Table 1 Podcast

Come play with us in Las Vegas at Table 1!
https://table1.vegas/pod

—

Paul Gunness once held $650,000 in two bags of cash.

Later, he was texting friends for $500 to eat.

He’d already learned how fast a bankroll can disappear. A $600 tournament at the Venetian turned into a $70,000 win. Paul quit his job, jumped into $10/$20 cash at the Wynn, and was broke three months later.

Back to work. Back to trying to scrape together a bankroll.

Then his dad offered him a deal: quit the job and play one full summer of WSOP tournaments on his money. If Paul didn’t finish in profit, he’d go to law school.

For the first three weeks, he couldn’t cash a tournament.

Then came the $1,500 Millionaire Maker.

More than 10,000 entries. Third place. About $665,000.

Alex Foxen was feeding him advice on breaks. Paul was celebrating with his rail. And he shared a moment with his dad that he says he’ll tell his kids about someday.

The bankroll was back. Keeping it was another story.

High-stakes cash exposed the holes in his game. Eventually, Paul logged 18 straight losing months. He went broke, stepped away, and leaned on friends when he couldn’t cover the basics.

Nick Howard kept backing him and wouldn’t let him quit.

In this episode of The Table 1 Podcast, Paul “Win It All Paul” Gunness joins Art Parmann and Justin Young to talk through the full ride:

♠️ Chasing a golf career, earning a college scholarship and finally escaping the pressure to make every shot matter
♥️ His dad’s old Vegas stories, selling shoes out of a car at the racetrack, and the mom Paul calls a saint
♦️ Alex Foxen’s final-table advice—and why the Millionaire Maker’s unusual payouts changed the ace-three decision
♣️ Jumping from tournaments into high-stakes cash, calling too many rivers and finding close friends at Table 1

We also get into:

• The college girlfriend who asked him to choose her or poker
• Golf with Justin Young and Sean Winter, and getting lunch invites from Jungleman
• The PG Boys rap days and Paul’s plans to put his poker life on camera

A game in Vegas with a visiting Louisiana crew helped him rebuild. Now he’s pouring himself into Risk It All TV, with a plan to show the swings, the friendships and the days his friends with normal jobs can barely believe.

Eventually, he wants other creators to have a place on the channel, too.

This is a story about needing help long after everyone saw you win.

👇 Drop a comment:

After 18 losing months, what would make you keep playing—and what would make you walk away?

—

Show Notes

00:00 — Intro + Paul’s Golf Years
09:59 — A Gambler’s Son + Old Vegas
15:42 — His Dad’s Comeback + His Mom’s Strength
23:17 — College Poker + Early Scores
29:45 — Moving to Vegas + Working a Day Job
33:38 — Justin Young + Finding the Right People
41:42 — $70K Gone + the Law School Deal
44:00 — The Millionaire Maker Run + Alex Foxen’s Advice
49:40 — Two Bags of Cash + the Final-Hand Debate
53:49 — Taking a Shot at High-Stakes Cash
57:26 — Nick Howard + 18 Losing Months
1:04:16 — Rebuilding the Bankroll
1:06:41 — Win It All Paul + Risk It All TV

—

Paul Gunness’s Links:

Instagram:
https://instagram.com/winitallpaul

—

T1 Links

Play with us in Vegas:
https://table1.vegas/pod

Card Player Magazine:
https://table1.vegas/cardplayer

Follow us:

X - https://x.com/table1vegas
IG - https://instagram.com/table1vegas

Alex Livingston takes full credit for “Old Man Coffee.”

The newspaper. The cup of coffee. The guy waiting all morning for a hand.

Alex’s own gambling habits were a little less restrained.

A $100 beer-pong game turned into a $40,000 debt. His entire poker bankroll was about $17,000. He negotiated it down to $20,000 and paid it off over time.

Still an expensive evening with some plastic cups.

Alex joins Art Parmann and Justin Young to take us from a Canadian chess kid to the WSOP Main Event final table—with a few detours.

A New York trading firm offered him a job with three conditions: finish college, get better grades, and quit poker.

He did none of them.

Then he slept through his flight home from Amsterdam, stayed for three months, and never went back to finish his degree.

By the 2019 Main Event, he’d already made one deep run, rebuilt his bankroll more than once, and climbed out of $125,000 in staking makeup. With 35 players left, he had nine big blinds.

He finished third for $4 million.

One friend had a free 1% piece as a wedding gift. That turned into $40,000.

A considerably better use of forty grand.

We get into the queens fold he’d still make today and the blackjack tables between him and the parking garage. There’s also a $400K upswing, a house purchase, a $600K downswing, and a house sale.

Now there’s PokerGO commentary, teaching mixed games, an upcoming wedding, and trying to play “small” on the golf course with Daniel Negreanu.

Definitions vary.

👇 What poker player type needs its own nickname? Give us your best one in the comments.

SHOW NOTES

00:00 Meet Alex Livingston and “Old Man Coffee”
04:28 Growing Up in Nova Scotia
09:09 Chess, Competition, and a Provincial Grudge
13:48 Almost Expelled for Playing Poker
16:31 Tufts, Online Poker, and Bootleg Lacoste
22:24 Dropping Out and Learning to Win
26:50 A Day-Trading Job with Three Conditions
30:02 Missing a Flight and Staying in Amsterdam
34:23 The $40,000 Beer Pong Debt
39:42 Giving Poker Winnings Back at Blackjack
43:01 Cash Games, Online Poker, and Black Friday
47:28 Finishing 13th in the 2013 Main Event
53:04 Backing and $125,000 in Makeup
58:57 Nine Big Blinds and 35 Players Left
1:01:00 The Queens Fold He’d Make Again
1:04:28 Dario’s All-In Tell and a $4 Million Finish
1:06:23 The $40,000 Wedding Gift
1:09:20 Life After the Main Event and the Pandemic
1:11:50 A House, a $600K Downswing, and Another Big Score
1:14:39 PokerGO Commentary and Missing the Action
1:18:47 Teaching Mixed Games
1:20:25 Getting Married and What Comes Next
1:21:43 Golf Bets with Daniel Negreanu

ALEX’S LINKS

X: https://x.com/rumnchess
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rumnchess/

Alex’s mixed-games course:
https://pokercoaching.com/rumnchess/

Mixed Minds with Alex Livingston and Chris Vitch:
https://www.mixedmindspoker.com

TABLE 1 LINKS

Play with us in Vegas:
https://table1.vegas

Enter the Mako bag giveaway:
Tell us why you need one. The funnier the better.
https://table1.vegas/mako

Phenom Poker — use code TABLE1:
https://play.phenompoker.com/register?r=Table1

Justin’s live cash game course:
https://pokercoaching.com/table1

Mako travel bags — code TABLE1 gets you 10% off:
https://safetravelsbag.com

Follow Table 1:
X: https://x.com/table1vegas
Instagram: https://instagram.com/table1vegas

#AlexLivingston #Poker #Table1Podcast

Jen Harman woke up from a kidney transplant. Her husband told her Andy Beal was back in town.

“Are we in?”

Ten days earlier, she’d been playing the billionaire while in kidney failure. She says she won and lost $6 million in 20 minutes. Now she was recovering in a hospital bed—with a piece of the next game.

Jen joins Art Parmann and Justin Young to take us inside the Corporation: the group of poker legends who pooled their money to play Andy Beal. The stakes kept climbing. The bankroll ran out. Doyle Brunson made a phone call, and $2 million showed up at Bellagio.

And somehow, that’s only part of her story.

Before the biggest games in Vegas, there was a fake ID in Reno, cocktail waitressing, and acting classes in LA. Then she left poker for love, bought a coal truck, and ended up so broke she couldn’t replace a windshield.

Going back to poker worked out considerably better.

We get into beating Sam Grizzle twice, her long friendship with Daniel Negreanu, and winning a WSOP bracelet the first time she played no-limit 2–7. There’s also the Chip Reese prank that sent her flying home from Italy, the rise and collapse of Full Tilt, and what changed when she became a mom.

Now she’s writing a memoir—and figuring out how much of a life spent keeping a strong front she’s ready to put on the page.

👇 Jen needs a title for her book. What would you call it? Put your best suggestion in the comments.

SHOW NOTES

00:00 “Are We In?”
00:28 Meet Jen Harman
01:32 Growing Up Competitive in Reno
15:41 Losing Her Mom and Facing Kidney Failure
23:23 A Fake ID and Poker as an Escape
33:26 Moving to LA, Acting Classes, and the Bicycle Club
42:10 Beating Sam Grizzle Twice
48:23 Love, a Coal Truck, and Starting Over in Vegas
57:20 Meeting Daniel Negreanu
1:05:00 Tournament Lessons and Her First WSOP Bracelet
1:15:10 Andy Beal and the Corporation
1:20:24 “We’re Broke”—Doyle Makes a Phone Call
1:29:34 A Kidney Transplant and a Piece of the Game
1:34:38 Chip Reese’s Prank and a $130,000 Win
1:36:02 Full Tilt: The Boom and the Collapse
1:43:32 Family, Her Twin Boys, and Life Away From the Table
1:48:40 The Poker Hall of Fame
1:52:00 Homeschooling During COVID
1:56:33 Tournament Comebacks and What She Plays Now
2:00:29 Writing the Memoir

JEN’S LINKS

X: https://x.com/RealJenHarman
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realjenharman

TABLE 1 LINKS

Play with us in Vegas:
https://table1.vegas

Phenom Poker:
https://play.phenompoker.com/register?r=Table1

Justin’s live cash game course:
https://pokercoaching.com/table1

Mako travel bags:
https://safetravelsbag.com

Follow Table 1:
X: https://x.com/table1vegas
Instagram: https://instagram.com/table1vegas

#JenHarman #Poker #Table1Podcast

Limon's boss caught him playing online poker at work.

He told him to choose: the job or the cards.

Then Limon showed him how much he'd been winning.

The boss changed his mind. Now Limon could play in his office—as long as he taught him how.

Unfortunately, the boss turned out to be a world-class tilt monkey. The keyboards didn't stand a chance.

Abe “Limon” joins Art Parmann and Justin Young for the story of a kid from Oregon who hustled baseball cards at Monopoly, discovered card counting through Mensa, and eventually decided he wanted a cut of the poker business—not just the pots.

He was making the calls. Filling the seats. Buying the drinks. Getting PLO games off the ground.

The casino was collecting the rake.

So he asked for half. They offered 40%. He says he would've happily taken 20%.

That deal leads us into the business behind the games: hosting, casino politics, ownership at Live at the Bike, and why getting pushed out didn't mean the checks stopped coming.

And after all of it, Limon says he made millions, kept the money, and walked away when the job stopped being fun.

His explanation: “I'm too rich for this.”

In this episode:

♠️ Becoming the house: Limon explains the table-stakes catch with an example of a $50,000 royal flush and a banker with only $10,000 in front of him.

♥️ The 40% rake deal—and what happened when the casino owner noticed how much the PLO host was getting paid.

♦️ Limon's side of the Live at the Bike split: Ryan Feldman, Doug Polk, a change in the business model, and getting paid for another year before the buyout.

♣️ The Main Event bet that lets you pick 100 top players—and why Limon says he's never lost it.

We also get into:

• Talking his way into university without submitting an application first.
• A 100% rakeback account at Ultimate Bet, being cheated, and the refund he says never came.
• Why he blames bigger stakes and nonstop bomb pots for driving his regulars away.
• His WPT call-in show, where the people he talks about can call to argue back.
• Why he misses the old gambling scene—and thinks modern poker feels like a cubicle job.

👇 Drop a comment:

Has poker gotten better—or have we just gotten better at making it boring?

Follow the show for more stories from the people who've lived it. Preferably before Limon gets us banned.

Show Notes

00:27 — Meet Limon + “Country Club Ready”
02:50 — Where the Name Limon Came From
06:12 — Oregon Roots + Hustling Baseball Cards
11:27 — Talking His Way Into University
15:29 — Mensa, Card Counting + Getting Paid to Solve Puzzles
17:05 — Being Cheap Without Being Miserable
20:47 — Bookmaking, Credit + Keeping Customers in Action
26:46 — Getting Paid When Gamblers Owe You Money
30:01 — Card Counting Bans + A Career in Finance
33:50 — Becoming the House + The Royal Flush Catch
41:46 — Playing Poker at Work + Teaching the Boss
46:02 — Ultimate Bet, 100% Rakeback + The Missing Refund
49:08 — Getting Crushed in PLO + Wanting a Cut of the Rake
53:12 — Negotiating the 40% Rake Deal
59:27 — Live at the Bike + Hosts Losing in Their Own Games
1:05:34 — Early Poker Streams + The Money Behind the Table
1:10:58 — Bart, Ownership + Building Live at the Bike
1:13:24 — Ryan Feldman, Doug Polk + The Buyout
1:19:51 — Moving to Commerce + Protecting the Game
1:26:09 — Bigger Stakes, Bomb Pots + Losing the Regulars
1:32:08 — “I'm Too Rich for This” + Walking Away
1:33:09 — The WPT Call-In Show
1:34:51 — The 100-Player Main Event Bet
1:39:52 — Golf Hustles + What Happened to Gambling?

T1 Links

What is Table 1?
Find out here 👇
https://table1.vegas

Follow us:

X — https://x.com/table1vegas
IG — https://instagram.com/table1vegas

#Limon #Poker #Table1Podcast

Owen Messere quit university twice.

His parents were happier the second time.

The first time, he was studying maths at a campus he hadn't realized he'd signed up for. He discovered the mistake while booking his train.

Seven and a half hours from London. Surprise.

An acid trip, a long conversation with a mate, and a decision: he was going home.

He tried again. Philosophy at Warwick. Better friends. A degree he actually enjoyed.

Then he won a £10 poker tournament.

Soon, Owen was spending around 70 hours a week playing and studying. Christmas revision became hours poring over poker simulations. His parents had never seen him work that hard at anything.

Leaving university again suddenly made more sense to them than staying.

This was the same kid who learned chess at three, played for England's junior team by eleven, and retired at fourteen. Now he'd found a game he couldn't leave alone.

He filled notebooks with bluffs. Rented a server to run simulations. Spent months chasing answers to hands that didn't make sense.

Then he studied heads-up so hard that, when he started taking on the regulars, some reported him for using real-time assistance.

His explanation: he'd studied. He thought it was fun.

In this episode of The Table 1 Podcast, Owen “Pr0digy” Messere joins Art Parmann and Justin Young to talk through the full ride:

♠️ BTC Demon wins about $1.3 million off him at $1,000/$2,000 heads-up — while Owen scrambles to sell action.

♥️ A roughly $150K tournament win funds bigger cash-game shots. More than half his bankroll disappears before he gets help.

♦️ The Doug Polk challenge: nearly $200K up on day one, almost all of it gone on day two, and a nine-high call he thought was a flush.

♣️ Around $600K in profit at the Cash Game World Championships — followed by another championship run that comes down to a river decision with minutes left.

We also get into:

• Turning chess into a drinking game without trusting your teammate.
• Why studying solvers made poker stranger and more interesting.
• Learning that high-stakes regulars aren't all unbeatable.
• Why Owen thinks the winning hand should always be shown.
• A $50K Rolex and some very concerned players in Barcelona.
• Going from student to partner at Guerrilla Poker, and why getting better can mean getting less action.

It's a story about finding the work you want to do even when nobody's making you do it.

👇 Drop a comment:

Would you have backed Owen's decision to quit university for poker — or told him to finish the degree?

Show Notes

00:29 — Intro + The $1.3M BTC Demon Session
07:37 — London Roots + England's Junior Chess Team
20:23 — Rugby, ADHD + The Wrong University Campus
27:12 — Dropping Out + Finding a Different Path
30:56 — The First Poker Win
35:54 — Early Wins + The Reality Check
40:09 — Getting Obsessed with Solvers
49:19 — Going Pro + His Parents' Support
53:55 — Heads-Up, a $150K Score + Moving Up
59:59 — Guerrilla Poker + Learning to Exploit
1:04:24 — Reported as a Bot + Taking Over the Lobbies
1:08:11 — The Doug Polk Challenge
1:15:20 — The Cash Game Championships
1:19:11 — A $600K Win + A Last-Minute Near Miss
1:23:10 — Why Tournaments Drive Him Crazy
1:26:53 — Coaching, Streaming + What's Next

Owen's Links:

X:
https://x.com/OwenMessere

Twitch:
https://twitch.tv/pr0diiigy

Guerrilla Poker:
https://guerrilla-poker.com/

T1 Links

What is Table 1?
Find out here 👇
https://table1.vegas

Follow us:

X - https://x.com/table1vegas
IG - https://instagram.com/table1vegas

Sean McCormack started dealing poker at a dog track. Somehow, he ended up dancing with J.Lo at her house.

We may have picked the wrong side of the table.

This week, “The Poker Boss” joins Art and Justin for the story of a guy who wanted to play poker for a living—and found a different way to make it in Vegas.

He leaves Florida with about $1,000 and two suitcases. His first table dealing at Bellagio? Bobby’s Room. $4,000/$8,000. Doyle Brunson. Chip Reese. Pretty much everybody whose picture is on the wall.

No pressure, kid.

Doyle has to put a hand on his arm and tell him to slow down. Years later, Bobby Baldwin is asking him to run ARIA’s poker room.

We get into how that happened, why the reserved-game arguments got so ugly, and what Alan Keating understood about people that a lot of poker pros missed. There’s also a Devilfish story involving a suspicious “$10,000” cash bundle, a car coming through the casino lobby, and Kevin Hart taking over a call to Sean’s wife.

And before we let him go, we get into hidden cameras, game integrity, and why Sean says the way dealers pitch cards needs to change.

Turns out, the guy dealing the cards sometimes leaves with the best stories.

Tell us in the comments: What’s the most ridiculous place poker has taken you?

Like the episode? Follow Table 1 on Spotify. We’ve got more people with questionable career plans and excellent stories coming your way.

SHOW NOTES

0:00 Intro
0:34 Meet The Poker Boss
1:32 Growing Up in Massachusetts
13:34 Computers, Basketball & the Move to Florida
18:33 Catching the Poker Bug
23:26 Casino Boats & the Dog-Track Audition
28:37 Taking the Show on the Road: The WPT
33:19 A Car Comes Through the Casino Lobby
38:40 Devilfish’s “$10,000” Surprise
41:32 $1,000, Two Suitcases & a Midnight Departure
47:41 First Table at Bellagio: Bobby’s Room
50:24 From Dealer to the Rules Guy
57:50 The Call From Bobby Baldwin
59:53 Reserved Games & the Backlash
1:09:07 What Alan Keating Figured Out
1:13:23 Behind the PokerGO Deal
1:17:37 Kevin Hart Hijacks a Phone Call
1:20:50 Poker at Ben & J.Lo’s House
1:27:32 Hidden Cameras & Changing the Deal
1:33:27 Bellagio’s Slide-Pitch Plan
1:38:08 Shufflers, Home Games & Game Integrity
1:42:36 Where to Find The Poker Boss

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SEAN’S LINKS
@ThePokerBoss on X

TABLE 1 LINKS
Table 1 on X
Table 1 on Instagram

#Table1Podcast #Poker #DoyleBrunson

Mike Holtz thought “Napster” was just a guy in his World of Warcraft group.

It was the guy who created Napster.

They’d been playing together for years. Mike had no idea.

At 17, he was traveling to gaming tournaments with him—with his mom’s permission. Poker was something they played between dungeon raids.

Then the gaming circuit lost its funding.

What followed wasn’t exactly a straight line to the WSOP.

Selling weed. Thirty days in jail. A hotel front-desk job. Then an invitation to a $300 home game with the wealthiest business owners in town.

His boss warned him: these guys were sharks.

Mike won about $1,100.

They invited him back.

He says he won every Tuesday for a year. The poker money was beating the paycheck, and his biggest worry was that they’d stop inviting him.

Vegas proved a little less cooperative.

There were cash-game struggles, a marriage breakdown, and a return to World of Warcraft during COVID. One of his Twitch regulars turned out to be David Williams. Somehow, gaming kept bringing him back to poker.

By 2021, he was chasing WSOP.com Player of the Year.

The guy who used to sleep beside his computer to grind Warcraft rankings had found another leaderboard.

In this episode of The Table 1 Podcast, two-time WSOP bracelet winner and PokerNews Podcast co-host Mike Holtz joins Art Parmann and Justin Young for the stories behind the results:

• ♠️ The family secret that led to a private investigator—and a brother living 30 minutes away
• ♥️ Thirty days in jail, where he already knew half the people inside
• ♦️ Talking the final table into an $11,650-per-person chop with seven big blinds… then busting two hands later
• ♣️ The fake tournament-package story he told his boss to get to Vegas
• ♠️ Turning the online tournament grind into two WSOP.com Player of the Year titles
• ♥️ Why he says his online bracelet was harder to win than his live one
• ♦️ A WSOP rail chant he had to shut down before heads-up
• ♣️ Joining PokerNews, interviewing Maurice Hawkins, and the bracelet-ceremony “apology”

About that apology.

Mike got onstage and said he wanted to apologize to Maurice Hawkins.

“For absolutely nothing.”

Then dropped the mic.

We also get into the two-monitor kitchen-table setup, taking naps with 12 players left, and the coaching videos he keeps winning too much—and procrastinating too hard—to finish.

Probably not the preparation routine you’ll find in a poker textbook.

👇 Drop a comment:
What’s the strangest thing that led you to poker?

Mike’s Links

X: https://x.com/MikeHoltzPoker
IG: https://instagram.com/MikeHoltzPoker

T1 Links

Play with us at Phenom Poker:
https://play.phenompoker.com/register?r=Table1

Play with us at Table 1:
https://table1.vegas

Justin’s Poker Coaching Series:
Learn to Crush Live Poker — https://pokercoaching.com/table1

Follow T1:

X — https://x.com/table1vegas
IG — https://instagram.com/table1vegas

Phil Hellmuth wanted bracelet No. 18.

Darren Rabinowitz wanted him to call it off on the turn.

He was dying to say, “If you call, it’s all over, baby.” Instead, he kept his mouth shut and let Phil make the decision.

Darren got the bracelet.

Not bad for a guy whose plan was to spend one month in Vegas, then move back in with his parents and find a job.

That was in 2012.

His girlfriend had dumped him. She lived in the apartment next door. She already had a new boyfriend. And his job at Bank of America wasn’t giving him much reason to stick around.

So he quit, found a free room in a UNLV fraternity house, and started grinding single-table satellites.

The move back to Seattle never happened.

Eventually, he upgraded to a $600-a-month apartment with scorpions and cockroaches. Found friends who were better at poker. Got backed. Made the Aussie Millions final table. Spent years figuring out how to keep doing this for a living.

Then came the summer he knocked Daniel Negreanu out of the Main Event and beat Hellmuth heads-up for his second WSOP bracelet.

In this episode of The Table 1 Podcast, Darren joins Art Parmann and Justin Young to talk through the whole ride:

♠️ Three teenage grinders, two computer chairs, and a race to avoid the milk crate
♥️ Flunking freshman year, fraternity poker, and leaving the bank job
♦️ How a Lock Poker satellite introduced him to the backer who changed his career
♣️ The Aussie Millions final table where he was too intimidated to ask for a chop
♠️ Backing deals, makeup, and what better poker friends actually teach you
♥️ The WSOP.com grind, “Avocado Toast,” and his very active block button
♦️ Winning at Planet Hollywood while his empty seat cashed at Wynn
♣️ Saving Justin from blinding out of a tournament he forgot to show up for
♠️ The cameras, the rail, and the heads-up battle to deny Hellmuth No. 18

And after what he calls the coolest moment of his poker life?

He showed up for a $1,600 tournament the next day.

“I play poker. Like, that’s what I do.”

👇 Drop a comment:
Who would you most want to beat heads-up for a WSOP bracelet?

Show Notes
00:00 — Intro + Darren Rabinowitz
02:46 — Seattle Roots & Family
08:34 — Finding Online Poker
14:18 — College, Banking & Leaving Arizona
21:43 — First Vegas Summer & Early Bankroll
31:13 — Poker Friends & Aussie Millions
39:19 — Backing Deals & Life on the Circuit
44:36 — The Online Grind & COVID
54:37 — Golf & Returning to Live Poker
59:23 — Two Tournaments, Two Casinos
1:07:49 — The WSOP Summer & The Last $5K
1:13:23 — Final-Table Pressure
1:17:10 — Heads-Up Against Phil Hellmuth
1:19:35 — Winning the Bracelet & What’s Next

Darren’s Links
X: https://x.com/DarrenRabbi
IG: https://instagram.com/DarrenRabbi

T1 Links

Play with us at Phenom Poker (200% deposit bonus!):
https://play.phenompoker.com/register?r=Table1

Play with us at Table 1:
https://table1.vegas

Justin’s Poker Coaching Series:
Learn to Crush Live Poker — https://pokercoaching.com/table1

Follow T1:
X — https://x.com/table1vegas
IG — https://instagram.com/table1vegas

What is Table 1 Vegas? Learn more here:
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Noah Schwartz had a $125K Wall Street job offer waiting.

Then one Sunday changed the math.

He wired $1,000 through Western Union, sat down in a PokerStars $1K, and about 12 hours later had $580,000.

So yeah.

Morgan Stanley got told to kick rocks.

But Noah’s story starts way before the score.

Miami Beach.
Baseball.
A lefty arm that was supposed to be his future.
His dad getting sick.
An elbow injury.
An air mattress on a childhood friend’s floor.
A security guard job where another guard would clock him in while Noah hid in the back room and played online poker.

Then poker opened every door.

And also kicked him through a few walls.

In this episode of The Table 1 Podcast, Noah Schwartz joins Art Parmann and Justin Young to talk through the full ride:

• ♠️ Growing up in Miami and thinking baseball was the plan
• ♥️ Losing his dad young and having to grow up fast
• ♦️ Tearing up his elbow and finding poker at the exact wrong/right time
• ♣️ Playing Madden and Monopoly for real money
• ♠️ Paying a security guard to clock him in while he played online
• ♥️ Wiring $1K to PokerStars with only a few grand to his name
• ♦️ Turning that into $580K in one night
• ♣️ Saying no to Wall Street after the biggest score of his life
• ♠️ Winning $394K at Borgata and taking it home in cash
• ♥️ Getting stopped by TSA with a bag full of money
• ♦️ Flying Spirit with $400K stuffed in the overhead bin
• ♣️ Buying a Range Rover in cash
• ♠️ Playing the $1M Big One for One Drop
• ♥️ The aces hand that still hurts
• ♦️ The second One Drop run that sent him straight to the dice table
• ♣️ High-stakes craps, Antonio stories, prop bets, and poker-life chaos
• ♠️ Why money alone never fixed what he thought it would
• ♥️ Fatherhood, investing, philanthropy, and what matters now

We also get into:

• the early online poker boom
• PartyPoker and PokerStars nostalgia
• why poker players need early run-good
• bankroll management before anyone knew what bankroll management was
• WPT life when the fields were single-entry and massive
• One Drop pressure
• the difference between poker bad beats and real-life bad beats
• Real American Freestyle
• and why Noah would rather build memories with his kids than chase every tournament on the calendar.

This one is a poker story.

But it’s also a life story.

A baseball dream ended.
A poker career appeared.
A Wall Street path vanished.
And somehow, a kid sleeping on a friend’s floor ended up playing million-dollar buy-ins.

👇 Drop a comment:
What would you do if you turned $2K into $580K in one night?

Show Notes

00:00 — Intro + Noah Schwartz
01:38 — Miami, Baseball & Growing Up Competitive
06:30 — Madden, Monopoly & Early Gambling
08:08 — Baseball Ends + Poker Begins
09:17 — Security Guard Shift Hustle
10:27 — Credit Cards, PartyPoker & The Early Grind
11:32 — The $580K PokerStars Score
17:13 — Firing $1K With Almost Nothing Left
19:12 — Final Table Chaos + Heads-Up Comeback
22:08 — $394K At Borgata + Cash Through TSA
24:00 — First Vegas Shot + Getting Fired
27:37 — Turning Poker Into A Career
32:10 — Cash Games, PLO & The Tour
34:48 — Raising Money For The $1M One Drop
37:19 — Aces In The Biggest Spot
42:19 — The Second One Drop Dream
43:20 — Nines, Queens & The $6M Swing
46:48 — Bustout → Dice Table
48:48 — Kids, Balance & Life After Full-Time Poker
52:46 — Investing, RAF & What Comes Next
55:42 — Mindset, Philanthropy & Real Bad Beats
58:45 — Prop Bets, PCA & Antonio Stories
1:00:51 — The Aria Craps Roll
1:15:00 — Future Plans + Family
1:18:08 — Noah’s Links + Outro

Noah’s Links

X:
https://x.com/noahjschwartz

IG:
https://www.instagram.com/noahschwartz

T1 Links

Phenom Poker:
https://play.phenompoker.com/register?r=Table1

Play with us in Vegas:
https://table1.vegas

Justin's Poker Coaching series:
Learn to Crush Live Poker - https://pokercoaching.com/table1

Follow us:

X - https://x.com/table1vegas
IG - https://instagram.com/table1vegas

Ana Marquez once sold a fake Chanel purse for $400.

Why?

Because she needed a bankroll.

Back in business.

25NL, here she comes.

That is a pretty perfect Ana Marquez origin story.

Ana grew up in Málaga, Spain, came to America for school, studied history and economics at American University, and somehow ended up writing her thesis on poker.

Not playing poker.

Writing about poker.

Then she found the underground Maryland games.

Then Borgata.

Then online poker.

Then the Maryland crew.

Then PCA.

Then Black Friday.

Then PokerStars.

Then 888.

Then ACR.

Then Triton.

And somewhere in the middle of all that, her dad found a stash of cash and thought something terrible was going on.

Ana had to explain bankroll management.

In this episode of The Table 1 Podcast, Ana joins Art Parmann and Justin Young to tell the full story:

• ♠️ Growing up in Spain and being too competitive for family game night
• ♥️ Learning five-card draw from her mom with chickpeas
• ♦️ Almost getting caught tagging graffiti while her dad took pictures
• ♣️ Moving to Washington D.C. for school
• ♠️ Studying World War I, World War II, diplomacy, and military strategy
• ♥️ Discovering poker through friends in college
• ♦️ Sitting behind a friend for 13 hours at Borgata
• ♣️ Playing underground Maryland games with the crew that would become poker legends
• ♠️ Writing her thesis on how tournament poker changed society’s view of the game
• ♥️ Her dad finding her poker cash and assuming the worst
• ♦️ Selling a fake Chanel purse to reload for 25NL
• ♣️ Her first huge live run at PCA
• ♠️ Winning big online right before Black Friday
• ♥️ Somehow dodging disaster because her dad told her to get the money off the computer
• ♦️ Becoming a PokerStars Team Pro
• ♣️ Getting dropped even while ranked #1 in Spain
• ♠️ Winning the Hollywood Poker Open
• ♥️ Why she likes being completely alone during deep tournament runs
• ♦️ Taking a health break at the worst possible time
• ♣️ Falling behind during the solver boom
• ♠️ Rebuilding during quarantine
• ♥️ Returning to cash games
• ♦️ Private games in Dubai
• ♣️ ACR, Triton, Jeju “poker jail,” and what she is chasing now

This is one of those poker stories that does not feel planned.

It feels like someone kept following the next weird door.

A thesis became a bankroll.

A fake purse became a reload.

A hidden cash stash became a family meeting.

And somehow, all of it became a poker career.

👇 Drop a comment:
What is the strangest thing you’ve ever sold to get back in action?

Show Notes

00:00 — Intro + Ana Marquez
01:37 — Growing Up In Spain
05:20 — Good Grades, Bad Student
06:04 — Graffiti, Family & Moving To America
12:13 — American University + The Poker Thesis
13:28 — Discovering Poker
16:30 — Borgata + Underground Maryland Games
19:41 — Dad Finds The Cash
21:22 — The Fake Chanel Bankroll Reload
22:29 — Early Online Poker Grind
30:27 — PCA Breakthrough Run
34:03 — Black Friday Changes Everything
37:25 — PokerStars Team Pro Era
39:35 — Getting Dropped While Ranked #1 In Spain
43:44 — Hollywood Poker Open + Live Tournament Life
49:03 — Why She Plays Best Alone
55:31 — Health Breaks, Solvers & Falling Behind
1:01:37 — Quarantine Rebuild
1:06:39 — Back To Cash Games
1:12:04 — ACR, Dubai & Private Games
1:19:41 — Triton, Jeju & What’s Next

Ana’s Links

Website:
https://anamarquezpoker.com

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/anamarquezpoker

T1 Links

Play with us in Vegas:
https://table1.vegas

Card Player Magazine:
https://table1.vegas/cardplayer

Follow us:

X - https://x.com/table1vegas
IG - https://instagram.com/table1vegas