September 16, 2024 • 41 mins
Lifelong poker enthusiast Oliver is joined by two professional poker players who happen to be brothers.
Frank and Nick Funaro reveal what it's REALLY like to bet big and know when it's time to fold.
From how much they've won gambling, to how the poker profession affects their personal lives, the Funaro brothers show us their cards in this episode of Sibling Revelry.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi am Kate Hudson, and my name is Oliver Hudson.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
We wanted to do something that highlighted our relationship and
what it's like to be siblings. We are a sibling
railval No, no, sibling, rail don't do that with your mouth. Revelry.
(00:33):
That's good. Some love riff, it seems and oh those some.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Ah.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Summer's over. Oh gosh, it's a time for reflection. It's
a time for pain. It's a time for nostalgia, and
for me, nostalgia equals pain thinking back on the summer
(01:17):
that I had and reminiscing trying to keep a smile
on my face when really it's a bit of a
frown because I wish I was still summering. But it
was a good summer. Honestly. I try to tell my kids, hey,
think positive. You know, my daughter was going to school
the other day and she's not happy about her class
(01:40):
necessarily you know who's in it, and she loves all
of her friends. But you know, when you get separated
from some of your besties and whatever, and I'm always
giving advice that I need to take myself. So with her,
it's like, look, there is you have no choice in
the matter. Okay, this is the hand you've been dealt.
You can either make you know, you can make lemonade
(02:01):
out of it, or you can just eat the sour lemons.
I don't know what to tell you, like, but being
negative is only gonna make you feel bad, So you
might as well look at the positive parts of these
things or try to, you know, make the best of it.
Ba ba bay, because you don't have another fucking choice.
And she's the only kid who actually listens to me,
because I can see her nodding and taking it in.
(02:24):
But I don't practice what I preach, you know, because
I kind of a class is half empty guy, Not
not really, I don't know. I just get I get upset,
like oh man. Anyway, but summer was amazing. I'm gonna
be positive. Little recap started it off in Greece or
(02:45):
in the south of France. Actually incredible. Then we were
in Greece. We actually got this incredible Airbnb in Greece
in Portarelli. And I think airbnb these are just better
in Europe because I've done Airbnbs across the country. Honestly,
(03:05):
I actually I actually have my own Airbnb. I rent
out my own shit. But this one's in particular. It
was so inexpensive. It was like a huge piece of property.
It was three amazing little guesthouse right on the water.
The host was honestly like amazing. The guy had just
(03:27):
sort of started his Airbnb world, so he was very attentive.
So I started off there and then we did that,
We did Grease was incredible, and then you know, Colorado
can't be Colorado. Then the Cape Cape cod was amazing.
Seeing my in laws, I'm the most unluckiest man alive.
I have the greatest in laws ever. I challenge anyone,
(03:48):
anyone to have better in laws than I do. And
I will have a serious showdown. We'll get Brooks and
together and whatever fucking in laws you want to get
in there. We'll do a death match. Mine will win.
And now we're home, and I'm happy. You know what,
I'm happy. I'm a happy boy. You know. I love
being home. There's always something nice about getting home. You
(04:11):
dread it, and then you get home and you're like,
I'm in my house. Time to start my life again,
Time to get back to work, time for structure to
sort of re enter. And now I'm gonna be on
my boat and trying to catch big ass bliff intun it. Anyway,
there's my recap. But right now, we've got some dudes.
(04:34):
We've got some brothers in the waiting room who can
probably relate to a lot of my poker pain. There's
a good chance they saw probably one of the worst
beats ever put on television. And these boys can play cards.
(04:54):
It's the Phinowal brothers. Bring them on. Okay, Well, first
of all, you already are winning. Got a Kobe poster
literally splitting you guys. You know, I'm a huge, huge
Lakers fan, big time Kobe fan. That was my favorite athlete,
Oh god, without of doubt. I mean I got to
meet him, actually I did. Jimmy Kimmel, I was it
(05:16):
was a guest on Kimmel and Kobe was the other
guest and it were just like just by luck. And
it was the most amazing day. I mean, I got
to meet him and I never met him before, and
he actually I think he passed away, not very you
know far after that. It was devastating day.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Dude.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
I woke up and I was like when people like
it's like like almost like a nine to eleven thing,
or like yeah, or like I woke up and my
buddy texted me and or like Kobe died. And I
was like, wait, what what was going on?
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (05:47):
And I was like I didn't even feel like a
real day.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
No, no, no, no, same thing. My friend Mitch texted
me and I'm like, shut the fuck up, dude. Like
I was. It was like I didn't even believe it,
you know, I thought it was just fucking with me.
It was this bullshit news. And then when I found out,
I mean I was, I was like, I was like devastated.
I was. I still because my algorithm on my Instagram
(06:10):
like will always bring me Kobe shit, you know, and
and and you know, it's scrolling, scrolling and boom something
Kobe comes on and I get all choked up. I'm like, god,
damn it, I gotta get Kobe off my fucking feet
because it makes me sad.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
I don't really get sad. I just don't feel like
it exists, Like I don'teel like it's like real.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I don't know. I know, it's still weird. It's still weird.
First of all, how old are you guys?
Speaker 1 (06:32):
I'm twenty two, okay, now I'm about twenty nine now.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Okay, twenty nine, twenty two. Are are you the only
two siblings? Are there more four brothers? Yeah, and then
you're the only two though there's no more siblings.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Yeah, there's two in the middle. Two more.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Oh, there's two in the middle. Yeah. So your oldest
and youngest.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Yeah, it's oldest and youngest, and.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
The other two boys don't or siblings don't play cards
a little bit.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Our one brother, the second oldest, came to Vegas this
for like two weeks. He was the only one who cashed,
like the Mystery Millions tournament. I don't know if you
know too much about poker, Like I know you played
the main event one year.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
I remember, Yeah, dude, do do do doo? Hold on,
hold on? Before we did you have you googled that?
If you googled the beat that I took. I remember
that hand two thousand and five, but I didn't know
it was you, and that was amazing.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
And I'm like, wait a minute, I remember.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
This, Yeah, dude, So yeah, I started playing poker early
two thousands. And you know my old house, I my
back house, I made into a whole poker room. I
made it Vegas style. I bought a sick table. I mean,
I was obsessed. I played in a bunch of WPT events.
(07:46):
I was at the commerce, I was at the hustler.
I was I mean, I was an obsessive poker player.
I was nutty about it. I read, I read, I
read all. I at Helmley's book, I read Brunston's books,
I read and I read every one's book. And back
back then it was the legends were kind of still playing.
I know they are now, but like IVY and then
(08:06):
even back even before them, and uh, I was just
fucking obsessed. So I I actually satellite my way into
the main event. I was working. I was doing a
movie in Calgary and I had to go back to
(08:27):
start filming in two days. So even if I was
chip leader, okay, at the end of two days, I
would have to leave.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
You couldn't just tell them like, can we just wait like.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
A day, no, because when they're when you're dealing with
a movie schedule, like they're not like, hey, guys, look,
I'm leading a big tournament. Do you think you can
fucking push the movie? Like that's it's not gonna work.
But I satellited in, so I'm like fuck it, I'll
go and I go to the I go to the
tables and there's a plaque saying proceed to the feature
table because it's all a random draw. But you had
Daniel Grandu and Farha. We're just randomly at that table.
(08:59):
So now I'm playing on ESPN and I was like,
holy fuck. And I get there. I got my little
baggie for food, my my girlfriend who's now my wife.
I was like, look, you don't got to wake up.
This is going to be a long ass day. Just
hang out, do your thing, come see me when you want.
And then boom uh national anthem, shuffle up and deal
(09:22):
dealt pocket tens. And that was the fucking end of it.
That was, by the way, it's not random. Oh okay, okay,
So I didn't know. I thought it was like a
random draw. And then they pick up the table that
has the most sort of recognizable players.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
That's that's it. Yeah, but you're going to be on
the future table with that table no matter what.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, for sure. That's that's that's
what I mean. The draws random. The draw had Negran,
you and far together, and they're like, oh dude, it
was crazy. I was in I was in the ten
seat pocket tens against ace ten, and you know, flop
came a sas ten. You know, the only thing that
could have taken me off the hand was turned a queen,
(10:10):
you know, but with Farha when you knew how he
plays a very aggressive player. I probably didn't play the
hand perfectly, but I think at the end of the day,
all my all the money's going in the middle. I'm
not going to put I'm not going to fold, you
know that kind of a hand. So just fucking nuts, dude.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
I do remember. I do. To be honest with you,
I do remember the hand. I just didn't. I didn't, like,
you know, look at some stuff and found out you
played a little of poker, and then I was like,
I remember that hand. I just didn't know that's who
you were.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. And then you know, after that,
after it aired, every casino I went into it was like, dude,
are you pocket tens? That's what they called me. I'm like, yeah,
pocket tens. And then I was at a WPT event
after that and we were on a break and I
saw Sammy and the bathroom and I was like, hey, dude,
(11:02):
and he starts laughing, gives me a hug, He's like bucket.
Then I'm like yeah, and he goes that Queen came.
I was scared. I thought that mate, you know, And
it was cool to sort of see him and talk
to him just a little bit after that. But it
was fucking it was gnarly. But I just loved poker,
you know. I loved, loved, love playing poker. Of course,
(11:23):
now three kids deep, and yeah, I can't play that
much anymore.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
You know, maybe if they got online over there.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Yeah, well that's what I wanted to ask you about.
First of all, Let's go back. You know, when did
you guys start playing poker? How did it become what
it's become for you? I'm assuming it's your living right now.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Yeah. I have a couple other things, okay, in real
estate and some like other like businesses, but my start
basically was poker, just and then that's still my main focus.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Yeah. Was it college? I mean, did that where it's
starting college or even before that.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
It's probably started before that, But I didn't know it
was going to be my full time like thing until
maybe my third year or fourth year. Like I like
dropped out my second year and I kind of had
no idea what I wanted to dom h And then
it kind of just like fell into my lap there.
But it was like nothing like serious until Like I
(12:16):
always tell people, I started like after I was twenty one,
playing professionally, and Nick he's probably been playing since he
was eighteen professionals, right, so it's like a little different.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, And did you realize Okay, wait,
this is what I want to do. I'm actually kind
of good at this. I've established a decent bank roll
now to where this can be a professional of my profession.
You know where when did that transition come for you
guys where it's like this is not just fun and
(12:48):
some extra side cash, but like I can actually make
a living out of doing this.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
I guess it came like at a string together and
it was kind of I guess I let it with
Like I feel like my uncles and my dad they
used to play like a home game like when we
were like little kids. This was before he probably couldn't
even remember anything at that point, but I used to
like run them beers and I like loved like the
idea of gambling and like card games and whatever, and
(13:15):
they would never let me play. So I was like, well,
I want to do this, like they're passing money around
like people. I went in like hundreds of dollars, like
this is fun. And then it's like they let me
play a couple of times and like I just I
loved it. And then like college came and I was
at finance major, like hated it. I went to a
Drexel University in Philadelphia. I just wasn't doing well. I
(13:38):
was never good at school, but I was always like
pretty intelligent. And then I kind of like fell into
my lap. We were playing home games in high school
and like with friends and stuff, I had a knack
for it, and I seen a bunch of these guys
that I did not think were playing that well. And
then I just studied and went with it. Nicky you
know probably, I mean he could talk on his.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Experience, but I mean he paved the road basically, so
when he like already was accomplished, I knew that it
was possible, basically, and you know, the options that I
had on the table. It was either go to school,
which I I didn't really know what I was doing.
I hated school. So it was either go to school
(14:19):
or travel around with my brother around the world and
play poker, which I already loved the game at the time,
so it was like a no brainer for me. Mm hmm,
like just yeah, I mean, and pretty quickly I was
making money, so it ended up working out well.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
I think, like basically I found the formula from scratch,
like how that audi, how to prepare, how to like improve,
and like I had a winning strategy that was really good,
and I already went through all this, so then I
basically like got to like mold him into like all right,
this is how we carry ourselves, this is how we study,
this is how we improve, like, this is how we
schedule online, this is how we you know, travel around
(14:58):
to these events like Budge and just how we think
about the game, like all this stuff. And I kind
of had like a redoal with him. Maybe the mistakes
I made he doesn't have to make and that's great. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Are you guys similar players?
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Yeah, we try to.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Yeah, I mean everyone tries to play you.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Know, like GTL, So everyone's trying to do the same
thing basically right now, I guess different from when you
started it.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Yeah, Like the top players all play very similar. They
play like variations of like one strategy and it's like
there's some like disagreements on like maybe some adjustments. Yeah,
Like the computers have like solved the game, like like
basically there's a right play in almost every spot, and
there's frequencies attached to these. Basically there's these computers they're
called solvers, like these programs, and you could put in
(15:44):
the big barns, like the stacks, like what position opens
into into the big line or wherever, and it'll solve
like every hand and how it's supposed to play, like
the percentage of the times was a check, the percentage
of time's supposed to bet, what size it's supposed to bet,
and then it all like mixes frequencies, so our jobs
like understand like what the computer wants to do, and
then we can like cross it with how we think
(16:05):
this guy's mistake making mistakes based on the computer's telling you,
and then we're adjusting like based upon like that.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
And it's wow. It's interesting because when you're playing live,
obviously there's calculations and there's odds, and you can understand
you know how much to bet, when to bed, how
big the pot size is, you know how much all
of that stuff, and essentially you've taken that but put
it into the computer world where you're still playing odds,
(16:37):
but based on sort of the algorithms of the computer itself.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Ye, like these programs like all that math and is
ingrained into the like the program let's there or the output.
So what it's doing is spitting out like okay, you
have king Queen, this woord comes this. You know, it
wants to say, check thirty percent of the time, bet
fifty percent of the pot twenty percent of the time,
and then that twenty five percent of the pot the
rest of the time, and then it'll solve it for
(17:04):
every possible hand you can have, and then it'll solve
it for like how your opponent's supposed to respond to
each one of these actions?
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Jesus Christ, how do you is? Is there software that
tells you this shit? Is that kind of how it? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (17:18):
And getting better and better each year. Two. So it
used to take like say piosolver was like the original one,
Like I guess now it's eight years ago. Yeah, and
it would take like fifteen twenty minutes to get like
each one of these like individual hands and spots, right,
but you would save them in like a database and
like flip through them, you would never be able to
do all of them. So a lot of it's like
(17:39):
just guess work, but understanding why it's doing these certain
things and then trying to like road in it and
do as many as you can. But now like they
have this new one it' j GTA Wizard and they
have AI and it works almost the same, but it's
like instant, Like it's you don't have to wait for
the computer if it takes a lot of power, you
just to take a lot of like RAM Now it's
like almost instant.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
So is it something that you use to put into
a database and then study you're not using it real
time when you're that would be cheating, That's what I'm saying, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
So basically we're say we just saved there's five hands
we played each night that where we were found to
be difficult. We can the next day wake up and
we'll run those hands and look at them and then
be like, Okay, maybe my assumption on this was wrong,
maybe I was made a mistake here and there, And
then you just try to you know, gain as much
information as you can and then balnce ideas and maybe
(18:30):
it's like a lot of it too is interpreting how
your opponent's going to respond because no one's a computer.
They're all making mistakes in all these areas, right, so
it's also like coming out with really good counter strategies
to their mistakes. But a lot it's all like this
like computer based stuff, and there is like still some
intuition and like there's there's definitely stuff to like being
a naturally good poker player and stuff.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Yeah, yeah, but there's.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Just this has made the game just it's it's such
a higher level now. That's the edges are becoming like
really small at the highest stakes because everyone's still and
using these things.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Right, So it's you know, wow, dude, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
It's getting really complicated.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Here's what could be enlightening to people listening to this
when they think of poker players. You know, i mean
obviously back even when I was playing, and I'm sure
that there's still degenerates today, there's no there's no doubt
about that.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
And there's people that are like in this camp that's
still our degenerates of course, of course, like smarter now
and the more studies.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Yeah, but the game now has become math forward. There's
technical shit dealing with AI now especially in online. You
know what I'm saying, Like there is real studying, So
give me, give me like a day in the life
of you know, because it sounds like you play but
then you analyze as well, so you're not just playing
(19:57):
all all the time.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Yeah, So I mean when we're home, like we're back.
So we were probably on the road some other city
or something like at least once a month or maybe
multiple times a month. So we were in Vegas two
months for the World Series like May at like the
end of July.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Now where are you guys living, By the way, We're
in New Jersey. Okay, got it, but we you know,
we were that was Vegas.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Now September, We'regatta has something that they just came back,
and it's like we're into Florida for the whole month
of November December. We're in Bahamas basically the whole time.
And it used to be Bahamas in the wind. It's
like we're kind of just like when we're on the road,
it's just playing these this live circuit and then home
it's basically you know, wake up in the morning, play golf.
(20:41):
Then maybe I don't golf in the morning.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
But where do you play in New Jersey.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Yeah, I'm a member, like the Ottinger clubs. It's like Ballimore,
Scotland run and like we get some rounds at Lang
City Country Club.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
I'm on the way cool. I'm a scratch golfer. I
was a plus plus two is my best.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
I seen your.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Swing eleven years ago.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Really good.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Left right lefty that's right, yeah, half I play with
his left really. Yeah. There's more of us coming up,
but there's still it's still there's still not a lot
of us, but there's more. So you play golf, you
have your day, you get outside and then it's time
to grind.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Yeah, maybe study a little bit, frushing up and then
online we usually play from seven to like three in
the morning, and that's like five days a week. Okay,
Sundays the big day and Tuesday is probably the second
biggest day because it's all regulated in Jersey. So we
get three sites to play.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Yeah, so how do you play online? Like, how does
that work? Because it's an online poker.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Yeah, so we have we have poker Stars h w
s o P and Borgata. Borgoda is like the the
New Jersey only site and w s o P.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
We have like Michigan is not with us, not with us, and.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
So you're allowed to play online in certain states. Is
that kind of happen?
Speaker 1 (21:57):
It's so weird, Like I don't know if you ever
heard about like the full tilts off.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Yeah, dude, back in the day, I mean back in
the day, it was that's what we do. Everything was
it was deregularly, there's no regulations. We're just fucking playing
full tilt. We're playing all kinds of different sites, you know.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Yeah, So from my understanding, it was they're running in
it's like some Ponzi scheme types thing, and they didn't
have money to pay people out, and like the whole
thing fell apart and the government like really cracked down
on online and then now it's just been like coming
back slowly, but like state by state kind of like
the sports betting, yeah, much lower. They care about sports
betting a lot more though. Yeah yeah, yeah, so I
(22:32):
guess it like works like similarly, I.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Are you playing online with people who you know, meaning
there's a group that you can learn how they play
or is it all still pretty random?
Speaker 1 (22:42):
No? I mean the same people were on every night
almost they are.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
We're trying to take their their money exactly.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
It's all competition constantly, and there's there's still like you know,
there's a lot of weaker players that play a lot too.
So it's you know, we're just trying to get better
every day.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
And what what game is it's just no limit or
do you play other game?
Speaker 1 (23:00):
It's just no limit. We just play in a limit.
There is a lot of in the live realm, like
the World Series and like Live there's a lot of
live like mixed games and stuffy.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Yeah, but you're just strict strictly and hold them. You're
strictly hold them.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
I'm going to try to learn if I win like
another bracelet, because they're like really small fields at the series. Yeah,
start racking them up. You got to play the next game.
So if I I think, if I get another one,
I might really start trying to learn.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
And what are the stakes? Are you playing cash cash game?
Speaker 1 (23:28):
He plays? I play some live if I can get
in like a big one, but online relatively small compared
to live.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
And so are you just playing tournament style?
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Just empty?
Speaker 2 (23:38):
So yeah, tournament got okay? Got it? And what are
some of the entry points like cash wise for some
of these bigger tournaments that you play.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
In person, Like I've played all the way up to
fifty thousand, right right, so, but most my ABI, like
on average, I think I BUYD for like seven thousand
on average. It's like the average tournament.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Buying I play is that online.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Online is like two hundred or something.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Oh so it's just little.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
They're way smaller. It's way smaller, but you get like
you play thousands a year.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Yeah, so it's like a lot different.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Yes, Live the stakes are like way higher, but like
the volumes like way less.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
What do you prefer?
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Probably online it's more consistent. I don't know, it's de
onely more consistent because the volume, like the swings are less.
It's just like you're going to hit the long run.
Like there's no luck when you play like tens of
thousands of games over a couple of years sample. But
like live, if you play like one hundred and fifty
or fifty two hundred tournaments a year, like you just
could have losing years like all the time. It's like
very Online is just very consistent. But on I mean
(24:36):
live is where all the money is. Like if you
start running good or like making some string and some
runs together, just a lot more you know, money on
the table, and there's a lot more glory with like
the bracelets and like the.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
For sure idols and stuff, you know, for sure for sure.
I Mean the other thing is it's probably would you
agree that it's more it's a more of a pure
game live, you know, just because online, like you were
saying though, like you have programs that are feeding you
(25:07):
information that you can learn and then use, rather than
when you're playing live. I mean you are really at
a table of ten people. Like that's it.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
I mean it's still you're still playing like effectively the
same way, you just have access a different information.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Live.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
It's like online you have thousands of hands of these people,
and there's also programs that track how they're playing. It's
called like a hud, so you'll know the percentage of
the time. This guy raises, the percentage of the time.
This guy's got the percentage of time, and you can
like you know, cross reference that with like the theory basedline, right,
and then you can really hammer them and punish them
for where they're they're off. What's that?
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Live, you know you can kind of just sit there
with this, you know, say it's an older gentleman for
five hours, he hasn't played a hand, Like that's more
your information, Like Okay, this guy's probably got it.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Yeah you know where yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
That's kind of the difference.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
How do you enjoyed the camaraderie though, you know, like
being at the social parts is being in the being
in the room, like there's a feeling.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
Yeah, it's a lot of a lot of fun, Like
there's nothing like a final table or like just traveling
like we go to i We're making Paris to stuff
every year like epts like you to Europe, play, just
play a couple of tournaments like Bahamas is December, like
two weeks you go to Vegas, like it's just a
good time.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Yeah, So what are your best finishes live?
Speaker 1 (26:30):
So he yeah for me her first year, but I
have a four hundred and twenty.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
K score in Borgata damn Yeah, which was in January,
so pretty recent.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
He won like one of his first biggest Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Besides that, it was like do you want it?
Speaker 1 (26:48):
You want it? Yeah, I want it?
Speaker 2 (26:49):
And the f first was for twenty yeah good number.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Yeah yeah. At online he's got like a lot of results,
but like the number here smaller.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
Besides that, my next best ashes probably like twenty thousand.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Yeah, So let me ask you a question, Nikki. You're
twenty two years old, you're twenty one at the time,
right right, what was your bank account looking like before
that four hundred thousand got put into it?
Speaker 3 (27:15):
Yeah? It was like, uh, like sixty sixty thousand something
around there.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
So I had a decent roll.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Yeah, but you're like six x in your bank account, Like, yeah,
what does that feel like? I mean, is like, holy fuck, dude.
I mean I.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
Remember I was at the poker table when it hit,
Like I kept looking at my at my bank.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
So like when it hit, I was at the poker table.
I just honestly, I just couldn't stop smiling.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
It was break It was Well, here's the thing too,
when he when he won, we had a big, big
family there and a lot of friends hanging out, like
they're gonna say, and when after we threw a big party,
and then like fifty of us went to the bar
and he was he went he went to bed. He
just fell asleep right after he won. You just didn't
even to be fair, we were like a big party.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Was spent, dude, A little emotionally spent.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
I was I was sick, and I was talking playing
like three or four days straight or whatever. Yeah, so
I would have definitely went out. I kind of regret
not going out, honestly, because I probably could have pushed it.
I wasn't feeling I wasn't.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
That's all right. And and so you were head up,
what was do you remember? What was the hand that
that took took it down?
Speaker 3 (28:21):
It was so he was like he was really short.
He was like five big blondes or something. So okay,
and I had pocket kings. I like limp the I
limped the button. Yeah, and he jammed like king three
off or something.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Yeah, yeah, done, he actually did.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
He turned an open endo.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Actually, oh geez.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
Yeah, so there was a chance from the win.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
But yeah, yeah, dude, that fucking feels good. Holy shit. Wow.
And what about you? What's it? What about you cash?
What's your big win?
Speaker 1 (28:52):
So? I have two bracelets, yeah, but just one one
in July for six fifteen. My biggest score. I got
a fifth in the win the first WPT World Championship
for like one point three something.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Wow, dude, So yeah, a.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Little over one point three and I have a smaller
bracelet online also the second in an online high roller
a bracelet like Chopped the Money heads Up. Maybe I
shouldn't say.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
That it is with Joe McKeon, but you know Joe
mckiann No, he won the twenty fifteen man.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, okay, yeah we we.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
We split were I got second in that one. It
was a lot too.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Yeah yeah, damn dude, we're doing well. Yeah, we'll go
back to the degenerate side of gambling. You know. You
you look at these guys like the phil Ivs, who
would you know, make millions playing poker and then just go,
you know, give it all back at Craps and Bakra
and all that. Right, So he did have.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Those lawsuits with Bakra, I don't know if it was
Monte Carlo and then where he He's definitely a sharp guy.
You just like the game. I think I played a
lot with the summer. I actually play a full day with
them in a fifty.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
K you did.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
Yeah, he did knock me out.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
He's he's there's something about him when I was playing,
just watching him, like, dude, this guy's a shark. This
guy's tough, like all around. You know, he was considered
the best. Yeah, you know, but do you guys play
casino games or no? No, not really good mess around?
(30:31):
We mess around, like mess around, but you know you're
making a living not just as degenerate poker players, but
as articulate, you know, smart people who know how to
you know, understand the game and not crack it but
give yourself an advantage. And you still want to piss
it all away, you.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Know, Yeah, we don't. I mean, like we're like we're
in the Bahamas, like having some drinks, like a couple
hundred bucks ultimate hold them or something like stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Yeah, yeah, I know.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
People that are really sick. Oh yeah, and it's so easy,
like you're just always around it too, so they're just
like it's maybe not the best space for them in general.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
Well, it sounds like you guys have a pretty damn
good head on your shoulders, right, Like is this you're
so young? You know, is this your future? I mean?
Or is this something you want to do and then
move out of? Or you know what I'm saying, especially
you Nikki, Like you're twenty two and you're twenty nine, right,
(31:30):
so I had my first fucking kid at twenty nine.
You know what I'm saying, like, where are you at
with the longevity of poker moving into your thirties and
forties and beyond.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Yeah, I mean, honestly, I'm honestly just trying to take
it like like we like even year by year, I'm
just trying to push it as hard as like end
year by year basically. And then I mean long term,
I'm kind of just trying to get to the you know,
the next level. It's it like, that's just my goal
right now, just be as best I can honestly.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Year by year. So long term, I really don't. I'm
not sure. I mean, poker definitely will be involved like
my whole life.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
I mean, yeah, I'll play the main probably you know,
as long as I can.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
I would say, yeah, because it's fun.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
But yeah, I'm I'm just trying to get to the
you know, like the high roller level basically.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
Yeah, I guess I'm similar to that.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
There's other stuff I'm interested in.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Yeah, you got real estate, you got some stuff going on.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
It's like poker is like a kind of a capped,
like more niche like situation. It's it's you could do well,
but there's definitely, like I think more opportunities in some
other spaces. You know, I love it though, I still
love it.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Oh yeah, what's good about real estate is you're making
that kind of money. It's there's no better place to invest,
you know what I'm saying. Yeah, I mean if you
are sort of making millions of dollars as a poker
play and using some of that dough to buy houses,
to rent houses, to air bab ship, I mean, then
(33:06):
you're building something with that dough, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
Yeah, I'm mainly in commercial right now, but I'm starting to, like,
you know, move around.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Yeah, we'll see.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
I'm always excited to try and get in the new,
let's say, new spaces.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
What about girls? You know, is this even a focus
of yours? Do you even have time?
Speaker 1 (33:35):
I have a long term girlfriend, you do, yeah, about
four years now. Okay, I'm like, we're really serious and
she's very supportive too. She's a nurse. Yeah, Nikki is
still single though. Yeah, I'm not really thinking right now.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
I'm very very you're young.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
You know, I'm going out with my boys like every
you know, a couple of weeks or whatever time.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Yeah, you don't have to worry about that.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
I kind of don't really want a girlfriend to be honest, Yeah,
because it's just like it's just going to distract me
from you know what.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
I'm trying to do.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Good good. Oh.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
I also had something to bring up too about that.
So we're talking about like the family the home games.
They used to have my mom's side, a couple, like
a couple like times over the year we had like
a family home tournament. We were just like drink and
hang out and have fun. My girlfriend, who's never played,
actually won the last one. I had like fifty people
in it. She beat him heads up.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
That's amazing. I have a funny story actually like that
as well. I was in we were in Vegas. My
wife was doing a job at the time. She was
a model back then, but she was doing a job
and there was just like a little tournament. You know,
it's like a two hundred dollars buy in or whatever,
but you know it's like, you know, five tables, six
tables something like that. She has an idea how to
(34:47):
play poker, meaning like knows what beats what, but she
has no fucking clue really about much of anything, and
she ends up just you know, stacking chips. I end
up stacking chips. We end up at the final table
together and she's knocking people out. I knock a couple
(35:13):
of people out. We end up head up and I'm
playing against my she's my girlfriend at the time. A
little no, it was a real. It was just a
I forget what hotel we were are, but this is
a real It was like it was like a forty
to fifty person tournament, was like a four or five
table tournament. Wasn't anything big, you know, but it was
like one of those small midday deals, you know. And uh,
(35:33):
I said, I'm not going to go easy on you,
but you fucking beat me. Yeah, I always have that
s funny, Yeah, one hundred, but I love it, dude.
I still I worked in Albuquerque for two years. I
was doing a TV show out there and they have
a casino and I kind of got back into poker there.
I got into an online game, which it's like these
(35:56):
private online line games, yeah, where you have to be invited,
but it's really.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
Careful with those.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
You really be careful. Why they're not regulated.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Like there's like a lot of like I don't know,
I don't know who's in there, but it depends if
you're like if you're friends with the guy I know, it's.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
It's yeah, they seem cool. I don't. I don't know,
And it's all I don't play a ton of big money.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
But there's a lot of cheating.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
How would they cheat? Like, how does that work? You know,
just you could in those games, I mean that was big,
it was a big game.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
Some of them you probably could, like just it's probably
possible to like have a security breach and get control
of the whole cards, and it's also possible to to
just you could also just run the solvers on it too,
And there's not yea, you know, it's probably not those games.
It wouldn't apply as much because it's you're probably playing
more fun.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
It's like it's super super loosey goosey fun. It's literally
just like see cards turn over. You're like, ah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
It's small.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
It's like who cares, Yeah, cheating for a couple of Yeah, Okay,
well maybe I'll stop. I don't want I still here's
the reason why I stop playing poker. I didn't stop.
But if I won ten grand, I'd be like that's dope, awesome.
If I lost ten grand, I'm gonna fucking drive off
a bridge, you know what I mean, I didn't, and
(37:14):
I realized that. I was like, you know what, I
I don't have the right mind for it. It's a
whole different ballgame, you know when it comes to that stuff.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
It's like we're talking about like Kobe, like you know,
competitiveness and whatever, like post you a little bit. Yeah,
you got to kind of be like detached, Yeah, execution thing,
Like you gotta just live and die with the results.
And it's like you're gonna lose and play good and
you're gonna like they win sometimes and it's like you.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Know, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a total detachment. I think
you're right. I think that's what makes you guys probably successful,
because if you care too much, you know, that's going
to affect the way you play.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
Yeah, you know, it definitely gets to you sometimes. I
mean literally in the main event, I I busted the
main event. I got like I got two out of
on the river, and I literally both a flight home
right after because I was just pissed.
Speaker 1 (38:02):
I was just like I just booked a right after.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
Yeah, he left me.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
Yeah, I mean it definitely gets you sometimes, but you know,
you just got to keep the good lad.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
All right, So you got I told you I heard
some of your bigger wins? What what what are your
bigger what are some of your big losses?
Speaker 3 (38:19):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (38:20):
Do you have one in mind where we're like a fuck, dude,
that was.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
A fifty thousand dollars tournament. I pieced out half of
it probably, so like twenty five thousand. There's probably the
most ever loss in a day.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
Okay, I'm crazy.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
I don't know the tournaments. It's tournaments because you when
you win, you win like seventy times one hundred time
you lose, you just lose one or like two of them.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
So it's and you're selling pieces, is that what you're saying?
Speaker 1 (38:45):
Yeah, the bigger stuff A lot of It's like like
most people playing the super high stakes like sell pieces
because you're supposed to have you know, one hundred two
hundred buyans like for these events, and like, hmm, most
people don't have five million, ten million to play poker. Yeah,
just cash to like play, so you got to piece off.
You know, it was fifty thousand, have five you have
(39:06):
like ten million to play?
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Yeah, it's like you don't have that.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
It's better to like mitigate some risk and yeah, maybe
get a couple percent, you know, juice on the money. Yeah,
a lot of people do.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
Do you guys have pieces of each other?
Speaker 1 (39:18):
I used to, and I was too rich, Like five,
I give him, I give him pieces of the bigger stuff.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Oh really, yeah, but you buy in or do you guys?
Brother brother? Like fuck it, I'll give you ten you
give me ten percent?
Speaker 1 (39:34):
Like, oh yeah, swap that happens, like yeah, actually one
five percent sometimes yeah yeah, yeah, that's good. Yeah, I
mean I firm no matter what.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Yeah, of course your brother's at the end of the day.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
Oh that was actually onety two, So I was into that.
I got destroyed in that tournament. I got knocked out
eighteen times. All money went to him. I didn't have
a piece of.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
Oh my god, that's amazing. And then you took his money,
basically took eighteen buy ins.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
My worst tournament like performance was the one you won.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
That's amazing, dude. Well cool, I appreciate you guys coming on.
This is fun for me, you know us. I still
got the bug a little bit. I got to figure
out how to how to scratch the itch. It's just hard.
I can't go to the casinos anymore. It's just too late.
I was there all night. You know. That would be
(40:30):
fun exactly, That would be fun.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
Yeah, that's the best one.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
It is, it is. Maybe I'll see you guys down
the road. I appreciate you boys. Thanks man, good luck, Okay,
all right, thank you. Poker boys. It's so interesting. They're young,
these young dudes. Now, it's it's not just like the
degenerate whiskey drinking cigarette smoking cigar chomping smoke poker player.
I'm sure there. They're still out there. There's no doubt
about that. But there's a smart you know, that has
(40:59):
to happen. And now, I mean, but they were talking
about these systems and these programs and the software and
the fucking algorithms and the thing and the percentages about
I mean, that is so far over my head. I'm like,
I look at you. I'm like, I think he's bluffing,
and then I lose. Anyway, that was fun. I'm out. Peace,
Hi am Kate Hudson, and my name is Oliver Hudson.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
We wanted to do something that highlighted our relationship and
what it's like to be siblings. We are a sibling
railval No, no, sibling, rail don't do that with your mouth. Revelry.
(00:33):
That's good. Some love riff, it seems and oh those some.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Ah.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Summer's over. Oh gosh, it's a time for reflection. It's
a time for pain. It's a time for nostalgia, and
for me, nostalgia equals pain thinking back on the summer
(01:17):
that I had and reminiscing trying to keep a smile
on my face when really it's a bit of a
frown because I wish I was still summering. But it
was a good summer. Honestly. I try to tell my kids, hey,
think positive. You know, my daughter was going to school
the other day and she's not happy about her class
(01:40):
necessarily you know who's in it, and she loves all
of her friends. But you know, when you get separated
from some of your besties and whatever, and I'm always
giving advice that I need to take myself. So with her,
it's like, look, there is you have no choice in
the matter. Okay, this is the hand you've been dealt.
You can either make you know, you can make lemonade
(02:01):
out of it, or you can just eat the sour lemons.
I don't know what to tell you, like, but being
negative is only gonna make you feel bad, So you
might as well look at the positive parts of these
things or try to, you know, make the best of it.
Ba ba bay, because you don't have another fucking choice.
And she's the only kid who actually listens to me,
because I can see her nodding and taking it in.
(02:24):
But I don't practice what I preach, you know, because
I kind of a class is half empty guy, Not
not really, I don't know. I just get I get upset,
like oh man. Anyway, but summer was amazing. I'm gonna
be positive. Little recap started it off in Greece or
(02:45):
in the south of France. Actually incredible. Then we were
in Greece. We actually got this incredible Airbnb in Greece
in Portarelli. And I think airbnb these are just better
in Europe because I've done Airbnbs across the country. Honestly,
(03:05):
I actually I actually have my own Airbnb. I rent
out my own shit. But this one's in particular. It
was so inexpensive. It was like a huge piece of property.
It was three amazing little guesthouse right on the water.
The host was honestly like amazing. The guy had just
(03:27):
sort of started his Airbnb world, so he was very attentive.
So I started off there and then we did that,
We did Grease was incredible, and then you know, Colorado
can't be Colorado. Then the Cape Cape cod was amazing.
Seeing my in laws, I'm the most unluckiest man alive.
I have the greatest in laws ever. I challenge anyone,
(03:48):
anyone to have better in laws than I do. And
I will have a serious showdown. We'll get Brooks and
together and whatever fucking in laws you want to get
in there. We'll do a death match. Mine will win.
And now we're home, and I'm happy. You know what,
I'm happy. I'm a happy boy. You know. I love
being home. There's always something nice about getting home. You
(04:11):
dread it, and then you get home and you're like,
I'm in my house. Time to start my life again,
Time to get back to work, time for structure to
sort of re enter. And now I'm gonna be on
my boat and trying to catch big ass bliff intun it. Anyway,
there's my recap. But right now, we've got some dudes.
(04:34):
We've got some brothers in the waiting room who can
probably relate to a lot of my poker pain. There's
a good chance they saw probably one of the worst
beats ever put on television. And these boys can play cards.
(04:54):
It's the Phinowal brothers. Bring them on. Okay, Well, first
of all, you already are winning. Got a Kobe poster
literally splitting you guys. You know, I'm a huge, huge
Lakers fan, big time Kobe fan. That was my favorite athlete,
Oh god, without of doubt. I mean I got to
meet him, actually I did. Jimmy Kimmel, I was it
(05:16):
was a guest on Kimmel and Kobe was the other
guest and it were just like just by luck. And
it was the most amazing day. I mean, I got
to meet him and I never met him before, and
he actually I think he passed away, not very you
know far after that. It was devastating day.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Dude.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
I woke up and I was like when people like
it's like like almost like a nine to eleven thing,
or like yeah, or like I woke up and my
buddy texted me and or like Kobe died. And I
was like, wait, what what was going on?
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (05:47):
And I was like I didn't even feel like a
real day.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
No, no, no, no, same thing. My friend Mitch texted
me and I'm like, shut the fuck up, dude. Like
I was. It was like I didn't even believe it,
you know, I thought it was just fucking with me.
It was this bullshit news. And then when I found out,
I mean I was, I was like, I was like devastated.
I was. I still because my algorithm on my Instagram
(06:10):
like will always bring me Kobe shit, you know, and
and and you know, it's scrolling, scrolling and boom something
Kobe comes on and I get all choked up. I'm like, god,
damn it, I gotta get Kobe off my fucking feet
because it makes me sad.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
I don't really get sad. I just don't feel like
it exists, Like I don'teel like it's like real.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I don't know. I know, it's still weird. It's still weird.
First of all, how old are you guys?
Speaker 1 (06:32):
I'm twenty two, okay, now I'm about twenty nine now.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Okay, twenty nine, twenty two. Are are you the only
two siblings? Are there more four brothers? Yeah, and then
you're the only two though there's no more siblings.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Yeah, there's two in the middle. Two more.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Oh, there's two in the middle. Yeah. So your oldest
and youngest.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Yeah, it's oldest and youngest, and.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
The other two boys don't or siblings don't play cards
a little bit.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Our one brother, the second oldest, came to Vegas this
for like two weeks. He was the only one who cashed,
like the Mystery Millions tournament. I don't know if you
know too much about poker, Like I know you played
the main event one year.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
I remember, Yeah, dude, do do do doo? Hold on,
hold on? Before we did you have you googled that?
If you googled the beat that I took. I remember
that hand two thousand and five, but I didn't know
it was you, and that was amazing.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
And I'm like, wait a minute, I remember.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
This, Yeah, dude, So yeah, I started playing poker early
two thousands. And you know my old house, I my
back house, I made into a whole poker room. I
made it Vegas style. I bought a sick table. I mean,
I was obsessed. I played in a bunch of WPT events.
(07:46):
I was at the commerce, I was at the hustler.
I was I mean, I was an obsessive poker player.
I was nutty about it. I read, I read, I
read all. I at Helmley's book, I read Brunston's books,
I read and I read every one's book. And back
back then it was the legends were kind of still playing.
I know they are now, but like IVY and then
(08:06):
even back even before them, and uh, I was just
fucking obsessed. So I I actually satellite my way into
the main event. I was working. I was doing a
movie in Calgary and I had to go back to
(08:27):
start filming in two days. So even if I was
chip leader, okay, at the end of two days, I
would have to leave.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
You couldn't just tell them like, can we just wait like.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
A day, no, because when they're when you're dealing with
a movie schedule, like they're not like, hey, guys, look,
I'm leading a big tournament. Do you think you can
fucking push the movie? Like that's it's not gonna work.
But I satellited in, so I'm like fuck it, I'll
go and I go to the I go to the
tables and there's a plaque saying proceed to the feature
table because it's all a random draw. But you had
Daniel Grandu and Farha. We're just randomly at that table.
(08:59):
So now I'm playing on ESPN and I was like,
holy fuck. And I get there. I got my little
baggie for food, my my girlfriend who's now my wife.
I was like, look, you don't got to wake up.
This is going to be a long ass day. Just
hang out, do your thing, come see me when you want.
And then boom uh national anthem, shuffle up and deal
(09:22):
dealt pocket tens. And that was the fucking end of it.
That was, by the way, it's not random. Oh okay, okay,
So I didn't know. I thought it was like a
random draw. And then they pick up the table that
has the most sort of recognizable players.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
That's that's it. Yeah, but you're going to be on
the future table with that table no matter what.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, for sure. That's that's that's
what I mean. The draws random. The draw had Negran,
you and far together, and they're like, oh dude, it
was crazy. I was in I was in the ten
seat pocket tens against ace ten, and you know, flop
came a sas ten. You know, the only thing that
could have taken me off the hand was turned a queen,
(10:10):
you know, but with Farha when you knew how he
plays a very aggressive player. I probably didn't play the
hand perfectly, but I think at the end of the day,
all my all the money's going in the middle. I'm
not going to put I'm not going to fold, you
know that kind of a hand. So just fucking nuts, dude.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
I do remember. I do. To be honest with you,
I do remember the hand. I just didn't. I didn't, like,
you know, look at some stuff and found out you
played a little of poker, and then I was like,
I remember that hand. I just didn't know that's who
you were.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. And then you know, after that,
after it aired, every casino I went into it was like, dude,
are you pocket tens? That's what they called me. I'm like, yeah,
pocket tens. And then I was at a WPT event
after that and we were on a break and I
saw Sammy and the bathroom and I was like, hey, dude,
(11:02):
and he starts laughing, gives me a hug, He's like bucket.
Then I'm like yeah, and he goes that Queen came.
I was scared. I thought that mate, you know, And
it was cool to sort of see him and talk
to him just a little bit after that. But it
was fucking it was gnarly. But I just loved poker,
you know. I loved, loved, love playing poker. Of course,
(11:23):
now three kids deep, and yeah, I can't play that
much anymore.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
You know, maybe if they got online over there.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Yeah, well that's what I wanted to ask you about.
First of all, Let's go back. You know, when did
you guys start playing poker? How did it become what
it's become for you? I'm assuming it's your living right now.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Yeah. I have a couple other things, okay, in real
estate and some like other like businesses, but my start
basically was poker, just and then that's still my main focus.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Yeah. Was it college? I mean, did that where it's
starting college or even before that.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
It's probably started before that, But I didn't know it
was going to be my full time like thing until
maybe my third year or fourth year. Like I like
dropped out my second year and I kind of had
no idea what I wanted to dom h And then
it kind of just like fell into my lap there.
But it was like nothing like serious until Like I
(12:16):
always tell people, I started like after I was twenty one,
playing professionally, and Nick he's probably been playing since he
was eighteen professionals, right, so it's like a little different.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, And did you realize Okay, wait,
this is what I want to do. I'm actually kind
of good at this. I've established a decent bank roll
now to where this can be a professional of my profession.
You know where when did that transition come for you
guys where it's like this is not just fun and
(12:48):
some extra side cash, but like I can actually make
a living out of doing this.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
I guess it came like at a string together and
it was kind of I guess I let it with
Like I feel like my uncles and my dad they
used to play like a home game like when we
were like little kids. This was before he probably couldn't
even remember anything at that point, but I used to
like run them beers and I like loved like the
idea of gambling and like card games and whatever, and
(13:15):
they would never let me play. So I was like, well,
I want to do this, like they're passing money around
like people. I went in like hundreds of dollars, like
this is fun. And then it's like they let me
play a couple of times and like I just I
loved it. And then like college came and I was
at finance major, like hated it. I went to a
Drexel University in Philadelphia. I just wasn't doing well. I
(13:38):
was never good at school, but I was always like
pretty intelligent. And then I kind of like fell into
my lap. We were playing home games in high school
and like with friends and stuff, I had a knack
for it, and I seen a bunch of these guys
that I did not think were playing that well. And
then I just studied and went with it. Nicky you
know probably, I mean he could talk on his.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Experience, but I mean he paved the road basically, so
when he like already was accomplished, I knew that it
was possible, basically, and you know, the options that I
had on the table. It was either go to school,
which I I didn't really know what I was doing.
I hated school. So it was either go to school
(14:19):
or travel around with my brother around the world and
play poker, which I already loved the game at the time,
so it was like a no brainer for me. Mm hmm,
like just yeah, I mean, and pretty quickly I was
making money, so it ended up working out well.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
I think, like basically I found the formula from scratch,
like how that audi, how to prepare, how to like improve,
and like I had a winning strategy that was really good,
and I already went through all this, so then I
basically like got to like mold him into like all right,
this is how we carry ourselves, this is how we study,
this is how we improve, like, this is how we
schedule online, this is how we you know, travel around
(14:58):
to these events like Budge and just how we think
about the game, like all this stuff. And I kind
of had like a redoal with him. Maybe the mistakes
I made he doesn't have to make and that's great. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Are you guys similar players?
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Yeah, we try to.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Yeah, I mean everyone tries to play you.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Know, like GTL, So everyone's trying to do the same
thing basically right now, I guess different from when you
started it.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Yeah, Like the top players all play very similar. They
play like variations of like one strategy and it's like
there's some like disagreements on like maybe some adjustments. Yeah,
Like the computers have like solved the game, like like
basically there's a right play in almost every spot, and
there's frequencies attached to these. Basically there's these computers they're
called solvers, like these programs, and you could put in
(15:44):
the big barns, like the stacks, like what position opens
into into the big line or wherever, and it'll solve
like every hand and how it's supposed to play, like
the percentage of the times was a check, the percentage
of time's supposed to bet, what size it's supposed to bet,
and then it all like mixes frequencies, so our jobs
like understand like what the computer wants to do, and
then we can like cross it with how we think
(16:05):
this guy's mistake making mistakes based on the computer's telling you,
and then we're adjusting like based upon like that.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
And it's wow. It's interesting because when you're playing live,
obviously there's calculations and there's odds, and you can understand
you know how much to bet, when to bed, how
big the pot size is, you know how much all
of that stuff, and essentially you've taken that but put
it into the computer world where you're still playing odds,
(16:37):
but based on sort of the algorithms of the computer itself.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Ye, like these programs like all that math and is
ingrained into the like the program let's there or the output.
So what it's doing is spitting out like okay, you
have king Queen, this woord comes this. You know, it
wants to say, check thirty percent of the time, bet
fifty percent of the pot twenty percent of the time,
and then that twenty five percent of the pot the
rest of the time, and then it'll solve it for
(17:04):
every possible hand you can have, and then it'll solve
it for like how your opponent's supposed to respond to
each one of these actions?
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Jesus Christ, how do you is? Is there software that
tells you this shit? Is that kind of how it? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (17:18):
And getting better and better each year. Two. So it
used to take like say piosolver was like the original one,
Like I guess now it's eight years ago. Yeah, and
it would take like fifteen twenty minutes to get like
each one of these like individual hands and spots, right,
but you would save them in like a database and
like flip through them, you would never be able to
do all of them. So a lot of it's like
(17:39):
just guess work, but understanding why it's doing these certain
things and then trying to like road in it and
do as many as you can. But now like they
have this new one it' j GTA Wizard and they
have AI and it works almost the same, but it's
like instant, Like it's you don't have to wait for
the computer if it takes a lot of power, you
just to take a lot of like RAM Now it's
like almost instant.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
So is it something that you use to put into
a database and then study you're not using it real
time when you're that would be cheating, That's what I'm saying, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
So basically we're say we just saved there's five hands
we played each night that where we were found to
be difficult. We can the next day wake up and
we'll run those hands and look at them and then
be like, Okay, maybe my assumption on this was wrong,
maybe I was made a mistake here and there, And
then you just try to you know, gain as much
information as you can and then balnce ideas and maybe
(18:30):
it's like a lot of it too is interpreting how
your opponent's going to respond because no one's a computer.
They're all making mistakes in all these areas, right, so
it's also like coming out with really good counter strategies
to their mistakes. But a lot it's all like this
like computer based stuff, and there is like still some
intuition and like there's there's definitely stuff to like being
a naturally good poker player and stuff.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Yeah, yeah, but there's.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Just this has made the game just it's it's such
a higher level now. That's the edges are becoming like
really small at the highest stakes because everyone's still and
using these things.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Right, So it's you know, wow, dude, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
It's getting really complicated.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Here's what could be enlightening to people listening to this
when they think of poker players. You know, i mean
obviously back even when I was playing, and I'm sure
that there's still degenerates today, there's no there's no doubt
about that.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
And there's people that are like in this camp that's
still our degenerates of course, of course, like smarter now
and the more studies.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Yeah, but the game now has become math forward. There's
technical shit dealing with AI now especially in online. You
know what I'm saying, Like there is real studying, So
give me, give me like a day in the life
of you know, because it sounds like you play but
then you analyze as well, so you're not just playing
(19:57):
all all the time.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Yeah, So I mean when we're home, like we're back.
So we were probably on the road some other city
or something like at least once a month or maybe
multiple times a month. So we were in Vegas two
months for the World Series like May at like the
end of July.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Now where are you guys living, By the way, We're
in New Jersey. Okay, got it, but we you know,
we were that was Vegas.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Now September, We'regatta has something that they just came back,
and it's like we're into Florida for the whole month
of November December. We're in Bahamas basically the whole time.
And it used to be Bahamas in the wind. It's
like we're kind of just like when we're on the road,
it's just playing these this live circuit and then home
it's basically you know, wake up in the morning, play golf.
(20:41):
Then maybe I don't golf in the morning.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
But where do you play in New Jersey.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Yeah, I'm a member, like the Ottinger clubs. It's like Ballimore,
Scotland run and like we get some rounds at Lang
City Country Club.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
I'm on the way cool. I'm a scratch golfer. I
was a plus plus two is my best.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
I seen your.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Swing eleven years ago.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Really good.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Left right lefty that's right, yeah, half I play with
his left really. Yeah. There's more of us coming up,
but there's still it's still there's still not a lot
of us, but there's more. So you play golf, you
have your day, you get outside and then it's time
to grind.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Yeah, maybe study a little bit, frushing up and then
online we usually play from seven to like three in
the morning, and that's like five days a week. Okay,
Sundays the big day and Tuesday is probably the second
biggest day because it's all regulated in Jersey. So we
get three sites to play.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Yeah, so how do you play online? Like, how does
that work? Because it's an online poker.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Yeah, so we have we have poker Stars h w
s o P and Borgata. Borgoda is like the the
New Jersey only site and w s o P.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
We have like Michigan is not with us, not with us, and.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
So you're allowed to play online in certain states. Is
that kind of happen?
Speaker 1 (21:57):
It's so weird, Like I don't know if you ever
heard about like the full tilts off.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Yeah, dude, back in the day, I mean back in
the day, it was that's what we do. Everything was
it was deregularly, there's no regulations. We're just fucking playing
full tilt. We're playing all kinds of different sites, you know.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Yeah, So from my understanding, it was they're running in
it's like some Ponzi scheme types thing, and they didn't
have money to pay people out, and like the whole
thing fell apart and the government like really cracked down
on online and then now it's just been like coming
back slowly, but like state by state kind of like
the sports betting, yeah, much lower. They care about sports
betting a lot more though. Yeah yeah, yeah, so I
(22:32):
guess it like works like similarly, I.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Are you playing online with people who you know, meaning
there's a group that you can learn how they play
or is it all still pretty random?
Speaker 1 (22:42):
No? I mean the same people were on every night
almost they are.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
We're trying to take their their money exactly.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
It's all competition constantly, and there's there's still like you know,
there's a lot of weaker players that play a lot too.
So it's you know, we're just trying to get better
every day.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
And what what game is it's just no limit or
do you play other game?
Speaker 1 (23:00):
It's just no limit. We just play in a limit.
There is a lot of in the live realm, like
the World Series and like Live there's a lot of
live like mixed games and stuffy.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Yeah, but you're just strict strictly and hold them. You're
strictly hold them.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
I'm going to try to learn if I win like
another bracelet, because they're like really small fields at the series. Yeah,
start racking them up. You got to play the next game.
So if I I think, if I get another one,
I might really start trying to learn.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
And what are the stakes? Are you playing cash cash game?
Speaker 1 (23:28):
He plays? I play some live if I can get
in like a big one, but online relatively small compared
to live.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
And so are you just playing tournament style?
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Just empty?
Speaker 2 (23:38):
So yeah, tournament got okay? Got it? And what are
some of the entry points like cash wise for some
of these bigger tournaments that you play.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
In person, Like I've played all the way up to
fifty thousand, right right, so, but most my ABI, like
on average, I think I BUYD for like seven thousand
on average. It's like the average tournament.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Buying I play is that online.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Online is like two hundred or something.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Oh so it's just little.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
They're way smaller. It's way smaller, but you get like
you play thousands a year.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Yeah, so it's like a lot different.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Yes, Live the stakes are like way higher, but like
the volumes like way less.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
What do you prefer?
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Probably online it's more consistent. I don't know, it's de
onely more consistent because the volume, like the swings are less.
It's just like you're going to hit the long run.
Like there's no luck when you play like tens of
thousands of games over a couple of years sample. But
like live, if you play like one hundred and fifty
or fifty two hundred tournaments a year, like you just
could have losing years like all the time. It's like
very Online is just very consistent. But on I mean
(24:36):
live is where all the money is. Like if you
start running good or like making some string and some
runs together, just a lot more you know, money on
the table, and there's a lot more glory with like
the bracelets and like the.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
For sure idols and stuff, you know, for sure for sure.
I Mean the other thing is it's probably would you
agree that it's more it's a more of a pure
game live, you know, just because online, like you were
saying though, like you have programs that are feeding you
(25:07):
information that you can learn and then use, rather than
when you're playing live. I mean you are really at
a table of ten people. Like that's it.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
I mean it's still you're still playing like effectively the
same way, you just have access a different information.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Live.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
It's like online you have thousands of hands of these people,
and there's also programs that track how they're playing. It's
called like a hud, so you'll know the percentage of
the time. This guy raises, the percentage of the time.
This guy's got the percentage of time, and you can
like you know, cross reference that with like the theory basedline, right,
and then you can really hammer them and punish them
for where they're they're off. What's that?
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Live, you know you can kind of just sit there
with this, you know, say it's an older gentleman for
five hours, he hasn't played a hand, Like that's more
your information, Like Okay, this guy's probably got it.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Yeah you know where yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
That's kind of the difference.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
How do you enjoyed the camaraderie though, you know, like
being at the social parts is being in the being
in the room, like there's a feeling.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
Yeah, it's a lot of a lot of fun, Like
there's nothing like a final table or like just traveling
like we go to i We're making Paris to stuff
every year like epts like you to Europe, play, just
play a couple of tournaments like Bahamas is December, like
two weeks you go to Vegas, like it's just a
good time.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Yeah, So what are your best finishes live?
Speaker 1 (26:30):
So he yeah for me her first year, but I
have a four hundred and twenty.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
K score in Borgata damn Yeah, which was in January,
so pretty recent.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
He won like one of his first biggest Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Besides that, it was like do you want it?
Speaker 1 (26:48):
You want it? Yeah, I want it?
Speaker 2 (26:49):
And the f first was for twenty yeah good number.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Yeah yeah. At online he's got like a lot of results,
but like the number here smaller.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
Besides that, my next best ashes probably like twenty thousand.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Yeah, So let me ask you a question, Nikki. You're
twenty two years old, you're twenty one at the time,
right right, what was your bank account looking like before
that four hundred thousand got put into it?
Speaker 3 (27:15):
Yeah? It was like, uh, like sixty sixty thousand something
around there.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
So I had a decent roll.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Yeah, but you're like six x in your bank account, Like, yeah,
what does that feel like? I mean, is like, holy fuck, dude.
I mean I.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
Remember I was at the poker table when it hit,
Like I kept looking at my at my bank.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
So like when it hit, I was at the poker table.
I just honestly, I just couldn't stop smiling.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
It was break It was Well, here's the thing too,
when he when he won, we had a big, big
family there and a lot of friends hanging out, like
they're gonna say, and when after we threw a big party,
and then like fifty of us went to the bar
and he was he went he went to bed. He
just fell asleep right after he won. You just didn't
even to be fair, we were like a big party.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Was spent, dude, A little emotionally spent.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
I was I was sick, and I was talking playing
like three or four days straight or whatever. Yeah, so
I would have definitely went out. I kind of regret
not going out, honestly, because I probably could have pushed it.
I wasn't feeling I wasn't.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
That's all right. And and so you were head up,
what was do you remember? What was the hand that
that took took it down?
Speaker 3 (28:21):
It was so he was like he was really short.
He was like five big blondes or something. So okay,
and I had pocket kings. I like limp the I
limped the button. Yeah, and he jammed like king three
off or something.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Yeah, yeah, done, he actually did.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
He turned an open endo.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Actually, oh geez.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
Yeah, so there was a chance from the win.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
But yeah, yeah, dude, that fucking feels good. Holy shit. Wow.
And what about you? What's it? What about you cash?
What's your big win?
Speaker 1 (28:52):
So? I have two bracelets, yeah, but just one one
in July for six fifteen. My biggest score. I got
a fifth in the win the first WPT World Championship
for like one point three something.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Wow, dude, So yeah, a.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Little over one point three and I have a smaller
bracelet online also the second in an online high roller
a bracelet like Chopped the Money heads Up. Maybe I
shouldn't say.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
That it is with Joe McKeon, but you know Joe
mckiann No, he won the twenty fifteen man.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, okay, yeah we we.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
We split were I got second in that one. It
was a lot too.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Yeah yeah, damn dude, we're doing well. Yeah, we'll go
back to the degenerate side of gambling. You know. You
you look at these guys like the phil Ivs, who
would you know, make millions playing poker and then just go,
you know, give it all back at Craps and Bakra
and all that. Right, So he did have.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Those lawsuits with Bakra, I don't know if it was
Monte Carlo and then where he He's definitely a sharp guy.
You just like the game. I think I played a
lot with the summer. I actually play a full day with
them in a fifty.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
K you did.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
Yeah, he did knock me out.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
He's he's there's something about him when I was playing,
just watching him, like, dude, this guy's a shark. This
guy's tough, like all around. You know, he was considered
the best. Yeah, you know, but do you guys play
casino games or no? No, not really good mess around?
(30:31):
We mess around, like mess around, but you know you're
making a living not just as degenerate poker players, but
as articulate, you know, smart people who know how to
you know, understand the game and not crack it but
give yourself an advantage. And you still want to piss
it all away, you.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Know, Yeah, we don't. I mean, like we're like we're
in the Bahamas, like having some drinks, like a couple
hundred bucks ultimate hold them or something like stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Yeah, yeah, I know.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
People that are really sick. Oh yeah, and it's so easy,
like you're just always around it too, so they're just
like it's maybe not the best space for them in general.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
Well, it sounds like you guys have a pretty damn
good head on your shoulders, right, Like is this you're
so young? You know, is this your future? I mean?
Or is this something you want to do and then
move out of? Or you know what I'm saying, especially
you Nikki, Like you're twenty two and you're twenty nine, right,
(31:30):
so I had my first fucking kid at twenty nine.
You know what I'm saying, like, where are you at
with the longevity of poker moving into your thirties and
forties and beyond.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Yeah, I mean, honestly, I'm honestly just trying to take
it like like we like even year by year, I'm
just trying to push it as hard as like end
year by year basically. And then I mean long term,
I'm kind of just trying to get to the you know,
the next level. It's it like, that's just my goal
right now, just be as best I can honestly.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Year by year. So long term, I really don't. I'm
not sure. I mean, poker definitely will be involved like
my whole life.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
I mean, yeah, I'll play the main probably you know,
as long as I can.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
I would say, yeah, because it's fun.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
But yeah, I'm I'm just trying to get to the
you know, like the high roller level basically.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
Yeah, I guess I'm similar to that.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
There's other stuff I'm interested in.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Yeah, you got real estate, you got some stuff going on.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
It's like poker is like a kind of a capped,
like more niche like situation. It's it's you could do well,
but there's definitely, like I think more opportunities in some
other spaces. You know, I love it though, I still
love it.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Oh yeah, what's good about real estate is you're making
that kind of money. It's there's no better place to invest,
you know what I'm saying. Yeah, I mean if you
are sort of making millions of dollars as a poker
play and using some of that dough to buy houses,
to rent houses, to air bab ship, I mean, then
(33:06):
you're building something with that dough, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
Yeah, I'm mainly in commercial right now, but I'm starting to, like,
you know, move around.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Yeah, we'll see.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
I'm always excited to try and get in the new,
let's say, new spaces.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
What about girls? You know, is this even a focus
of yours? Do you even have time?
Speaker 1 (33:35):
I have a long term girlfriend, you do, yeah, about
four years now. Okay, I'm like, we're really serious and
she's very supportive too. She's a nurse. Yeah, Nikki is
still single though. Yeah, I'm not really thinking right now.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
I'm very very you're young.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
You know, I'm going out with my boys like every
you know, a couple of weeks or whatever time.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Yeah, you don't have to worry about that.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
I kind of don't really want a girlfriend to be honest, Yeah,
because it's just like it's just going to distract me
from you know what.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
I'm trying to do.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Good good. Oh.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
I also had something to bring up too about that.
So we're talking about like the family the home games.
They used to have my mom's side, a couple, like
a couple like times over the year we had like
a family home tournament. We were just like drink and
hang out and have fun. My girlfriend, who's never played,
actually won the last one. I had like fifty people
in it. She beat him heads up.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
That's amazing. I have a funny story actually like that
as well. I was in we were in Vegas. My
wife was doing a job at the time. She was
a model back then, but she was doing a job
and there was just like a little tournament. You know,
it's like a two hundred dollars buy in or whatever,
but you know it's like, you know, five tables, six
tables something like that. She has an idea how to
(34:47):
play poker, meaning like knows what beats what, but she
has no fucking clue really about much of anything, and
she ends up just you know, stacking chips. I end
up stacking chips. We end up at the final table
together and she's knocking people out. I knock a couple
(35:13):
of people out. We end up head up and I'm
playing against my she's my girlfriend at the time. A
little no, it was a real. It was just a
I forget what hotel we were are, but this is
a real It was like it was like a forty
to fifty person tournament, was like a four or five
table tournament. Wasn't anything big, you know, but it was
like one of those small midday deals, you know. And uh,
(35:33):
I said, I'm not going to go easy on you,
but you fucking beat me. Yeah, I always have that
s funny, Yeah, one hundred, but I love it, dude.
I still I worked in Albuquerque for two years. I
was doing a TV show out there and they have
a casino and I kind of got back into poker there.
I got into an online game, which it's like these
(35:56):
private online line games, yeah, where you have to be invited,
but it's really.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
Careful with those.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
You really be careful. Why they're not regulated.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Like there's like a lot of like I don't know,
I don't know who's in there, but it depends if
you're like if you're friends with the guy I know, it's.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
It's yeah, they seem cool. I don't. I don't know,
And it's all I don't play a ton of big money.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
But there's a lot of cheating.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
How would they cheat? Like, how does that work? You know,
just you could in those games, I mean that was big,
it was a big game.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
Some of them you probably could, like just it's probably
possible to like have a security breach and get control
of the whole cards, and it's also possible to to
just you could also just run the solvers on it too,
And there's not yea, you know, it's probably not those games.
It wouldn't apply as much because it's you're probably playing
more fun.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
It's like it's super super loosey goosey fun. It's literally
just like see cards turn over. You're like, ah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
It's small.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
It's like who cares, Yeah, cheating for a couple of Yeah, Okay,
well maybe I'll stop. I don't want I still here's
the reason why I stop playing poker. I didn't stop.
But if I won ten grand, I'd be like that's dope, awesome.
If I lost ten grand, I'm gonna fucking drive off
a bridge, you know what I mean, I didn't, and
(37:14):
I realized that. I was like, you know what, I
I don't have the right mind for it. It's a
whole different ballgame, you know when it comes to that stuff.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
It's like we're talking about like Kobe, like you know,
competitiveness and whatever, like post you a little bit. Yeah,
you got to kind of be like detached, Yeah, execution thing,
Like you gotta just live and die with the results.
And it's like you're gonna lose and play good and
you're gonna like they win sometimes and it's like you.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Know, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a total detachment. I think
you're right. I think that's what makes you guys probably successful,
because if you care too much, you know, that's going
to affect the way you play.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
Yeah, you know, it definitely gets to you sometimes. I
mean literally in the main event, I I busted the
main event. I got like I got two out of
on the river, and I literally both a flight home
right after because I was just pissed.
Speaker 1 (38:02):
I was just like I just booked a right after.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
Yeah, he left me.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
Yeah, I mean it definitely gets you sometimes, but you know,
you just got to keep the good lad.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
All right, So you got I told you I heard
some of your bigger wins? What what what are your
bigger what are some of your big losses?
Speaker 3 (38:19):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (38:20):
Do you have one in mind where we're like a fuck, dude,
that was.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
A fifty thousand dollars tournament. I pieced out half of
it probably, so like twenty five thousand. There's probably the
most ever loss in a day.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
Okay, I'm crazy.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
I don't know the tournaments. It's tournaments because you when
you win, you win like seventy times one hundred time
you lose, you just lose one or like two of them.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
So it's and you're selling pieces, is that what you're saying?
Speaker 1 (38:45):
Yeah, the bigger stuff A lot of It's like like
most people playing the super high stakes like sell pieces
because you're supposed to have you know, one hundred two
hundred buyans like for these events, and like, hmm, most
people don't have five million, ten million to play poker. Yeah,
just cash to like play, so you got to piece off.
You know, it was fifty thousand, have five you have
(39:06):
like ten million to play?
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Yeah, it's like you don't have that.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
It's better to like mitigate some risk and yeah, maybe
get a couple percent, you know, juice on the money. Yeah,
a lot of people do.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
Do you guys have pieces of each other?
Speaker 1 (39:18):
I used to, and I was too rich, Like five,
I give him, I give him pieces of the bigger stuff.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Oh really, yeah, but you buy in or do you guys?
Brother brother? Like fuck it, I'll give you ten you
give me ten percent?
Speaker 1 (39:34):
Like, oh yeah, swap that happens, like yeah, actually one
five percent sometimes yeah yeah, yeah, that's good. Yeah, I
mean I firm no matter what.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Yeah, of course your brother's at the end of the day.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
Oh that was actually onety two, So I was into that.
I got destroyed in that tournament. I got knocked out
eighteen times. All money went to him. I didn't have
a piece of.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
Oh my god, that's amazing. And then you took his money,
basically took eighteen buy ins.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
My worst tournament like performance was the one you won.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
That's amazing, dude. Well cool, I appreciate you guys coming on.
This is fun for me, you know us. I still
got the bug a little bit. I got to figure
out how to how to scratch the itch. It's just hard.
I can't go to the casinos anymore. It's just too late.
I was there all night. You know. That would be
(40:30):
fun exactly, That would be fun.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
Yeah, that's the best one.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
It is, it is. Maybe I'll see you guys down
the road. I appreciate you boys. Thanks man, good luck, Okay,
all right, thank you. Poker boys. It's so interesting. They're young,
these young dudes. Now, it's it's not just like the
degenerate whiskey drinking cigarette smoking cigar chomping smoke poker player.
I'm sure there. They're still out there. There's no doubt
about that. But there's a smart you know, that has
(40:59):
to happen. And now, I mean, but they were talking
about these systems and these programs and the software and
the fucking algorithms and the thing and the percentages about
I mean, that is so far over my head. I'm like,
I look at you. I'm like, I think he's bluffing,
and then I lose. Anyway, that was fun. I'm out. Peace,
Hosts And Creators
Oliver Hudson
Kate Hudson
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