The Official Red Chip Poker Podcast

Doug Hull has been grinding $1/$2 professionally in Las Vegas for years, and now he's ready to share the ugly the truth about going pro. He's seen the poker scene chew up and spit out 'baby pros' who come to town with a few buyins and a dream, and his message is "Beware." His bottom line? If you have the skills to excel in poker, you can profit more by applying those skills to non-poker career pursuits, and then you might have the bankroll to retire early and play poker professionally like Hull does.

Lee Davy has experienced poker from all sides, as a player, writer and everything in between. Today we discuss how his passion for poker led him to a long a fulfilling career in the gambling industry. In addition to his widely read work with gambling industry site CalvinAyre.com, he hosts The Alcohol & Addiction Podcast, part of a larger mission to spread the word about sobriety. He talks about it all on this week's podcast -- check out the story behind how your average poker player became a larger-than-life personality focused on doing good in the world.

We like looking down at ace king, but there's often the underlying feeling of dread that decisions are about to get tricky. It's true, ace king is arguably poker's most complex hand to play, and that's why James 'SplitSuit' Sweeney and Adam 'w34z3l' Jones wrote an entire book on it. This week, we share an chapter from Optimizing Ace King: The Right Strategy for Playing Poker's Most Complex Starting Hand. Enjoy!

The importance of exploitative play can easily get lost in the modern GTO world. But as Adam "W34z3l" Jones explains this week in an excerpt from one of our PRO Membership videos, the fundamentals of exploitative play go largely unstudied. In this episode, Jones presents a fully integrated strategic framework for approaching exploitative strategies and tactics in poker. It's accessible and advanced, so grab a notepad and get ready to learn!

Recreational, unstudied players love to limp, especially in live games. Us clued-in players know that 'never limp' is an edict best respected. But when is it actually OK to limp? This week, we take a page out of our CORE training platform to give you a quick lesson four very specific spots where limping makes sense.

When faced with a table full of aggression, what is the most effective counter-strategy? James 'SplitSuit' Sweeney joins us to give his answers to your questions on how to beat tables full of players who are unafraid to raise, re-raise, and shove.

What do I buy in for? What stakes do I play for? These may be some of the most fundamental questions in poker, but just like any other fundamental, they deserve well-reasoned, deeply thought-out approach. Luckily, James 'SplitSuit' Sweeney is here to answer your questions regarding how much cash to convert into chips on your way to the felt.

The river doesn't need to be a scary street. This week, get your footing with James "SplitSuit" Sweeney as we answer member questions about thin value, showdowns, and all things fifth street.

Sheree Bykofsky joins us this week to discuss her new book The Kaizen Of Poker: How To Continuously Improve Your Hold'Em Game. We discuss using checklists to make sure you're plugging leaks and playing your A game, as well as the mental and cultural barriers to taking the game more seriously with study. Enjoy another wide-ranging poker strategy discussion on this week's podcast.

Mike Gano has been a pro and coach for years, and he's still out there grinding, learning and teaching at serious stakes. We take stock of the modern online poker landscape, strategic considerations for new styles of play, and where the world's top players are finding their edge in an age of unprecedented information and computing power. Enjoy this wide-ranging discussion with a top-tier poker mind.

What you put in your body has a direct correlation to whether you play your A game or your C game. We all know how valuable that difference is. Paul Salter, a nutrition coach to athletes, bodybuilders and poker players, breaks down the small steps we can take to make big long-term changes in our lives and games. A poker player himself, Salter gives tons of advice for optimizing your nutrition and getting a biological edge over less healthy competition.

Pro/coach contributor Fausto Valdez has a keen sense of when and how to make adjustments in any poker environment. We talk to him about his successful tournament grind at this year's WSOP, his return to crushing cash games and coaching up-and-coming poker pros. Plus, listen in as Fausto walks through a hand he played with host Zac Shaw at this year's Red Chip Poker meetup in Las Vegas.

This week's podcast features a hand history breakdown provided by Adam Jones. Lots of strategy concepts are discussed, primarily around planning your bet sizing across three streets. The hand was originally submitted to the Red Chip Poker forum by one of our members, generated considerable discussion, and eventually found its way into our much-acclaimed CORE study program as a Level III lesson. For $5/week, CORE provides all the tools you need in structured lessons to help you analyze your own hands, and to take your game to the next level.

Andreas “Rayo” Kniep provided the Red Chip Poker community with a sweat in this year's WSOP Main Event, running deep into Day 5 and a 173rd place finish. Rayo, a student of RCP coach Luke Haward, has been playing poker for less than two years. His introduction to poker came when his marathon-running hobby was interrupted by a hip injury. Rayo reveals how that starting point eventually saw him at the TV table in the Rio.

This week, host Zac Shaw talks about the biggest pot he ever played at $1/$2, and in the process details over a dozen ideas you can use to analyze your own big hands. Rather than focus on breaking down his strategic decisions, Zac invites you to analyze the hand along with him, and encourages you to try many different methods to better learn from your big hands, win or lose.

This week, Greg Vail, our resident split pot specialist, joins us to answer your questions from the forum about Big O and O8. He's celebrating the release of his new book, Scoop! Big O and PLO8: Winning High Low Concepts for the Hold'Em Mind. Written by Vail and edited by Doug Hull, you'll be the smartest person at your split pot table upon digesting its contents. Heck, you'll probably be the smartest split pot player at your table after listening to this podcast!

Author, consultant and poker player Eileen Sutton has been getting deeper and deeper into the grind, taking on star coach Tommy Angelo and distilling his wisdom down to a strategy to win in the underground NYC poker scene. We take you into her world and mindset on this week's wide-ranging podcast interview.

How do you beat a player that's much better than you? The answer is: Run good. But seriously, there are some winning strategies to taking on tough opponents, and one of the toughest is James 'SplitSuit' Sweeney, who joins us to talk about how you can beat players like... well, like him. Since host Zac Shaw is about to head out and play with Sweeney and the other coaches at the 4th Annual Vegas meetup, he needs all the help he can get in this department. The duo signs off with news on the future of the podcast and discusses the PRO and CORE membership as Red Chip Poker heads into its 5th year of helping poker players of all walks of life improve their games and their lives.

Where does your profit come from in poker? This week, Ed Miller explains why most players get the answer to this question wrong. And don't worry, he shares the right answers too. This episode will get you out of your comfort zone and into the strategic concepts that are actually responsible for you taking money off the table in the long-term.

You hear the pros talking about "balancing your range" all the time, but what exactly does that mean in practice? In this episode, coach and cash game grinder Fausto Valdez shares his secrets for thinking about your range and the ranges of your opponents. How do we become less exploitable, while exploiting others at the same time? Valdez walks host Zac Shaw through a $1/$2 hand he played to dissect each decision and coach recreational players to think more like a pro when it comes to ranges.