Chasing Poker Greatness

Today’s guest is the host of the recpoker podcast Steve Fredlund. More than anything wants to help people live their most fulfilling lives. For him, this has meant leaving the corporate world after 25 years to pursue speaking, coaching, and consulting while allowing time to play poker and further develop the RecPoker podcast. The RecPoker podcast has nearly 170 episodes and gained acclaim from man...

My guest today is Alexander “Assassinato” Fitzergald who has cashed for over $4 million in online and live tournaments, is the author of 2 poker books (Exploitative Play in Live Poker and The Myth of Poker Talent), and has almost certainly done more private coaching lessons than anyone else on the planet. Alex has accomplished all of this despite a self-professed “Lack of natural poker talent”. Ho...

I am joined with Nick Howard to discuss as of 2/18/20 the current results of the "Galfond Challenge" (-$900k). We discuss all things Galfond Challenge with our main focus being on mindset. What will Phil do moving forward? Are the early results of the Galfond challenge more likely variance or a giant miscalculation? Taking out all other considerations, what do we think Phil's next move should be i...

Six years ago professional poker players Grant Denison and Jonathan Levy uploaded their first videos onto YouTube as the “Hand of the Week” guys. Little did they know “Hand of the Week” had been trademarked by a former “Chasing Poker Greatness” legend of poker who wasn’t exactly a big fan of their brutally honest, pull-no-punches analysis. They quickly decided to change the name of their show and...

Today’s guest is the only 4-time WPT champion on the planet, the one and only Darren Elias. Darren has over $7.5 million in career live cashes to go along with a pretty, pretty, pretty good $3.8 million in lifetime online career winnings … all despite being a low-volume player. His career highlights include: - The aforementioned FOUR WPT titles, including: the WPT Bobby Baldwin Classic, 2017 WPT F...

Today’s guest is an absolute legend of the online game, Jon “apestyles” Van Fleet. Jon is currently #4 in lifetime online poker MTT tournament winnings with a cool $15.8 million … with a $5 million+ of that coming from a ridiculous 2 month venture playing $25k MTT’s on GGPoker last November and December (Which you are moments away from hearing all about). And not only has Jon been crushing tournam...

My guest today is the always incredible Kristy Arnett. Kristy has been in the poker industry for the past 15 years, starting off working as a reporter for Card Player magazine and then PokerNews. Then, in 2014, she decided to take the leap and began to play cards professionally. For a lot of folks, this could have ended in absolute disaster … but Kristy is not a human being you want to bet against...

Ryan has been a POKER BATTLER since he was a mere 18 year old in his hometown of Calgary, Alberta Canada. Always willing to mix it up, Ryan is the rare breed of poker player who is willing to sit down and play any variation of poker under the sun. For the first handful of years in his poker career, Ryan was a full-time live pro who never really caught the online bug. That all changed practically o...

Today I am going to be speaking with one of poker’s superstars. Anyone with even a passing interest in poker during the last 20 years will certainly know who he is. My guest today is the one and only “poker brat” himself, Mr Phil Helmuth. Phil’s list of accomplishments and accolades in Poker is so long that it’s difficult to put it all together without missing something. To name just some of the t...

Today my guest is the one and only Aleeyah Jadavji. Aleeyah is a WSOP writer, live reporter, poker player, winner of the PokerStars $30k Platinum Pass, and all-around badass. Before we hop into Aleeyah and I’s conversation, I want to be upfront in that this was the most nervous I have ever been before any interview I have ever done. In these CPG intros I talk a lot about career winnings in the mil...

Today I’m going to be speaking with Team PartyPoker online Pro and MTT specialist the DramaticDegen himself, Travis Darroch. Travis is yet another shining example of “making it” in the modern poker world through hard work and a genuine love for the game. He grew up with a love for film and aspirations of making it in the entertainment business but, ultimately, that ended up not working out. The en...

Today I’m going to be speaking with renowned high-stakes online cash game crusher and coach, Nick Howard. Nick has been one of the prominent coaches in the poker world for going on 10 years now. He was once one of the most sought after coaches at Run It Once and has since moved on to form his own private coaching and staking company, Poker Detox. After experiencing extreme suffering and considerin...

Today I have the opportunity to speak with a true poker pioneer and insider. Having worked for about 15 years within the top levels of one of the largest poker sites in the world, you are about to enjoy a bounty of amazing stories about the good ole days of PokerStars. My guest today is author, professional cardplayer, and former PokerStars cardroom manager and head of communications, Lee Jones. L...

My guest today is, indisputably, one of the greatest players to ever sit down at a poker table. He came onto the scene like a hurricane and swept away anyone and everyone in his path to being the number one ranked poker player in the world And then, equally as abruptly, decided to call it a day and retire. All before the age of 26. Today I am joined by Fedor Holz. Fedor, originally from Germany, h...

My guest today has had a tremendous influence on the game of poker both online and off through his perspectives on game strategy, coaching techniques, mental health, and more. My conversation today is with pro poker player, coach, and author, Tommy Angelo. Tommy has been playing poker professionally since the mid 80’s, preferring to play almost exclusively in live cash games. Having already accrue...

Today’s guest is Canadian online tournament specialist and prolific Twitch streamer (And Big Brother Canada participant), Arlie Shaban. For Arlie, poker and streaming are inseparable. He’s made a name for himself not just because of his poker ability, but also because of his relentless pursuit to be one of the biggest and best poker streamers on Twitch. Without a doubt he is one of the hardest wor...

My conversation today is with tournament wizard and WSOP bracelet winner Ryan LaPlante. Ryan is GTO expert who battles in the live and online streets of no limit hold ‘em and PLO. On the WSOP circuit alone, he’s recorded 69 in-the-money finishes and collected winnings worth more than $1.2 million. His most recent cash was at the Poker Masters tournament where he took first place and the first priz...

Matt is the Executive Tour Director for the World Poker Tour (WPT) and holds the record for officiating over the most episodes of televised poker, with more than 400 under his belt. He has overseen some of the biggest tournaments that poker has to offer, including the World Series Of Poker from 2002 to 2004, and too many WPTs to count. He also currently serves as tournament director for several we...

Today I’m going to be speaking with GPA Poker Journalist of the Year, interviewer, deep thinker, storyteller, and all-around amazing human being, Sarah Herring. Sarah has been writing for PokerNews since 2011 and is one of the most visible editor/writers to appear in the publication. She has interviewed pretty much every single elite poker player on the planet, has a ridiculously long list of publ...

At only 28 years old, Matt Vaughan has been playing poker for more than 10 years. He started off like many players, at the microstakes online and as he moved up stakes he realized he could support himself playing poker and quit his 9 to 5 job at a medical software company. Not long after, he created his vlog on YouTube and, close to 15 thousand subscribers later, the rest is history. Starting off...

Today I’m going to be speaking with someone who just might be the happiest and most optimistic guest I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with on the show so far, Mr. Sky Matsuhashi. For many of you, Sky probably needs no introduction. Although he doesn’t classify himself as a professional poker player, Sky has been involved with the game in one way or another for about the last 16 years as a player,...

In this episode, I’m going to be speaking with one of the hardest working human beings to ever step into the world of poker, Jennifer Shahade. Jennifer has a list of credits, accomplishments, and accolades that most people could only dream of achieving and she doesn’t appear to be anywhere close to stopping anytime soon. Before poker, she first showed her impressive talent for strategic games in t...

Barry has written for both online and print magazines as well as having had a hand in writing and publishing the most successful poker book ever written, The Mental Game of Poker (Which, coincidentally, is the most often suggested reading material by my “Chasing Poker Greatness” guests). In addition to “The Mental Game of Poker”, Barry has also co-authored The Mental Game Of Poker 2 with Jared Ten...

My guest today is mental game expert and hypnotherapist Elliot Roe. Elliot is the master of helping folks: - Identify and extinguish their fears on the green felt - Clear and focus their minds - Remove their own mental roadblocks - And achieve their goals … regardless of how audacious they may be. Elliot has worked one on one with more than 200 individual poker players including: Future Chasing Po...

As well as being a successful comedian, my guest today is known as one of the most popular and entertaining poker commentators to ever pick up a mic. Joe Stapleton, known to most as “Stapes”, has been an active poker commentator for over a decade. Gaining immediate acceptance in the poker industry, Joe received a reader’s choice award from Bluff magazine during his very first year on the job. Sinc...