Episodes
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PZ106: Reverend Alex Preaches Poker Theory
I have mentioned on many occasions the biggest mistake of contemporary poker training: the confusion of data with theory. So I was interested when online expert Alex ‘Reverend Bayes’ Pinheiro announced the sale of a poker theory course. If words mean anything, this could be an answer for many.…
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PZ105: Better Ranting with Dan Arfin
There are endless characters in poker, but the “post-literate” world only has so many journalists and bloggers recording and transforming them into stories. The ubiquitous vlogger, focused on selling his image, and photographer, focused on selling the industry’s image, can’t do it for legal and...
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PZ104: Michael Lukich Reboots
Dean and I return with data scientist, writer, solver explicator and now author Michael Lukich. It’s his second time on the pod, and this time he kicks off a new round of Poker Zoo interviews. The day-old news is that Solver School is dead, but Solver School lives on, in this case, in the data...
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PZ103: Persistence, Real and Fake, with Nate Serisky
T.S. Eliot famously stated that “there is no method but intelligence” when asked about his craft. Poker is like this, too, so when a savvy player doesn’t make it work, the postmortem is always interesting. Nate Serisky, the “new pro” DGAF dubbed “Tom Brady Jr.” in one of his session reviews,...
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PZ102: Jason Su Wants to Unmisreg You
Jason Su, mental game and performance coach for an increasing number of poker players, returns to the Zoo. While poker is a game (not “just” a game), there is something a touch more serious in this visit. Why is this? Perhaps because the money involved in poker is increasingly scarce and so every...
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PZ101: Sara O’Connor Does Things
It’s early in the back nine for the Poker Zoo podcast, so it’s time to focus on what we want to accomplish. I have a fitting guest today in Sara O’Connor, a mid-Atlantic player and writer who has gathered some attention through her book, A New Queen’s Guide to Poker, and through some social media...
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PZ100: Poker as Social Good, with ChipXtractor
For our milestone episode, I talk with old friend Steve “ChipXtractor” Catterson. I met Steve through the defunct Red Chip Poker forum, and we have been more or less in touch since. Steve and I go over some stories, but it seems to me that the present in this case is more interesting than the…
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PZ99: Jambasket FAQs, GPIs, MTTs, & LOLs
As we roll into 2025 it’s well worth checking in with Zoo member Jason Burge, aka Jambasket. He’s a tough online winner in the active Michigan online games but is also a hidden superhero on Twitter (I’m not calling it X, c’mon), where he trolls the hell out of poker’s puffed-up personalities and...
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PZ98: Behind the Facade of Poker Education
The five things you need to do to win in 2025. The roadmap to poker success in 2024. Three tips for crushing poker in 2023. They do it all day, every month, every year, but what if we turn them on their head and listen carefully: You’re not winning 20 bbs/hr at your live game because you didn’t...
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PZ97: Relax, Greg Porter is Not a Poker Pro
We are happy to close our best year of interviews with Poker Zoo stalwart Greg Porter. We not only cover his swingy year in the games but address the many interesting things that happened in 2024 poker culture. First, though, remind me what they were again? One thing that does actually matter to…
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PZ96: Cloud Yells Back at Norman Chad
Merry Christmas from the Poker Zoo! To celebrate, we bring on (depending on your point of view) gadfly or pest Norman Chad. Mr. Chad is indisputably one of the true co-pilots of poker commentary and the boom itself. There are many myths that surround the poker boom, such as it being triggered by...
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PZ95: Greg Vail, Split Pot Expert
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...
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PZ94: Brent Jenkins is That Guy
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…
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PZ93: Alvin Behind the Scenes
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...
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PZ92: Malmuth on Gambling
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...
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PZ91: The Marc Goone Challenge
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...
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PZ90: Sklansky Goes Bumhunting
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...
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PZ 89: Porter Returns & 2023 Poker Review
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....
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PZ 88: Washington State Poker with Mannes N
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...
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PZ 87: Enrico Camosci’s Tournament Focus
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...
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PZ 86: Richie Brodie
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…
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PZ 85: Gerard Moves On
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...
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PZ 84: SDJen to Vegas Grinder
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…
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PZ 83: Limon’s Back, For Now
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...
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PZ 82: Split Decision with Mathew “Clayvision” Ossi
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...
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PZ 81: Family Business
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...
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PZ 80: Fernando Talks to the Manager
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...
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PZ 79: Fast Times with Slow Poker
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...
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Poker Zoo 78: Scandal Therapy with Dr. Samuels
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…
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Poker Zoo 77: Tight Ralph Raises His Game
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…
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PZ 76: Yaser Al-Keliddar Beats Captive Audience
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...
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Poker Zoo 75: That New Pro Life, with Nate Serisky
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...
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Poker Zoo 74: Thomas Against the Simps
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....
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Poker Zoo 73: Hustler Shaun
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...
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Poker Zoo 72: Michael Lukich’s Solver School
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…
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PZ 71: More Coaching, More Profits, with Luka V
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…
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PZ 70: Dean Escapes Death, Gambling Ensues
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...
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Poker Zoo 69: A Lotta Problems With You People, featuring JamBasket
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...
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PZ 68: Tokens, Tools, and Fools, with Alvin Lau
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...
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Poker Zoo 67: Bad Beat Therapy
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...
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Poker Zoo 66: The Sahara Game, Dean’s Game, the Learning Game
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...
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Poker Zoo 65: Travis Gets the Grease
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...
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Poker Zoo 64: Greg Raymer on the Cardrooms
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,...
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Poker Zoo 63: Mason Malmuth on Live Card Rooms
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…
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Poker Zoo 62: Poker Room Manager Steven Pique
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...
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The Poker Zoo 61: Uri Peleg’s Guerrilla Warfare
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…
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The Poker Zoo 60: Fernando in Texas
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...
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The Poker Zoo 59: Fausto’s Third Eye
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…
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The Poker Zoo 58: Pinnock’s Zenith
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...
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The Poker Zoo 57: Mind Blown
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...