Thinking Poker

Vegas-based poker pro Jessica Vierling is famously forthcoming about her struggles: with alcoholism, suicidal thoughts, and holding herself to impossibly high standards. The most important thing, she says, is to be honest and authentic.

She is just that in this conversation with Andrew, where they discuss her struggles, her triumphs, her journey from the corporate world to the world of professional poker, and her life in Las Vegas.

To join ClubWPT Gold and get in on the drawings for the $5,000,000 freeroll, sign up now at https://clubwptgold.com/?promo=THINK

Support the podcast and get daily strategy discussions by subscribing to Thinking Poker Daily. 

Receive 10% off your GTO Wizard subscription when you use this link to sign up to GTO Wizard today and run deeper in your MTTs with GTO Wizard AI!

Jessica Vierling is a professional poker player, originally from Germany and now living in Las Vegas. In May of 2024, she won the Main Event of the WSOPC-LA for over $300K.

Online poker is returning to the US, and what better way to celebrate than with the 1000th episode of Thinking Poker Daily?

To join ClubWPT Gold and get in on the drawings for the $5,000,000 freeroll, sign up now at https://clubwptgold.com/?promo=THINK

Support the podcast and get daily strategy discussions by subscribing to Thinking Poker Daily. 

Manuel “Phemo” Bueno Fernandez is a professional poker player from Hamburg, Germany and one of our favorite coaches on GTO Wizard. We talk to him about the beginnings of his fascination with poker during a dark winter in Finland, studying with Fedor Holz, and creating some of the best strategy content on the internet!

Support the podcast and get daily strategy discussions by subscribing to Thinking Poker Daily. 

Our latest poker strategy video, reviewing Andrew’s ACR Sunday Special win, is now available from The Nitcast Store.

GTO Wizard AI has just received a new update: ICM Postflop Solutions!

This new feature will allow you to:

Study ICM solutions for any postflop scenario, instantly.

Dominate Classic MTTs, PKOs, Mystery Bounties, Freezeouts, and Satellites.

And exploit by nodelocking ranges and taking advantage of opponents’ ICM mistakes.

Receive 10% off your GTO Wizard subscription when you use this link to sign up to GTO Wizard today and run deeper in your MTTs with GTO Wizard AI!

Manuel Bueno Fernandez is a poker player and coach from Hamburg, Germany. He creates strategy content for PokerCode and GTO Wizard.

Nate Silver is back on the felt, but there’s a lot more than poker in his new book, On the Edge. He gets deep into it with Andrew and Carlos, discussing everything from the physiology of poker to coaching with Andrew to a an accidental prediction about Carlos.

We previously interviewed Nate Silver on Episode 318.

Other recommended episodes:

Maria Konnikova
Ed Miller
Carlos Welch
Jamal Hanson
Matt Glassman
Stoyan Obreshkov
Jon “Apestyles” Van Fleet
Isaac Haxton
Dick Carson
Tom McEvoy
Game Theory and Civil Rights

Support the podcast and get daily strategy discussions by subscribing to Thinking Poker Daily. 

Our latest poker strategy video, reviewing Andrew’s ACR Sunday Special win, is now available from The Nitcast Store.

GTO Wizard AI has just received a new update: ICM Postflop Solutions!

This new feature will allow you to:

Study ICM solutions for any postflop scenario, instantly.

Dominate Classic MTTs, PKOs, Mystery Bounties, Freezeouts, and Satellites.

And exploit by nodelocking ranges and taking advantage of opponents’ ICM mistakes.

Receive 10% off your GTO Wizard subscription when you use this link to sign up to GTO Wizard today and run deeper in your MTTs with GTO Wizard AI!

Nate Silver is the founder of FiveThirtyEight and a former professional poker player. He is the author of On the Edge, The Signal and the Noise, and the Silver Bulletin substack, and he co-hosts the Risky Business podcast with Maria Konnikova, whom we interviewed on Episode 247. Nate first appeared on Episode 318.

Civil rights leader Barbara Arnwine joins returning guests Justin and Caitlyn Arnwine (her son and daughter-in-law) to discuss the ways poker strategy has informed their activism around civil rights and voter suppression.

The Map of Shame

My Vote Don’t Count by YelloPain

Support the podcast and get daily strategy discussions by subscribing to Thinking Poker Daily. 

Our latest poker strategy video, reviewing Andrew’s ACR Sunday Special win, is now available from The Nitcast Store.

GTO Wizard AI has just received a new update: ICM Postflop Solutions!

This new feature will allow you to:

Study ICM solutions for any postflop scenario, instantly.

Dominate Classic MTTs, PKOs, Mystery Bounties, Freezeouts, and Satellites.

And exploit by nodelocking ranges and taking advantage of opponents’ ICM mistakes.

Receive 10% off your GTO Wizard subscription when you use this link to sign up to GTO Wizard today and run deeper in your MTTs with GTO Wizard AI!

Barbara R. Arnwine, Esq, is the President & Founder of the Transformative Justice Coalition. She also serves as Co-Chair and Facilitator of the National Commission for Voter Justice, the Millennial Votes Matters Convenings and the Voting Rights Alliance. She was the head of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law from February, 1989 until June, 2015 and holds the honorific title of President Emeritus. She has served as the Charles Hamilton Chair for the North Carolina Central University School of Law from 2016-2017 and taught at Columbia University School of Law. She hosts the radio show Igniting Change.

Justin Arnwine is a writer, gambler, independent scholar, and activist famous for his Hello Kitty attire. We first spoke with him on Episodes 398 and 399.

Caitlyn Arnwine describes herself as a force that makes change. She is the former Coordinator of Public Education for @NationalHomeles and Social Media Director of @TJC_DC. We first spoke with Caitlyn on Episode 397.

1983 WSOP Main Event champion Tom McEvoy’s new autobiography, Poker Pioneer, is the perfect impetus for celebrating his storied, decades-long career. With Carlos and Andrew, Tom discusses going pro in the 70s, defeating Doyle Brunson in the Main Event, rubbing elbows with Stu Ungar, writing books with TJ Cloutier, dating Kathy Liebert, repping PokerStars, auditing Ultimate Bet, and much more!

Support the podcast and get daily strategy discussions by subscribing to Thinking Poker Daily. 

Our latest poker strategy video, reviewing Andrew’s ACR Sunday Special win, is now available from The Nitcast Store.

GTO Wizard AI has just received a new update: ICM Postflop Solutions!

This new feature will allow you to:

Study ICM solutions for any postflop scenario, instantly.

Dominate Classic MTTs, PKOs, Mystery Bounties, Freezeouts, and Satellites.

And exploit by nodelocking ranges and taking advantage of opponents’ ICM mistakes.

Receive 10% off your GTO Wizard subscription when you use this link to sign up to GTO Wizard today and run deeper in your MTTs with GTO Wizard AI!

Tom McEvoy is a long-time professional poker player with four WSOP bracelets (including from the 1983 Main Event) and about a dozen books to his name, including the new autobiography Poker Pioneer. He was an early PokerStars pro and is now a Poker Samadhi Guru.

Michelle Farmer and Natascha Carpenter met 8 years ago in a bar poker league. They founded Royal Queens Poker in Atlanta in 2024 after seeing the lack of diversity in other leagues. They discuss with Andrew, Carlos, and Gloria Jackson the challenges and rewards of running a poker business, their own experiences on the real money circuit, and more.

Thanks to Caitlyn Arnwine for connecting us with them!

Follow Royal Queens Poker on Social Media:

Instagram
Facebook
Tiktok

Support the podcast and get daily strategy discussions by subscribing to Thinking Poker Daily. 

Our latest poker strategy video, reviewing Andrew’s ACR Sunday Special win, is now available from The Nitcast Store.

GTO Wizard AI has just received a new update: ICM Postflop Solutions!

This new feature will allow you to:

Study ICM solutions for any postflop scenario, instantly.

Dominate Classic MTTs, PKOs, Mystery Bounties, Freezeouts, and Satellites.

And exploit by nodelocking ranges and taking advantage of opponents’ ICM mistakes.

Receive 10% off your GTO Wizard subscription when you use this link to sign up to GTO Wizard today and run deeper in your MTTs with GTO Wizard AI!

Michelle Farmer and Natascha Carpenter have over 15 years of poker experience. Royal Queens Poker hosts ladies-only tournaments and offers classes to encourage female participation. Additionally, Royal Queens Poker provides free poker events at local restaurants and bars, where players have the chance to win prizes.

Bulgarian poker pro Stoyan Obreshkov joins Carlos and Andrew for an incredibly deep and forward-thinking conversation about poker strategy. Topics include efficient study, exploits, ICM, post-ICM, preparing a friend for the Main Event final table, and much more!

Get coaching from Stoyan!

Support the podcast and get daily strategy discussions by subscribing to Thinking Poker Daily. 

Our latest poker strategy video, reviewing Andrew’s ACR Sunday Special win, is now available from The Nitcast Store.

GTO Wizard AI has just received a new update: ICM Postflop Solutions!

This new feature will allow you to:

Study ICM solutions for any postflop scenario, instantly.

Dominate Classic MTTs, PKOs, Mystery Bounties, Freezeouts, and Satellites.

And exploit by nodelocking ranges and taking advantage of opponents’ ICM mistakes.

Receive 10% off your GTO Wizard subscription when you use this link to sign up to GTO Wizard today and run deeper in your MTTs with GTO Wizard AI!

Stoyan Obreshkov is a professional poker player and coach from Bulgaria. He makes instructional content for Run It Once and GTO Wizard.

Jesse Fullen, our guest from Episode 436, was a Content Producer for the WSOP this summer. In this special episode, he discusses the experience and some of his favorite stories he collected.

Stefanie Ungar
Tom McEvoy
Gene Bellar
Isabel Yishu Yang
Deb Swift
Jack Binion

Support the podcast and get daily strategy discussions by subscribing to Thinking Poker Daily. 

Our latest poker strategy video, reviewing Andrew’s ACR Sunday Special win, is now available from The Nitcast Store.

GTO Wizard AI has just received a new update: ICM Postflop Solutions!

This new feature will allow you to:

Study ICM solutions for any postflop scenario, instantly.

Dominate Classic MTTs, PKOs, Mystery Bounties, Freezeouts, and Satellites.

And exploit by nodelocking ranges and taking advantage of opponents’ ICM mistakes.

Receive 10% off your GTO Wizard subscription when you use this link to sign up to GTO Wizard today and run deeper in your MTTs with GTO Wizard AI!

Jesse Fullen has worked in many parts of the poker industry, including as a project manager at Poker Royalty, Community Manager at PokerNews, and Social Media Manager at RunItUp.

Poker pro and coach Matt Hunt returns to the show to talk deep poker strategy, with an emphasis on multiway pots and postflop ICM.

Our latest poker strategy video, reviewing Andrew’s ACR Sunday Special win, is now available from The Nitcast Store.

GTO Wizard AI has just received a new update: ICM Postflop Solutions!

This new feature will allow you to:

Study ICM solutions for any postflop scenario, instantly.

Dominate Classic MTTs, PKOs, Mystery Bounties, Freezeouts, and Satellites.

And exploit by nodelocking ranges and taking advantage of opponents’ ICM mistakes.

Receive 10% off your GTO Wizard subscription when you use this link to sign up to GTO Wizard today and run deeper in your MTTs with GTO Wizard AI!

Matt Hunt is a professional poker player and coach. He creates courses at Solve For Why and videos, blog posts, and seminars for GTO Wizard. Matt previously appeared on Episode 73.