This year we have focused on very broad issues in poker, both in poker theory and in its statistics, but today we are going to get very specific. Scoop! is a series of detailed books focused on one game in two variants: PLO8 and Big O. Its author, Greg Vail, makes a living playing and teaching these games alone. In Hold’em, there are often cards on…

The straddle is a third blind added to the traditional two blind structure of hold’em and other related games. It’s not always a neutral proposition. The extra blind can help stimulate action or inhibit it, depending on the players and stack sizes. More controversially, the straddle often gets put into play with a certain amount of social pressure.…

One of the common twists of fate in poker is the change in personal relationships on account of strategy and results. At one point now nearly forgotten, the entrance of Alvin Lau into the Red Chip Poker forum caused a whole chain of events to unfold. One end result was the rise of Alvin’s first poker teaching and programming, Overnight Monster, as …

The Poker Zoo continues its latest revival with an interview on a key poker subject: the quantification of winning and losing in games of chance. Going to play a session of poker is gambling, guest Mason Malmuth asserts unambiguously, but the question becomes more interesting and complex over the horizon of time. In fact, the answer now can change …

Poker pro and instructor Marc Goone has created a bit of a stir in saying he can beat the low stakes, specifically his local 5/5 game, for at least $100 an hour. Interestingly, it’s been done and is being done – the shock is not actually the number but how few do it or challenge themselves to get there. On today’s Poker Zoo I get the details on the…

Legendary poker theorist and writer David Sklansky joins us on the Zoo. We discuss Twoplustwo Publishing’s new book, Small Stakes Hold’em: Help Them Give You Their Money, an already controversial strategy work by David and his business partner Mason Malmuth. Freshly published in January 2024, the new book focuses on adaptive play in the softest sma…

OOP Oberleutnant Greg Porter returns to the Zoo pod for an update on his successful career as poker pro. I can’t believe it’s been six years! Time has really flown since the early days of our little group and teaching community. Greg is an indispensable and senior member of said little community. He runs the OOP training games, providing high-level…

It’s been a long time since I played in Washington, but the scene continues to evolve, however strangely. See, it’s all about the weird rules and regulations. Podcast guest Mannes N. gives us an update on the state of the games. The most important details are the rules for the tribal casinos and the rules for non-tribals, which are particularly har…

The poker world loves tournaments in the 2020’s. Online, tournament culture is vital and MTT-heavy while cash game action stalls. GG has challenged Pokerstars with huge tournaments series. U.S.-facing ACR continues to thrive. As for the live scene, everyone is amazed at the action, with WSOP and WPT now vying almost non-stop for your dollars; did I…

Vegas is home to more than just gaming, it is home to the history of those games and to those who created that history. Richie Brodie, lifelong “poker bum,” has played with all the greats, from Doyle and his “southern” crew, to the Mayfair’s Erik Seidel, to California’s rising 1990’s NL scene with Bobby Hoff and Barry Greenstein (along with an appa…

Picture late 2019. Britain was finally Brexiting, Trump was somehow still presidenting, and general protests for a more liberal, freer society were happening all over the world- remember Hong Kong? Remember life before mask and vaccine discourse? That’s when I last talked with Gerard S., aspiring pro and studied player who had worked with a number …

Swirling beneath the never explicit politics of the poker scheme is the treatment of so-called “recreational” player. A lot of condescending, hypocritical stuff is said every day, on every platform, by every talking head about this source of all poker income. Occasionally, however, that tension is resolved when one decides to stop donating and star…

Few are able to get themselves banned from social media sites like Abe Limon, guru of west coast live poker and advantage gambling. Our last pod with Abe was a little rough on the ears, so we make up for it this time with good conversation ranging from his online arguments, why the WSOP is not meaningful for poker, his take on abortion, and even to…

Welcome back to the Poker Zoo, now a little long in the tooth but looking to finish strong. We never really left, of course, but I did need a personal break to focus on writing; Dean, my co-host and producer, was suffering a significant personal tragedy concurrently. So, a pause in the action. We persist now, and I am hoping to do about twenty more…

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! For our final episode of 2022, Dean and I talk shop and how it’s going for him. We discuss poker swings, education, and the unpleasant, hard reason why some players succeed while others keep running in place. The conversation branches off into the plan, or lack of, for the Poker Zoo. Oops, letting the outsiders k…

Yes, the Poker Zoo returns amid the poker crisis, but not the one you think. Previous guest Fernando is back, troubled by developments on the casino floor caused by the lack of top-notch dealers. That doesn’t keep me, having restrained myself from much commenting during the most heated days, from getting his thoughts on the Hustler “cheating” scand…

The poker vlogging movement is only ten years old but has probably done more for keeping poker in the public eye than any pro celebrity of the era: the vloggers matter. It all mostly started with Tim “The Trooper” and few other experimenters and click revenue hopefuls (including the unfortunate Mark Ari). Then, the number rapidly expanded into the …

This week Dr. Robert Samuels returns to the Zoo to talk about the latest round of poker cheating accusations and scandals. Robert recently polished up an old solution – can the online game operators work together to fight cheats? Can there be a governing body to adjudicate poker? While I cynically don’t find this sort of organization feasible, Robe…

We stay in the live streets this week and talk hands with Ralph B., a low-stakes cash game reg I know through Red Chip Poker. As for many players, Covid shook up Ralph’s poker life, and in his case, decided it was time to turn a break-even passetemps into a winning habit. Today, we find out how the new approach is doing and get into some strategy. …

Dean is unleashed this week and talks with a familiar face, east coast tournament grinder, limit player, and general smart-ass Yaser Al-Keliddar. If you’re on the tournament joyride, you know Yaser or should get to know him – he’s a great table presence. In today’s pod, Al-Keliddar recounts his rough introduction to the game involving the Trump Taj…

Vagabond vet DGAF called him “Tom Brady Jr.” but in reality, the story is more interesting than just always getting there at the right time. Las Vegas live pro Nate Serisky takes us through his year – well, not of living dangerously exactly, as he’s on stake and decent with money management – but of truly being a poker player and making it happen i…

Thomas Pinnock of Zenith Poker returns to the Zoo to review his most challenging year in poker. In addition to releasing a controversial new set of exploitative ranges and taking on a six-max challenge, Thomas kicked up a series of related kerfuffles with a video mocking many preflop ranges. Trouble followed on multiple fronts, and I get some of th…

Today we go behind the scenes and talk to Shaun Yaple, General Manager of the Hustler Casino in Gardena, California. I find out what it takes to run a card room and where does poker fits in. We discuss the unusual ecosystem of L.A. Poker, including some advice for all struggling card rooms and poker rooms. Shaun also tells us about the origin of th…

On the cusp of a new year, new ventures. One is returning guest Michael Lukich’s two-pronged effort to improve your game through better solver and data study, Solver School. It’s still in creation, but Michael has burned the ships: we find out that he has quit his day job and is committed to poker and poker consultation. The question I ask him is, …

It’s our holiday podcast. When we last checked in with TBR member Luka Vitasovic, he was settling into a long “coaching for profits” contract with Nick Howard’s Poker Detox program. Today, in a continuation of our CFP series, we find out how that’s gone. Is Luka crushing or mushing? Here’s the rest of our Coaching for Profits series. PZ47 with Alvi…

It’s time to reach across the country and check in with Poker Zoo co-host Dean Martin, who lives and plays on the other side of the garbage heap. How did Dean (and Mrs. Dean) get through the ‘rona and what is he up to now? More from Dean and Persuadeo on learning poker. Unfortunately, we had to cancel, since the recording was made, the December 16t…

It’s back to what promises to be a bumpy podcast grind with Zoo favorite Jason Burge, aka JamBasket Poker, one of Michigan’s big online cash winners. We hit as many topics as possible with some drive-by commentary. Burge is already kind enough to offer some valuable analysis and recap on his obscure JamBasket Youtube channel; pretty good, player-ob…

Poker, crypto, and the Non-Fungible Token craze are all well-met bedfellows: exciting, profitable, and a little grimey. Overnight Monster and Bluff Barbarian creator Alvin Lau took a flyer on a new NFT project this year, Hungry Ghosts, and this is his story. Listen to him on today’s Zoo describe many of the truths of NFT projects and the interestin…

It’s the end of an era at Twoplustwo, but the conversation, especially on controversial topics, doesn’t stop. Robert Samuels has been a major contributor to the gem of 2+2 media, its monthly magazine, and joins us today on the Zoo for poker psychology talk. Samuels is a double doctorate and professor at UC Santa Barbara who goes beyond rudimentary …

A special episode as the two co-hosts talk together for the first time in a while. Dean starts by getting all the details on the deep stack cash game I started at the Sahara Las Vegas in January. Dean brings up one of the most important questions that can be asked in the poker training field: why is it that so many players get so much help but see …

If you play in the OOP deepstack training game, or more abstractly, in any online game, you’ve played a hand with Travis Moss. An increasingly reformed tight aggressive, Travis is a student of the game, with a lot of training sites and study behind him. On reflection, Travis seems like a good example of a taking up poker successfully in middle age.…

The question of what makes for a successful casino poker room has been on my mind because it has to be: I’ve been running the unusual Sahara deep-stack game and trying to reseed low stakes PLO as well. Hence this series of podcasts dedicated to questions about the industry including Steven Pique, Mason Malmuth, and Fernando Ortiz, each of whom repr…

Twoplustwo publisher and prolific author Mason Malmuth joins the Zoo to discuss a disagreement on luck and skill and how it influences the games, but it quickly turns into a broader conversation about what makes casino poker rooms go. That’s in part thanks to Mason’s announcement of his new book, a work in progress tentatively titled Cardrooms: Eve…

Today we get the perspective of the people who design and run the casino poker show, thanks to guest Steven Pique. Steven has climbed the poker industry ladder in classic fashion, starting with dealing on the WSOP circuit, moving to the Aria, and now running the Sahara Poker Room. We go over the details a poker room manager cares about, including h…

Continuing our recent tour of contemporary poker coaches, today the Zoo welcomes Uri Peleg, formerly of Run It Once and now founder and head coach at Guerrilla Poker. Joined by online poker strategy innovator Grindcore, Guerrilla offers a very experienced and compelling take on the GTO/Exploitation paradigm that we’re always working with in contemp…

Episode nine guest FAO returns to give us the word on the live poker market. After being a Vegasite for most of post-Black Friday, he’s resettled in the suddenly popular state of Texas, where everything is growing – including the poker. Fernando describes his search for the way out of LV and the lure of the Texas games inflamed by the poker vloggin…

Instagram chip pornographer Fausto Valdez returns to the Zoo; has he been following the rules? In any case, Fausto’s been splashing around L.A. long enough to get into the private games and see the real action, plus play some poker. He gives us the lowdown on his run to the high stakes, including a sweet hand where he makes the nuts on the turn ver…

Mysterious poker training philanthropist? Imperturbable doctor who RNGs your diagnosis? Legendary Zynga shark? For our first podcast of the new year, I’m pleased to welcome Thomas Pinnock, the enigma who has created one of the most comprehensive poker learning communities on the web. Zenith Poker features every aspect of serious study, including a …

The year-ending edition of the Zoo. Suitably, I talk with The Back Room standby Jason Burge, author of the JamBasket series of videos. We go over his year in poker, and hit some highlights of the greater poker scene as well. (Apparently I already forgot about Phil Galfond: hey, but what have you done for me lately?) Our piece de resistance for this…

Today on the Zoo I interview Dr. Brian Space, scientist and 2+2 poker writer. Dr. Space came to my attention after Matt Berkey tweeted out the article “GTO, the Value of Information, and the Nature of the Solution to No-limit Hold ‘em,” which supported Matt’s long-held contention that “GTO” poker is not nearly fully explored even in the age of solv…

Professional and coach Alvin Lau of Overnight Monster returns to tackle big subjects in poker. We start with an update on Alvin’s successful move to much bigger games. With that fun news behind us, we advance the discussion Porter and I had on the somewhat exaggerated worries about Real Time Assistance; discuss the noted Brian Space article and the…

I turn to none other than our co-host and production magic man Dean Martin to get the scoop on the Covid pandemic’s effect on the home game/private game scene. Poker has always been in a grey area legally, but with new wrinkles come new opportunities. Dean takes us through all of it, down to competing food offerings. We also get into some live low-…

Today’s guest is Martin Harris, author of Poker & Pop Culture: Telling the Story of America’s Favorite Card Game. Martin is a top-tier poker writer, responsible for possibly the most informative and researched poker blog ever, a decade of poker journalism, two novels, and as of 2019, what is likely the most complete history of American poker and it…

Scientific Poker Strategy creator Greg Porter, who has been grinding hard throughout the Covid lockdown, returns to the Zoo today. It’s a packed episode as we not only go over playing on Ignition, Bros, and the OOP training game, I get back to some strategy with two hand reviews. Porter reports on successfully getting a small band of colluders remo…

Today I speak with mental game proselytizer, new author, Poker Detox advisor, and suspiciously even-keeled guest Jason Su on the pod. While Daniel and Doug swordfight for your clicks, Jason has made a more useful splash in poker 2020 with his book, blog, and appearances all over poker training media. I grill him on the necessity of emotional contro…

The Zoo returns with TBR member “BFSkinner”, a grinder on WSOP.com and in the Las Vegas live games. While I was focused on hearing about the state of poker in gambling central, we also ended up covering Skinner’s poker path from Moneymaker to the Covid-19 boom online he’s enjoyed. We also get back to talking through some poker hands – the strat seg…

This week on the Zoo Jerry Monaco, once the popular Imperator on the Red Chip Poker forum, emerges from radio silence. Back in the day on RCP when not only their founders posted but we were joined by Matt Berkey, Christian Soto, and other names in poker, Jerry gave us some of our most thoughtful threads. On today’s pod, we go all over the map from …

The Zoo continues to talk to poker coaches, with this week’s guest being Doug Hull of the popular Red Chip Poker low-stakes training site. Doug was one of four original founders, which also include James “Splitsuit” Sweeney, Solve 4 Why’s Christian Soto, and of course the “noted poker authority” himself, Ed Miller. Doug tells us about his unusually…

Alvin Lau returns to the Zoo to talk poker industry and to continue our series covering the coaching for profits scene. We go over both coaching successes and failures, and investigate their causes. Yes, Alvin gets in some direct thoughts about other training sites, but his attitude has clearly changed as he settles into a now established poker coa…

A remarkable guest on today’s Zoo – Andrew Seidman (aka Baluga Whale for the true old schoolers), author of Easy Game. One of poker’s finest texts, TBR members are especially familiar with the book, and really, most poker players should be. Part strategy document, part coaching journal, it can be read in a very light way as a review or for a few ne…