The Poker Grid

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 herself in a befuddling blind vs blind spot. 

Yanjaa and Jennifer move on to a general discussion of creative memory, spaced repetition and pattern recognition. They also explain why they won’t be appearing on Lex Fridman’s podcast anytime soon. 

Find out more about Yanjaa on her website, https://www.wintersoul.org/ and @Yanjaa https://www.instagram.com/yanjaa/

For more GRIDs and Grandmasters, Jennifer just appeared on Jeopardy! Masters, to host a category, Chess, Masters. Watch it here. 

Find host Jennifer @jenshahade and get her books here. 

The GRID is sponsored by PokerStars. Logo art photo by Kyle Cassidy, intro music “Gotta Switch it On” by Grace Mesa.

The post The Grid 074 ft. Yanjaa Wintersoul – Eight-Three Offsuit  appeared first on The Poker Grid.

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. They also touch on how Matt is preparing for the upcoming PokerStars Players Championship.

In addition to being a fantastic writer and home game philosopher, Matt is also a senior fellow at the Georgetown University Government Affairs Institute. He blogs about politics, political science and game theory on his substack, Five Points.  You can also follow Matt at https://twitter.com/MattGlassman312 (politics feed) and https://twitter.com/mattg312cards (card tweets) and find him on a previous appearance on the Thinking Poker Podcast.

You can follow Jennifer @jenshahade and find her books here.

The GRID is sponsored by PokerStars. Logo art photo by Kyle Cassidy, intro music “Gotta Switch it On” by Grace Mesa.

The post The Grid 073 ft. Matt Glassman – Jack-Three Offsuit appeared first on The Poker Grid.

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 helped pick the winner.

Maria Ho, Award winning broadcaster with over four million dollars in poker earnings.   

Alex O’Brien, poker player, science writer and author of the upcoming book, The Truth Detective.

Sam Grafton, PokerStars Ambassador with over 12 million dollars in earnings, with a master’s degree in literary theory.  

Keith “Accidental Grenade” Becker- PokerStars ambassador and streamer, and former GRID guest.

Mark “Naigo1” Foresta- PokerStars Ambassador and streamer at https://www.twitch.tv/naigo1

Brad Willis- former PokerStars blog editor, current poker.org editor, and host/producer of the renowned true crime podcast, Murder Etc.  

The podcast itself reveals the winner. If you’d like to play along and pick your favorite, enjoy reading and watching all six finalists before listening to the final three minutes.

Listed in the same random order that they appeared on the pod:

1.       James Tedrow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09vHR0o9AfA

2.       Davis Harari: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DnqsnFilg8PFe-KByNpVTaz9KecCmi4R/edit

3.       Nicole Pamela Cervenka: https://vimeo.com/780795467/78200df845

4.       Matt Glassman: https://mattglassman.substack.com/p/j-3-offsuit-and-the-monster-ballads

5.       Dan Schill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0Rx4T8wYy0

6.       Lisa Gjaltema: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AvAD6EqTk-4yF1QEJ0ny29KuQiSMF8M3HQP07E7FB1o/edit

Thank you again to the entrants, judges and to everyone at Stars who made this prize possible. Find out more about the PSPC here: https://www.pokerstarslive.com/pspc/

Good luck to everyone playing, especially Platinum Poker Hand finalist revealed in this episode: See YOU in the Bahamas!!

The GRID is sponsored by PokerStars. Logo art photo by Kyle Cassidy, intro music “Gotta Switch it On” by Grace Mesa. This special episode was produced by Daniel Meirom and edited/mixed by Quinn Waters.

The post The Grid 072.5 The Winner is in: Announcing our Platinum Poker Hand appeared first on The Poker Grid.

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 debut year to winning over 580K in tournaments as of Dec 2022, including outright victories at the Aria and the Venetian.

She tells Jennifer why she enjoys playing amongst the best players in the World, including the villain in this hand, Hall of Famer Erik Seidel. Victoria defended the big blind against Erik’s button open with Queen-Nine off with the nine of hearts. The hand checked through on the Jd 8h 5h flop and the six of hearts turn. When the queen of clubs landed on the river, Victoria feigned weakness with a bet of 10K into 45K, only to see Erik raise it up to 70K.   What would you do?

Jen and Victoria move on to discussing the development of women in poker, Victoria’s passion for the game and efficient study. She also speaks about how her experience managing large teams helps her decode poker tells.

Now that Victoria Livschitz has discussed queen-nine offsuit, there are 97 hands remaining on the GRID. Use our episode finder to browse them all. 

If you’re from the USA or Canada and listening to this promptly, there is still time to enter the GRID’s incredible contest to win a 30K Platinum Pass. The pass includes entry into the 25K PokerStars Players Championships, and a trip to the Bahamas in the dead of winter. Contest closes on Dec 14th at Noon ET. Details here: https://pokerstarslearn.com/poker/learn/news/jennifer-shahade-announces-platinum-pass-competition-for-us-and-canada/

The post The Grid 072 ft. Victoria Livschitz – Queen-Nine Offsuit appeared first on The Poker Grid.

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 a video, a sound file, or write a story. 

A star studded judging panel will help host Jennifer Shahade pick the winner. It will consist of top poker professionals Maria Ho and Sam Grafton, as well as author and science journalist Alex O Brien. PokerStars PA streamers Mark Foresta and Keith Becker will also be on the panel. Finally, Brad Willis, the long-time editor of the PokerStars Blog, and now the editor in chief of poker.org, will be an esteemed judge. 

Full contest details here: https://pokerstarslearn.com/poker/learn/news/jennifer-shahade-announces-platinum-pass-competition-for-us-and-canada/

The post The Grid 071.5 – Tell Us Your Platinum Poker Hand appeared first on The Poker Grid.

Jennifer invites data scientist, chess master and writer Nate Solon to the GRID. Nate talks about a hand from a private game early in his poker career. He found himself flopping bottom set on a dry board against a friend—but things got progressively worse: not only did he lose the pot, but he and his friend were accused of colluding. Nate and Jennifer look back at the unexpected hand in light of cheating accusations that have rocked both the poker and chess worlds.

Nate Solon also recalls a hand against Garrett Adelstein and why Garrett made it hard to think straight. Nate kindly shares the tuna salad recipe that “G-man” divulged post-hand. I hope you like jalapeno.

They move on to discuss Nate’s new book, “How to Evaluate Like a Grandmaster”, which Solon co-authored with Grandmaster Eugene Perelshteyn, and how evaluation in chess compares to poker. Jennifer also gets to ask Nate some burning inquiries, like what fallacies annoy him most, and how many avocadoes fit in an airplane.

Now that Nate has covered pocket threes, there are 98 hands remaining on the poker GRID.  Use our episode finder to browse them all. 

The GRID is sponsored by PokerStars. Look for an exciting announcement on December 1st for a BIG GRID/PokerStars collaboration.  

Discussed on the show:

Nate’s blog, Zwischenzug (subscribe!) https://zwischenzug.substack.com/

Nate’s new book, HOW TO EVALUATE LIKE A GRANDMASTER: https://www.amazon.com/Evaluate-Like-Grandmaster-Eugene-Perelshteyn/dp/B0BHNF5CWB

Greg Shahade’s twitter review (with cameos by Jen!) : https://twitter.com/GregShahade/status/1582066200280195072?s=20&t=E2HGJO2wffRBT4XBm4oYgA

Jen’s writing, CHESS QUEENS (available now) and the forthcoming THINKING SIDEWAYS: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1399701371?geniuslink=true

Nate’s Blog about wicked vs. kind learning environments: https://zwischenzug.substack.com/p/why-is-chess-so-hard

Previous GRID guest Peter Svidler: https://thepokergrid.com/2019/08/24/the-grid-015-ft-peter-svidler-ace-seven-of-diamonds/

Now that Jennifer has covered Pocket Threes , there are 98 hands remaining on the poker GRID.  Use our episode finder to browse them all. 

The GRID is sponsored by PokerStars. Logo art photo by Kyle Cassidy, intro music “Gotta Switch it On” by Grace Mesa.

The post The Grid 071 ft. Nate Solon – Pocket Threes appeared first on The Poker Grid.

Jennifer Shahade invites Wey “CRAIBaby” Xie to the GRID. A high stakes online player who has battled and won with the best players in the World, Wey Xie talks about a pivotal hand he played with Ace-Queen offsuit on PokerStars.

150 big blinds deep in 1K NL, The hijack opened to 2.7x and Wey Xie called in the big blind with the Ace of Hearts and the Queen of Clubs. The flop came 6d7h9h. After Wey Xie checked, the original raiser bet $18.59, about 1/3 of the pot, and true to his online name, CRAIBaby put in a check raise to $88.73. The hijack flatted the raise to see the four of hearts on the turn. Wey Xie continued to aggress with a bet of $70 into $236. The villain raised to 223, and CRAIbaby put in the three-bet for $527. This left a 75% pot sized bet on the river. An offsuit jack came leaving him one big question: To jam or not to jam?

After unraveling his river decision, Wey Xie explains why he dropped out of a promising six figure starting salary job to become a professional poker player. Jennifer and Wey Xie also talk about theories of effective poker study, and what he thinks most people get wrong in their approach to the game, explaining what he means when he said, “the Beauty of the game is invisible if you don’t fully understand poker.”

Follow @WeyXie on twitter and Instagram.

Now that Jennifer has covered ace-queen offsuit, there are 99 hands remaining on the poker GRID.  Use our episode finder to browse them all. 

The GRID is sponsored by PokerStars. Logo art photo by Kyle Cassidy, intro music “Gotta Switch it On” by Grace Mesa.

The post The Grid 070 ft. Wey Xie – Ace-Queen Offsuit appeared first on The Poker Grid.

Jennifer Shahade joins David Lappin and Dara O’Kearney from the Chip Race to discuss a hand from the 3K Mystery Bounty event at EPT Barcelona. With bounties in play and the money bubble looming, Jennifer held Jack-Six suited, and got involved in a preflop confrontation with top Norweigian pro Preben Stokan and high roller Paul Newey.  

The discussion moves on to common strategies and misconceptions on the Mystery Bounty format, which is rapidly increasing in popularity. In this iteration, 1/3 of each player’s entry fee went to the mystery bounty pool. The bounties went into play on day two, with a little less than 40% of the field remaining. Each bounty was worth a little over $2500*, when accounting for some prizes that were added on, such as a Platinum Pass.     

Jennifer finished in 11th place out of 1132 entrants.

A version of this episode appeared on the Chip Race, which also included interviews with Andrew Neeme and Zachary Elwood.  

Now that Jennifer has covered jack six suited, there are 100 hands remaining on the poker GRID.  Use our episode finder to browse them all. 

The GRID is sponsored by PokerStars. Logo art photo by Kyle Cassidy, intro music “Gotta Switch it On” by Grace Mesa.

*The formula for calculating this is to multiply the bounty value of each player by the number of entrants, then divide by the players remaining when bounties go into play.    

The post The Grid 069 x The Chip Race ft. Jen Shahade – Jack-Six Suited appeared first on The Poker Grid.

Jennifer Shahade re-releases her 2019 episode with 3-time WSOP bracelet winner and star commentator Nick Schulman. Nick, consistently ahead of the curve, played a big pot with jack-four offsuit in a NYC underground cash game. 

She also touches on the current scandals that have shaken the chess and poker worlds. For more on Jennifer’s thoughts, check out her Financial Times article. 

For more episodes of the GRID, check out our Episode Finder. 

Support the GRID by subbing and rating on your favorite platform and check out host Jen Shahade’s new book, Chess Queens.

GRID sponsor, PokerStars  recently announced opportunities for US players to win Platinum Passes. 

The GRID is now proudly sponsored by PokerStars. 

The post The Grid 068.5 ft. ft. Nick Schulman – Jack-Four Offsuit appeared first on The Poker Grid.

Matt Matros, three-time WSOP bracelet winner and three-time author enters the GRID to discuss a fascinating hand with ace-nine offsuit, also featured in his new book, The Poker Brain: Improving Your Process Through Optimal and Exploitive Thinking.

Matt opened the hijack, deep in the money of an online bracelet event, and was called by poker pro Darren Rabbi in the big blind.

The flop was 852 rainbow and Matt, who was playing about 40 big blinds deep, elected to check back the flop, turning a 7, which completed the rainbow. At this point Darren led for full pot, and Matt’s poker brain went into full gear, as he contemplated folding, calling vs. raising.

This strategy rich episode delves into why particularly flop has such big bet energy, and the way that solvers and human intuition can contradict each other- or complement each other. They also talk about poker “trouble hands”, and why Jennifer wants to bring back hand nicknames, including “A Knock-off” for this particular combo. They also talk about Matt’s approach to poker coaching and writing.

The two wrap up with some comparisons between chess and poker mistakes.

Follow Matt Matros on twitter and buy his books, including the new “Poker Brain” on his amazon page.

Now that Matt has covered Ace-Nine Offsuit, there are 101 combos left on the GRID. Use our episode finder to browse them all. You can also find Matt’s previous GRID contribution,  jack-deuce suited.

Support the GRID by subbing and rating on your favorite platform and check out host Jen Shahade’s new book, Chess Queens.

GRID sponsor, PokerStars  recently announced opportunities for US players to win Platinum Passes. 

The GRID is now proudly sponsored by PokerStars. 

Logo art photo by Kyle Cassidy, intro music “Gotta Switch it On” by Grace Mesa.

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