nearly $2 million.

As a result of his stellar year on the circuit, which includes five titles and 14 final tables, the California native now sits just outside the top 10 in the Card Player Player of the Year race.

Highlights from this interview include cards with grandma, robotics academy, Dr. GTO can play the harmonica, being the youngest product of Moneymaker boom and gambling at 13, jobs for former poker players, $15 an hour after busting his roll, gravitating to Galfond, a model of business intelligence, teaching in Vietnam, burning out in Chicago leads to candles in Los Angeles, this seat is not open, six-figure buy-ins, ranking PLO players, keeping strategy secrets, the difference between your first and second bracelet, how long solvers actually take, heads-up vs. Blez for $200k, a bad beat that sent him to the ground, almost dying in a garage, and a hoodie that you can execute well inside of.