The Poker Grid

Jennifer welcomes high stakes cash game player and  Poker for Good  and  Murals for Good  founder May Siu to the GRID to discuss one of the most coveted- and detested hands: pocket jacks. May was playing a big pot in a New York City cash game against one of her regular foes, “General Bang Bang.” Holding jacks in a 5-10-25 (straddle) game, she called Bang Bang’s under the gun open, and went four wa...

Jennifer Shahade welcomes Doug Polk to the GRID. Doug covers a massive six figure pot from his high stakes heads up challenge against Daniel Negreanu, where Doug ended up winning well over a million dollars. In the crucial hand, Daniel opened the button to 1K at 200/400 and Doug called with queen eight offsuit. The flop was   J 9 5  and Doug checked to Daniel, who bet 800 into 2k. Doug called to s...

21-year-old Landon Tice enters the GRID to talk about a hand with three-four offsuit on the stone bubble of a $1600 event. Landon breaks down the action street by street, as he opened the button with 34o on the button. When the small blind called, they saw a monochrome flop of King-Three-Deuce. Landon barelled on the flop and the offsuit queen turn. An offsuit seven came on the river, after which...

Jennifer welcomes WSOP bracelet winner Alex Epstein aka Thallo Poker to the poker GRID to discuss a thrilling hand with nine-six offsuit. This hand comes from the 2019 10K WSOP short deck event, which Alex won for more than $296,000. It was the first World Series of Poker Event using a “short deck”, or a 36 card poker deck without the deuces, threes, fours and fives. In this format, equities run c...

Two-time World Poker Tour Champion Jonathan Little enters the GRID to talk about a hand from the 2015 World Series of Poker. Jonathan was at the final table of a 5K No Limit Hold Em event. In the big blind he looked down at six-eight of hearts, with blinds of 20/40K and 3.2 million chips. Six handed, he defended against an under the gun raise to go heads-up to a flop of jack-seven four rainbow. Th...

In a special bonus GRID, Jennifer Shahade shares an episode of her chess podcast,  Ladies Knight , featuring author, psychology PHD and poker champion Maria Konnikova. In researching Konnikova, Jennifer realized that all of her books have natural overlap with games, starting with Konnikova’s premiere book,  Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes . Mastermind shows how anyone can use Sherloc...

Faraz Jaka, a professional poker player with over 11 million dollars in winnings, enters the GRID with a crazy hand with queen-three offsuit. Faraz throws us back to the 2010 North American Poker Tour in Foxwoods, where he played a hand that  PokerStars included in their “Greatest” collection. Matt Glantz opened and Jaka three-bet from the button with queen-three offsuit, a t...

World Poker Hall of Famer Linda Johnson enters the GRID to talk about a hand she played against Antonio Esfandiari at a World Poker Tour event a decade ago in Los Angeles. Linda defended six-deuce of diamonds in the big blind and flopped bottom pair on ten-four-deuce with two hearts and one diamond. As Antonio barelled again and again, a plan came together on the river. Linda won a WSOP bracelet i...

Poker host and life coach Lee Davy steps into the GRID to talk about a critical hand in his career with ten-eight suited, in a 1K tournament in Blackpool. Lee was working on the railway at the time, but was also in tens of thousands of dollars of gambling debt for horse racing and sportsbetting. He bought the 1K buy-in on his already overstretched credit card. With 60K+ up top, Lee realized he cou...

Professional poker player and lawyer Kelly Minkin enters the GRID with a hand she played with King-Eight Offsuit at the 2018 World Series of Poker Main Event. It was her second deep run in the Main, having finished 29 th  in 2015.  She fielded a big stack for most of this event, where she earned the nickname “Machine Gun Kelly” for a particularly sharp calldown. She also encountered...

Author, coach and poker pro Michael Acevedo enters the GRID to talk about a hand that changed his life. The hand, in this case, was played by high roller beast Stevie Chidwick. Michael was a last minute invite to a study group that went over a high stakes sit and go hand history of Stevie’s. In the critical hand, Stevie called with 82o in the big blind against a button open. He faced a bet on a fl...

Twitch streamer, SCOOP Champion and PokerStars Ambassador Fintan “EasyWithAces” Hand enters the GRID to talk about two pivotal hands with ace-ten offsuit. In a rare live poker appearance, he reached the final table at the 2017 Irish Open as chip leader. But as his stack dwindled, he looked down at ace-ten off in the Big Blind. Moments later, as his family arrived to rail his big event, he found hi...

Professional poker player and yoga instructor Mandy Baker throws us all the way back to 2005, where she played her first 10K at the World Poker Tour in Foxwoods. Mandy thought she detected an excellent squeeze spot before even looking down at her cards: Jack-Five Offsuit. Mandy explained to Jen how this dramatic hand had ripple effects in the tournament and even in the years ahead. Mandy also give...

Investor, poker player, movie producer and new author Bill Perkins enters the GRID to discuss a high stakes hand he played against Antonio Esfandiari in 2018, on Poker After Dark. Antonio, a close friend of Perkins opened after an UTG limp, and Bill called, holding Ace-Eight in position. The limper folded but the blinds came along to see a 10  8   6 two club flop in a four way flop. Antonio c-bet...

Three-time WSOP Champion Joe McKeehen steps into the GRID to talk about a hand from the World Poker Tour final table at Rolling Thunder in 2018. The 2015 World Series of Poker Champion rivered the nuts with queen-ten offsuit, in a riveting hand that captured the imagination of the poker world.  The flop was Ace of hearts, five of hearts and a seven of spades. Joe explains why he dec...

This week we welcome Soheb Porbandarwala to the GRID. The 30-year-old poker pro has been successful in both live and online poker, winning millions of dollars and five WSOP circuit rings. He came on the GRID to talk about a quite legendary hand with Queen-deuce offsuit, that took place at a WSOP circuit event in Atlantic City in 2018.  After getting to the bottom of how Soheb may have played...

Poker professional K. L Cleeton aka “highhands89” steps into the GRID to talk about a hand from the 2017 World Series of Poker with jack-seven suited. Cleeton got into the $10,000 buyin event via a video contest hosted by Daniel Negreanu. The crucial hand, which took place on day three of the WSOP saw Cleeton defending a raise from the big blind versus an open from top professional Harrison Gimbel...

Professional streamer and former poker professional Stephen “Jorbs” Flavall steps into the GRID to discuss a hand he played with four-deuce offsuit over a decade ago. It was a homegame that he thought would be casual, but he walked into a competitive vibe. When he opened with one of the trashiest hands in poker and proceeded to make bottom pair, the desire to enjoy a fun evening with friends drama...

World Series of Poker and EPT Champion Liv Boeree joins Jennifer Shahade on  thepokergrid.com  to discuss a hand history with ace-seven offsuit on the bubble of the UK Millions in 2020. Liv, who has been focusing on her  YouTube channel  and speaking career recently, was playing after a long hiatus. She found herself with top pair and a weak kicker on an increasingly scary boar...

David K Lappin comes on  thepokergrid.com  to discuss a hand with pocket fives, that was set in Vegas in the 1980s at Binion’s Horseshoe Casino.  David wrote the hand for a script in his life as a screen-writer long before he became a poker professional and podcast host. The hand itself puts listeners in the classic amateur’s quandary: you have ace-king but mis...

For the GRID’s first anniversary episode, Chris Moneymaker tells a hand he played soon after his WSOP Main Event victory, against movie star Ben Affleck. The 25/50 No Limit Hold Em Cash game was hosted in 2003 at the Palms Casino, back when the hotel had a poker room. Ben was opening, calling or raising every single hand, and started the action in this one too, opening for 200. He got four callers...

ESPN Anchor Kara Scott steps into the GRID to talk about a dramatic three-bet hand from the 2009 Irish Open, where she held seven-six offsuit. Kara ended up winning over $400,000 at the event a life-changing amount of money which relieved her of her debts and took her in a new direction. Kara, now an ambassador for 888, also talks about how struggles with memory caused her to rethink her approach...

Professional Poker Player and coach Matt Hunt found himself heads-up for a World Series of Poker bracelet in 2017, in one of the earliest “big blind” ante events in the WSOP. He enters the Poker GRID with a dramatic hand with ten-six offsuit, featuring critical decisions on all streets. Matt limps the button with Tc6s with just over 20 big blinds. The big blind, Spanish professional Mario Prats Ga...

Two-time WSOP Champion Bill Chen enters the GRID to talk about a hand he played against the legendary Phil Ivey back at the 2010 World Series of Poker. They were heads-up in a 3K horse event, and the game was Limit Hold Em. The hand started when Bill raised his button, and Phil Ivey defended. Ivey then led on a flop of Ace Ten Deuce with two hearts. The hand only got more interesting on the offsui...

Terrence Chan steps into the GRID, not the octagon, to discuss a funny hand he played with three-deuce offsuit against Erick Lindgren, way back at the 2006 World Series of Poker. Eric posted his blind when he was actually under the gun, leading to a leveling war that escalated quickly. Chan speaks to how much poker has changed since then, and how lucky he was to be surrounded by brilliant people d...