Chasing Poker Greatness

In this episode, I’m going to be speaking with one of the hardest working human beings to ever step into the world of poker, Jennifer Shahade.Jennifer has a list of credits, accomplishments, and accolades that most people could only dream of achieving and she doesn’t appear to be anywhere close to stopping anytime soon.Before poker, she first showed her impressive talent for strategic games in the world of chess. She became a National Master at the age of 16 and was the first female to win the US Junior Open. She has won two US Chess Women’s Championship titles as well as a silver Olympic medal.Jennifer is currently the Women’s Program Director at US Chess, acting as an Ambassador, host, and fundraiser. She’s also a board member at the World Chess Hall of Fame and hosts Grand Chess Tour events with top players all over the world.In addition to being the author of two books about the game of chess, Chess Bitch: Women in the Intellectual Sport and Play Like a Girl: Tactics by 9 Queens, she also hosts the Ladies Knight — that’s knight with a K — chess podcast.She’s also, of course, made a name for herself in poker, currently working as the MindSports Ambassador at PokerStars.To name just a few of the highlights from her poker career, she took down the Open Face Poker championship in Prague — a tournament she hadn’t even planned to play in — she made it down to the final four of the PokerStars-sponsored winner-take-all Shark Cage, and became the first female coach at Run It Once, where she put together poker strategy videos from 2014 to 2018.She also hosts her own poker podcast, “The Grid” where she discusses a specific Hold’em starting hands with a different guest in each episode. Her goal is to go through the entire grid of 169 possible starting hands. At the time of this interview, there are 21 episodes sitting and waiting for you to listen to.She’s also given a TedX talk in Baltimore, guest lectures at MIT, Yale, and her alma mater, NYU, and speeches at the Philadelphia Art Museum, Dali Museum, and Oakland Museum of Contemporary Art.As if all of that weren’t enough, she and her husband also work together to create fantastic art pieces that have been featured in such places as the Boston Sculptors Gallery, Contemporary Museum in Saint Louis, the Dali Museum, and the Francis Naumann Art Gallery.As you’ve probably guessed by now, Jennifer’s a grade A certified badass and just reading her list of accomplishments makes me feel like a lazy bum in comparison. The opportunity to hear her words, advice, wisdom, and warnings are invaluable. So once again, this is Brad Wilson, and without any further ado here’s my conversation with the amazing Jennifer Shahade on Chasing Poker Greatness.New CPG Cash Game Courses!Preflop Bootcamp: https://bit.ly/Preflop-BootcampFish in a Barrel: http://bit.ly/fish-in-a-barrelNeutralize Flop Leads: https://bit.ly/2OkN8Yt

6 Dec 20191h 25min

Barry has written for both online and print magazines as well as having had a hand in writing and publishing the most successful poker book ever written, The Mental Game of Poker (Which, coincidentally, is the most often suggested reading material by my “Chasing Poker Greatness” guests).In addition to “The Mental Game of Poker”, Barry has also co-authored The Mental Game Of Poker 2 with Jared Tendler and "Poker Satellite Strategy" with Dara O’ Kearney. On the media side, Barry has written and contributed to WPT magazine, PokerNews Magazine, Inside Poker Business, Poker Pro Europe, CardPlayer Magazine, and more.He’s the former chief editor for PokerNews UK, where he spent just over five years in charge of all content and live reporting and today Barry is PokerStrategy.com’s chief editor who is responsible for managing just about all of the content that appears on the site.During our conversation, he walks us through some of the history of poker and poker media, and expands on how the relationship between the two has changed over the years. He speaks about the evolution of poker and how the game has changed his life.You’ll hear what it was like to experience Black Friday from the inside and get some opinions and insights into some of the most high-profile cheating scandals that have rocked the poker world both before and after that fateful day.Very few people have the kind of access that Barry has to the inside world of the poker industry and today’s show is a rare opportunity to peak behind the curtains and get an insider’s view of a world us regular old poker players rarely get to see.And so, without any further ado, this is award-winning poker journalist and best-selling author Barry Carter on Chasing Poker Greatness.New CPG Cash Game Courses!Preflop Bootcamp: https://bit.ly/Preflop-BootcampFish in a Barrel: http://bit.ly/fish-in-a-barrelNeutralize Flop Leads: https://bit.ly/2OkN8Yt

3 Dec 20191h 25min

My guest today is mental game expert and hypnotherapist Elliot Roe. Elliot is the master of helping folks:- Identify and extinguish their fears on the green felt - Clear and focus their minds- Remove their own mental roadblocks - And achieve their goals … regardless of how audacious they may be. Elliot has worked one on one with more than 200 individual poker players including:Future Chasing Poker Greatness guest Fedor Holz - former #1 ranked player with more than $32 million in winningsFormer Chasing Poker Greatness guests Jonathan Little, Matt Berkey, and Jeff Gross.2017 WSOP Main event champion Scott BlumsteinSuper High Roller champion Brian RastFormer #1 world-ranked player Alex FoxenWSOP $50k high-roller winner Ben HeathAnd the list goes on. They all credit Elliot with helping them to manage tilt, remain calm and focused during some of their most stressful moments of their life, and create a healthy, sustainable mindset that allows them to continue to evolve and compete at the highest of high levels..Elliot also produces two podcasts, one of which, The Mindset Advantage, was specifically created to help poker players improve their mental game.He regularly publishes highly informative self-help and mental game articles on his own blog and, as if all of that wasn’t enough, he created the guided mindset enhancement app Primed Mind.During our conversation, Elliot reveals some of his most successful techniques for conquering your fears, changing your thought processes, and even how to analyze your own mind to figure out where your worst mental-game issues are coming from.While there isn’t much in the way of strategic x’s and o’s in this episode, I’m going to make a bold claim and say that Elliot’s wisdom on dealing with your emotions while playing poker is more valuable than any single piece of strategic poker advice you’ll ever receive. As the greatest poker player of all time Chip Reese once said when asked about what separates him from the living legends he battled against on a daily basis: “Some players have a better A game than me but the difference is their D game is a lot worse than their A game, whereas my A game and D game aren’t that different.”Elliot’s genius lies in guiding folks to do just that … elevating their D game so that it looks very similar to their A game.And now, without any further ado, here’s my conversation with Elliot Roe on “Chasing Poker Greatness”.New CPG Cash Game Courses!Preflop Bootcamp: https://bit.ly/Preflop-BootcampFish in a Barrel: http://bit.ly/fish-in-a-barrelNeutralize Flop Leads: https://bit.ly/2OkN8Yt

26 Nov 20191h 20min

As well as being a successful comedian, my guest today is known as one of the most popular and entertaining poker commentators to ever pick up a mic.Joe Stapleton, known to most as “Stapes”, has been an active poker commentator for over a decade. Gaining immediate acceptance in the poker industry, Joe received a reader’s choice award from Bluff magazine during his very first year on the job. Since then, he has served as commentator and host on many of the industry’s most successful television shows.You may have heard his unmistakable voice and wit on the Pokerstars.Net Big Game, the NHL Alumni Charity Shootout, the Deepstacks Poker Tour, or the Deepstacks Western New York Poker Championship.He’s also served as the host of several shows including:Shark CagePoker Night In AmericaPoker Night LiveOutside the realm of poker, he’s found plenty of success in the stand-up comedy world. He’s worked on MAD TV and made a brief appearance in the Netlfix/Adam Sandler film “The Week Of” and wrote the comedy short film The Lost Archives of Quincy Taylor.During our conversation Joe reveals that there is quite a lot of substance and deep thinking under the surface of a man that has spent much of his adult life just trying to make people laugh.He’ll talk about everything from his biggest joy to some of his deepest pains, the amazing and long lasting effects of simply not being a dick, why he believes he caused Black Friday, and even the surprising way that he deals with Internet trolls that will hit you square in the feels.This talk with one of poker’s biggest and brightest television personalities is one that you’ll be glad you didn’t miss.Without any fruther ado, this is Joe “Stapes” Stapleton on Chasing Poker Greatness...New CPG Cash Game Courses!Preflop Bootcamp: https://bit.ly/Preflop-BootcampFish in a Barrel: http://bit.ly/fish-in-a-barrelNeutralize Flop Leads: https://bit.ly/2OkN8Yt

26 Nov 20191h 37min

Today on Chasing Poker Greatness I'm going to be conversing with PartyPoker Team Online pro and Twitch streamer extraordinaire, Jeff Gross. Jeff’s been playing poker online and live for about 15 years and boasts a very impressive a very impressive resume with over $4 million in tournament winnings. At the time of recording, Pocket Fives poker database ranks Jeff at number 104 worldwide. Their numbers, of course, confirm his impressive earnings on the online streets with: - $949,000 at PokerStars - $370,000 at PartyPoker- $291,000 at Full Tilt- $147,000 at America’s Card RoomAnd finally, the Hendon Mob database credits Jeff with over $3,250,000 in live tournament winnings and over $1.4 million in online earnings. He also keeps himself busy streaming on Twitch, growing his YouTube channel, and producing his own podcast "The Flow Show" on PokerNews.com.During the conversation, Jeff will let you in on his views about studying and what it takes to keep up with an ever-evolving game like poker, the importance of the people you keep around you, and the effects of how you interact with your peers at and away from the tables.You’ll hear about the first major tournament cash that really set Jeff on the path to becoming a professional player, how black Friday changed his career and his approach to both poker and life, and plenty more. Without any further ado, this is Jeff Gross on Chasing Poker Greatness...New CPG Cash Game Courses!Preflop Bootcamp: https://bit.ly/Preflop-BootcampFish in a Barrel: http://bit.ly/fish-in-a-barrelNeutralize Flop Leads: https://bit.ly/2OkN8Yt

22 Nov 20191h 6min

Welcome back to the Chasing Poker Greatness podcast. This is your host, Brad Wilson, and today I’m sitting down for a conversation with Twitch superstar and mid-stakes tournament grinder Matty Staples.Spending nearly all of his time playing in online tournaments, Matt is currently a member of Team PartyPoker. By his own estimation, about 99.9% of his tournament poker career has been streamed live online as he’s played.Matt generally streams mid-stakes but has been known to test his skills in events with buy-ins as high as $500 and $1000 as well. This past May he took down the biggest cash of his career when he finished third in the PokerStars Sunday Million for $92,812.18. Matt is the rare breed of player who started out online with a miniscule bankroll and reached his current lofty status by simply grinding, learning, winning, and growing without adding any outside money. After getting his start a few years ago with about $20, his bankroll today is estimated to be around $160,000.At the fresh young age of 24, Matt is a perfect example of what it means to dive in, work hard, and chase poker greatness. He’s living proof that if you want to start making a living through playing this card game even in today’s day and age it is still possible.During the course of our conversation he talks about how he got started with the game, where he began to make the transition to a professional player, and what changed the way he thinks about the game, allowing him to go farther than he ever thought he would. You’ll hear what he likes the most, what he’d change if he could, and the key advice he’d give to any new player.So, once again, thank you for joining me on Chasing Poker Greatness. Here is my conversation with stream and lamp lover extraordinaire Matt Staples...New CPG Cash Game Courses!Preflop Bootcamp: https://bit.ly/Preflop-BootcampFish in a Barrel: http://bit.ly/fish-in-a-barrelNeutralize Flop Leads: https://bit.ly/2OkN8Yt

19 Nov 20191h 9min

Today’s guest is live cash game crusher, online personality, and my good friend DGAF.DGAF is one of the best professional live cash poker players in the world. He’s been playing poker as a pro since 2007 (and saying he’s going to quit since about 2012). He’s a personal friend; someone I’ve had the pleasure and the honor of playing the game with, and against, during my own poker career.We talk about what got him started with poker, how he became a professional player and his thoughts on eventually getting out of the game.He’ll share the reasoning behind his somewhat paradoxical views on why you should love the game, why you should work to get better, and why shouldn’t be looking to make poker your full-time job and career.For more than ten years now, he’s been crushing high-stakes live poker games. As any poker pro will tell you, though, it’s not all roses and rainbows. From huge highs to rock bottom lows, shady people, and even a brush with the Hell’s Angels, he explains what daily life in card rooms and casinos can be like.His posts on the 2+2 poker forums have earned more than 2 million, yes that’s MILLION, views. He’s a successful podcaster himself, publishing not one but two well-reviewed podcasts. He co-hosts the mental health “call-in”, or should I say “mail-in” show, Solicited Advice, where “a psychiatrist and professional poker player get together once a week to record a podcast over some Belgian beers.” (Their description, not mine)He also headlines his own podcast, (DGAF’s Poker) Sessions, where he chronicles his adventures getting back to even from $250k worth of debt with no bankroll.He’ll soon publish a book about his life and adventures in poker titled “The Long Run…” and he’s put together a collection of some of the coolest poker apparel and accessories to hit the market at pokerrags.us.He is, without a doubt, one of the best-liked and most respected players to ever take a seat at a poker table and it truly is an honor to have him with me as today’s guest. I can only hope you enjoy listening as much as I enjoyed recording this episode.So let’s jump in and let DGAF speak for himself...New CPG Cash Game Courses!Preflop Bootcamp: https://bit.ly/Preflop-BootcampFish in a Barrel: http://bit.ly/fish-in-a-barrelNeutralize Flop Leads: https://bit.ly/2OkN8Yt

15 Nov 20191h 6min

in today’s episode, I have the pleasure of sitting down for a talk with an all-time poker legend and future hall of famer, Dan “Jungelman” Cates.As poker’s version of Alexander the Great, Jungleman has conquered pretty much all there is to conquer in the poker world at the ripe old age of 29.At 21 years old he accepted the “Durrr” challenge and blistered Mr. Dwan so badly that the challenge still hasn’t been completed 9 years later (He's now slated to face off against Phil Galfond in the Phil Galfond challenge as well).He’s racked up $7 million+ in poker tournament winnings despite spending the majority of his time battling in high stakes cash games where he most likely employees a dragon or 2 to guard the entrance to the vault of riches he’s won in said games.He’s been documented in playing as big as $6k/$12k in Bobby’s room but I think I can safely say that where there exists the biggest cash game in the world … there’s almost always a Jungleman lurking. He is, without a doubt, one of the most feared poker and respected players in the game today. During our conversation you’ll learn:- The concept of “reverse game selection” and how Jungleman used the tactic as rocket fuel to surge through the online ranks.- The importance of overcoming your emotions that cloud your logic and- Why working by yourself is inferior to using the knowledge of other peopleAnd much much more!So sit back, listen, and learn how an introverted 17-year-old kid with a video game obsession became one of poker’s living legends before hitting the big 3-0. Without any further ado ... Click download below and sit back, relax and enjoy my conversation with Dan "Jungleman" Cates on Chasing Poker Greatness.New CPG Cash Game Courses!Preflop Bootcamp: https://bit.ly/Preflop-BootcampFish in a Barrel: http://bit.ly/fish-in-a-barrelNeutralize Flop Leads: https://bit.ly/2OkN8Yt

12 Nov 201951min