The Poker Grid

Jennifer brings the radiant Julie Anna Cornelius, known as “LuckyJadeJules”, to the GRID for a long-anticipated appearance. A force of nature on and off the felt, Jules brings a hand from the  RunGood  Stop in Council Bluffs, Iowa, where she found herself heads-up for a Main Event title. After battling back from a deficit heads-up, Jules found herself about even in chips with her opponent Abbas Pa...

Urgent care physician and poker player  Cindy Spier  enters the GRID to discuss one of her impressive tournament victories. At the Senior’s Event at a WSOP circuit event in Pompano, Florida, Dr. Spier held Queen Seven Offsuit, once known as the “computer hand.” Three-handed for the ring, she was in the big blind facing a raise from the chip-leader. She three-bet her with queen seven offsuit and co...

Jennifer Shahade welcomes author, poker player, science writer and commentator Alex O’Brien to the GRID. The two break down a hand from Jennifer’s final table at the Women’s Summer Festival, where she held Ten-Eight Offsuit in the big blind. The table had been nine handed for over an hour, and when the button opened, Jennifer made the ambitious call. When the flop came J9A rainbow, she check calle...

Poker player and Innocence Center lawyer Claudia Salinas enters the GRID to talk about her very first livestreamed hand. Claudia’s friend Veronica Brill called her in as a last-minute replacement for a Ladies Night game at the Commerce casino. While engaged in client calls right up to showtime, Claudia arrived on set a little nervous to play with pros like Caitlin Comeskey, Christina “Baby Shark”...

PokerStars Ambassador Nick Walsh enters the GRID with pocket nines, a dramatic hand that marked the beginning of passion for the Spin & Go format, a three handed turbo poker tournament with randomized prize pools. Nick was in a rush to grab dinner with his then girlfriend, when he decided to play  just one more  spin. And all of a sudden, he was playing for $150,000. After discussing the pivot...

Jennifer brings WPT Champion, Triton analyst and renowned coach Kevin Rabichow to the GRID, to discuss a dramatic hand against Artur Martirosyan from this year’s 25K Heads-up WSOP event.  A heads-up specialist with over 7 Million Dollars in combined live and online earnings, Kevin reveals his top exploits and what he’d love to see more of in future heads-up tournaments. He also explains why m...

Jennifer welcomes poet, host, chef, poker author and once mass-multitabler Katie Dozier to the GRID. Dozier brings a hand against Chris Moneymaker from a VIP PokerStars Sit N Go, from Katie’s days of strategizing how to squeak the most value out of her Supernova status. At the time, Katie held court on up to 50 tables at once as hotjenny314. In the hand against Moneymaker, Katie held only Fi...

Jennifer welcomes the one and only Jon “Apestyles” Van Fleet to the GRID to discuss a recent hand he played with King-Eight Offsuit. A man who stood the test of time in the poker world, Van Fleet is a well known coach, author, streamer and last but not least, a longtime crusher online and live with over 23 million dollars in poker winnings. The hand in question arose on a busy Sunday grind—Jon was...

PokerStars ambassador and Ontario crusher Arlie Shaban enters the GRID to discuss a hand from his first major online victory, the Hot 22. Holding 34 offsuit, he hit two pair on the flop? and was yearning for all that money to go in. Would his growing twitch crowd get one of Arlie’s epic celebrations? After the hand, Jen and Arlie discuss how to treat poker as a business, Big Brother inspired...

Jennifer welcomes high performance coach and poker champion Jason Su to the GRID. He is the author of the acclaimed book,  Poker with Presence  and most recently,  The Joy of Poker: Win More, Be Happy. Jason talks about a hand in the early orbits of a $2.5k off strip side event. He defended the big blind with queen eight of hearts against a tough opponent in early position. They saw...

Eddy Goldman, founder of Chess Ninja London, poker pro and musician enters the GRID with seven-deuce suited. Eddy has had a very storied life, from a jail cell in Singapore, to streamed games at the Hippodrome. Eddy talks to us about a hand he played in April 2025 at the Irish Open cash games.  With a bonus bounty at stake, Eddy was thrilled to turn trip deuces…only to get some bad news when...

Jennifer welcomes poker dealer and writer Jeffrey San Gabriel on the GRID to talk about dealing a famous hand at the 2024 World Series of Poker Main Event. The fateful four-bet hand featured Will Berry (in the hijack) and Adrian Mateos (on the button). Jeffrey dealt a flop of  Q 4 2 and Berry bet 425,000 into a pot of 1.36 Million chips. Mateos called. The turn was the 10 of spades and Berry...

Today we welcome to the GRID  poker pro and a  Global Poker Award  winner Xuan Liu. Xuan is a powerhouse on the felt, earning over 2.4 Million dollars in live tournament earnings, including final tables at EPT San Remo and the PCA. Now she is a regular in high stakes cash games and streams all over the globe, including this hand, played at the WPT World Championship at the Wynn. The Squid game was...

Five-time author and three-time WSOP bracelet winner Matt Matros returns to the GRID to discuss a hand from his latest book, Twenty four NLHE Tournament Hands from 2024: A Year of Nitty Folds and Daring Bluffs . The hand was played in Philadelphia, where both Jennifer and Matt head to next week for  the PokerStars Philadelphia Open.    Matt Matros, 70 big blinds deep with his oppone...

Alex “Schwibbs” Schwint is a PokerStars USA crusher. He’s won titles in nearly every PA series there is to win from PASCOOP to PACOOP to Winter Series. With a WSOP bracelet and two circuit rings, the wins keep coming–he event won a seat to  the 2025 Irish Open  on PokerStars PA. We welcome him to the GRID to discuss two hands from a PokerStarsPA Scoop Warm-Up that he won for 21K. Coincidenta...

High stakes tournament crusher Sam Greenwood enters the GRID to discuss a deep hand with Ace-Deuce offsuit from a recent event in Triton Jeju. The hand kicks off Sam’s new substack, where he takes us on a tour of the many mishaps that even elite performers make:  https://samgreenwoodpoker.substack.com/ As he puts it: “I’ve played millions of hands of poker and cashed for millions of dollars...

Dan “DrDadPoker” Schill enters the GRID to talk about a cash game hand from the show No Gamble, No Future, where he got tangled up in a big pot with 17-time WSOP Champion Phil Hellmuth. Dan and Jennifer go on to talk about what he’s learned about efficient study and poker strategy in the past year, and what he still wants to work on.  They also touch on hot streaks-see   Jennifer’s...

Judy Whitlow enters the GRID to talk to Jennifer about playing her first poker tournament at the age of 75, and why it’s never too late to learn something new or follow your dreams. That tournament was where Judy and Jennifer met, and they’ve been friends ever since. Judy has also become a regular on the tour. She’s played everywhere from European Poker tour stops in Prague and Barcelona to...

Abby “Abbypoker” Merk enters the GRID to talk about a hand that has been haunting her for two years. Nearing the bubble at the 2023 WSOP Main Event, she faced off high stakes tournament pro Stephen Chidwick in a ballooning pot that would put all her chips at risk. As Abby retells the stress of the moment, and the logic that led to her decision, Jennifer surprises Abby with Stevie’s take on the han...

Welcome back to the GRID podcast! Our re-launch kicks off with Hendon mob founder and PokerStars Pro Barny Boatman. Barny relates a pivotal hand in his historic victory at the 2024 European Poker Tour stop in Paris. Barny Boatman by Danny Maxwell, who won the 2024 Global Poker Award for this photo With 19 players remaining, Barny was put to the ultimate test by the chip-leader. He held jack-nine s...

The GRID podcast returns to our regular programming by welcoming a very special guest: International Memory Grandmaster, Yanjaa Wintersoul. Yanjaa, the first woman to become a Memory World Champion, talks about how memory tricks  apply to poker, chess and trivia. The conversation is anchored by Yanjaa’s first poker tournament, the 2022 World Series of Poker Ladies Event, where she found...

As we approach the PokerStars Players Championship, we welcome our Platinum Poker Hand winner, Matt Glassman. Matt kicks off the episode with a riveting reading of his award winning essay,  “Jack-Three Offsuit and the Monster Ballads Poker Game.” Then Jen and Matt move on to discuss what makes a great home game, how to teach game theory to children, and which politicians would be best at poker. Th...

Welcome to a very special episode of the GRID, where the winner of the Platinum Poker Hand competition is unveiled. Over 70 entrants from all over the United States and Canada, competed for the delicious prize, a 30K package to play in the PokerStars Players Championships, set for the Bahamas in January 2023. After narrowing over 70 entrants to six fantastic finalists, a dream team of judges helpe...

In a special episode of the GRID, Jennifer invites high-roller regular Victoria Livschitz, for her very first podcast appearance. Victoria has had an extraordinarily successful career as a tech entrepreneur, and aptly for this pod, her biggest success was an early cloud computer leader called the GRID dynamics. She started touring the high roller circuit in the Fall 2021, and she’s had a stunning...

We interrupt our regular programming for a HUGE announcement. The GRID is giving away a Platinum Pass worth $30,000!! One lucky, and talented, listener from the US or Canada will be going to the Bahamas in January, to play the PokerStars Players Championships.  To win, tell us your #PlatinumPokerHand, a memorable, funny or entertaining hand from live, online or even casual play. You can make...