The Official Red Chip Poker Podcast

When Black Friday hit on April 15, 2011, Kristin Wilson sprang into action, using her unique skill set to start helping online poker pros in the US relocate to countries more hospitable to poker, like Canada and Costa Rica. Several years later, she is still at it, having relocated thousands of players. She helps with everything from finding an apartment to moving, customs, establishing bank accounts other important financial arrangements, and a host of other deceivingly complex aspects of moving to a foreign country as a professional online poker player. Get an inside look on how poker relocation is done on this week's podcast.

What goes on behind the scenes from a poker dealer's perspective? Doug Hull interviews his friend Nathan on this week's podcast bring you insights from the lifestyle of top dealer in Las Vegas. Nathan isn't just an in-demand dealer, he's also a semi-pro player. He shares an unfiltered view of the ups and downs of life dealing the biggest games in Vegas all the way down to $1/$2. Join us to get a view poker players rarely get, and are sure to appreciate.

What information does a donk bet communicate to you? Ed Miller joins us this week to outline his five different categories of donk bets, and how to pick up on the information embedded within to make optimal decisions. The donk bet is a disruptive play, and understanding the motivations behind that disruption are going to be key when planning your post-flop line.

We welcome Dustin 'Oblioo' Goldklang on the podcast for his first appearance, and the subject is pot odds, equity and equity realization. These are fundamental concepts every poker player must know, and many players are familiar with. Whether you're new to the game or have these ideas under your belt, there's value to be had with Goldklang's detailed breakdown of how odds and equity factor in to a winning poker strategy. For a perspective on universal poker concepts from a coach and pro, don't miss this episode.

Range advantage is a key concept in poker strategy, and two of the game's great thinkers introduce the idea to our listeners on this week's podcast. Christian Soto and Doug Hull -- both Red Chip Poker founders, authors, coaches and pro players -- talk about range advantage in a way that should be accessible for any level of player. Understanding who has range advantage and what that means is a modern poker must in terms of skills you need under your belt. Listen to Soto and Hull use hand examples to illustrate range advantage for players eager to know more on the subject.

Avoiding psychological traps in poker is a required component of a winning strategy. In our search for tactics we often overlook mental game to our peril. Dr. Tricia Cardner is on the podcast this week to help you steer clear of common mental game leaks that have ruined scores of players before you. Don't be one of them. Listen close and take heed to the good doctor's advice.

GTO. Three letters that every poker player needs to know in the modern poker world. You may have heard of game theory optimal play, you may even comprehend what it is on a basic level. But have you integrated it into your game? That's the question and Adam Jones, also known as 'W34z3l', is on the podcast this week to discuss. He helps people understand how game theory optimal fundamentals work, why they're worth learning, where they can generate profit in your game and this isn't just for high stakes players. Here's the do's and don'ts of applying GTO strategies to your small stakes poker game.

Knowing how to play with 30BB or less is crucial for winning tournaments. You might not find yourself in this spot all that often in cash games, but you will commonly find yourself short-stacked on your journey to the final table. On this week's podcast, accomplished tournament player and coach Jordan Young sits down with Christian Soto to discuss playing with 30BB or less in MTTs.

The Red Chip Poker podcast is not the only thing Zac Shaw hosts. He has also run a successful home poker game for the last 12 years. The home game has been successful in the sense that its attendees have fun, the game goes off regularly, and has been a great proving ground for the strategy concepts he learns here at Red Chip. In this episode, he gives a densely packed rundown on the various aspects that have made for a successful home game over the years, hoping to inspire you to host your own and grow this great game we all love.

Doug Hull coaches many players, and he finds that while most students come to him with a solid pre-flop strategy, their post-flop skills need serious work, particularly around c-betting. Far too many players are c-betting flops close to 100% of the time. In this episode, Hull outlines the reasons why this is a losing strategy, how to a adjust to a winning strategy, and how to exploit other players who are c-betting too many flops.

High-roller and in-demand coach Matt Berkey is back on the podcast, and this episode starts with an in-depth discussion on range merging. What is a merged range, and how can we use it to balance our play and keep our opponents guessing? Berkey gives his advice on this topic, as well as a breakdown of his overall thought process while playing a hand. Take notes, because Berkey is dropping solid gold insights into the mind of a top-level pro.

Matt Berkey has amassed millions in tournament winnings. He plays high stakes cash so competitively, some games stopped inviting him. We're lucky to speak with him this week about his training method and style of play. Like Red Chip Poker co-founder Christian Soto, with whom he closely collaborates, Berkey is a fan of challenging conventional poker wisdom, and exploiting entire populations of players by getting inside their heads.

Microstakes players dream of moving up to higher levels online, where serious money can be made. But how do you rise from 25NL to 200NL? Mike Gano has done it, and he's on the podcast this week giving specific strategies for moving up in online poker.

Hypnotherapist and poker mental game coach Dan Heskett is on the podcast this week dispensing wisdom on developing a winning mindset for tournament players. His advice on approaching the game with a disciplined, focused mindset has translated into poker profits for many of his students. In this episode, you'll hear some of his best advice on honing your mental game to a well-oiled winning machine.

How do you build a bankroll as a poker player? Should bankroll even matter to you? And if it does, how do you manage to grow it and avoid going bust? Seasoned live player and coach Doug Hull is on the podcast this week to answer all your questions on bankroll management.

Bet sizing is your friend in poker. But "always bet the same amount" has become somewhat ingrained as a stratagem for many players. In this episode, James "SplitSuit" Sweeney responds to the question "Should I Always Use the Same Bet Size?" to explain why deviation is sometimes very important.

Legendary poker player, author and coach Tommy Angelo joins us this week for a discussion about his new book, Painless Poker. The book is focused on mental game and dealing with pain in poker, using an imaginary poker clinic featuring characters embodying seven archetypes of poker players. Inspired by a hand history that's almost too painful to review, Angelo's insight into dealing with pain transcends poker and delivers real life lessons.

Luke Haward is back on the podcast for a discussion about the independent chip model (ICM) and how it relates to final table dynamics. The value of our tournament stack varies based on the size of the pay jumps and our stack size relative to the other players at the table. Understanding how this affects how you should approach strategy at the final table will give you a much better shot at taking the whole tournament down.

Today, professional poker player Ryan Schnabel is a core member of the Red Chip Poker community. But his story stretches back to the early days of online poker, where he quickly rose in the ranks to playing $50/$100 limit versus household names in poker. He learned no limit, became a Supernova Elite and crushed online tournaments, and then was crushed when Black Friday hit. Through struggles on and off the felt, his dedication to the game never wavered, and today you'll find him grinding live games at a healthy profit. This is his story.

The triple barrel bluff is one of the most feared moves in poker. They're feared by players that face them, and they're feared by many players who are too intimidated or uninformed to make them. On this week's podcast, Mike Gano breaks down the myriad strategic concepts that come together to make emptying the clip on the river a profitable move. Listen up and you'll know when and how players are triple barrel bluffing to their advantage.

Poker room promotions like bad beat jackpots, high hand bonuses, and time-based free-rolls bring locals and tourists alike in to fill seats and generate action. And if you've ever sat in these games, you know players are constantly talking about them, and adjusting their play, often in counterintuitive ways. How do we adjust strategically, if at all? Doug Hull is on the podcast this week to break it down.

Aggression is one of poker's most powerful tools for profit. But with great power comes great responsibility, and as we add more aggression into our game, we'll often be tempted to use it too often or in the wrong spots. In this episode, host Zac Shaw gets coached by James "SplitSuit" Sweeney on ways to tame the over-aggressive tendencies causing a recent downswing. And Sweeney shares a bit about his own struggles with tempering aggression in his poker career development.

Aggressive poker is winning poker. In this episode, join coach & co-founder James "SplitSuit" Sweeney and host Zac Shaw as they discuss how they integrated more and more aggression into their games, with profitable results. SplitSuit shares his personal story as an online player grinding his way up the stakes, while Shaw relates his past year studying aggression to build a bigger win rate at Live $1/$2 NL. If you're looking to win bigger by understanding 3-betting, barreling, bluffing and more, this is a must-listen.

Luke Haward joins us for a discussion all about staking in poker. When a player is staked, their buy-ins are provided by a backer, often for a 50/50 split of profits, or some other agreed-upon revenue share. In return, the player who is staked offloads the risk of losing, gets access to a big bankroll, plus they get coaching and oversight that brings out the best in their game. Staking has steadily grown in popularity and Haward is here to break it down.

People don't enter the card room to make successful c-bets. They come to win stacks. And that happens when there are flop fireworks — both players hit with strong hands and go to war. This week, Doug Hull discusses how he developed and used Flop Falcon to analyze these spots to find an extra edge.

Do I need a poker coach? Am I at the right spot in my game development to get coaching? How do I find a coach? How does coaching work, exactly? These questions and more are answered in this week's episode by James "SplitSuit" Sweeney, a man uniquely qualified to opine on coaching, as he's had over 500 students over the years.

What does $12,000 at $1/$2 look like? Red Chip Poker co-founder, coach, author and software developer Doug Hull has seen it come to fruition in just 300 hours. He shares his story, starting with moving to Vegas and dealing with non-poker financial challenges. He searched for and found his dream poker room at the Mirage, where he was one of the most over-prepared, over-skilled and over-rolled competitor. This is the story of profiting in top percentile of $1/$2 players.

Are you learning with the power of a poker mastermind? James "SplitSuit" Sweeney discusses the many merits of regular meet-ups with other poker players to talk strategy. Whether led by coaches or players, the perspective and knowledge gained is invaluable.

This episode is specific and nerdy. Online players listen up. In this episode, James "SplitSuit" Sweeney will teach you how to make optimal decisions vs. isolation raises from opponents by turning their HUD stats into a range. Online players should not miss his tips on which stats to focus on, and how to build an accurate range from them.

Doug Hull is a true poker polymath: co-founder of this site, coach, author, grinder of $1/$2 NL... and now, poker software developer. His new app Flop Falcon gives a more information-dense view of poker's most important street, and gives players new insight into how ranges hit or miss any given flop. In this episode, we talk about how the software works, and how it can be applied to build a strategic edge.

What moves are pro poker players using to beat you? James "SplitSuit" Sweeney joins us to discuss three of eight moves he's assembled into a new 'Professional Poker Plays' free email course, available at redchippoker.com/plays. Classic poker pro moves like bombing over limpers and attacking raisers are only profitable if one understands the strategies behind them, and that's what this podcast delves into.

The most popular poker strategy topics of 2016 are dissected with James "SplitSuit" Sweeney and host Zac Shaw in our first episode of the new year. Get a bead on where poker strategy is going in 2017 by reviewing last year's successful strategies. The top-trafficked content of the year covered fixing poker leaks, playing more hands, hand reading and moving up. We riff on the strategic nuance to each aspect.

Attacking limpers is a fundamental aspect of playing power poker. Instead of being a passive player trying to smash a cheap flop, we want to be aggressive and apply maximum pressure when our opponents show weakness. James "SplitSuit" Sweeney and Doug Hull discuss the specifics around how to size bets, manage table image, and more regarding raising a string of limpers.

James "SplitSuit" Sweeney and Doug Hull answer the question, "Has 3-Betting Ruined Poker?" on this episode of the Red Chip Poker podcast. You don't need to listen long before you hear that the answer is "no." The "why" is much more interesting. The pair plumb the depths of fear felt by so many amateur and unstudied poker players, and discuss how it can be exploited.

Luke Haward is the newest coach at Red Chip Poker, and in this episode we interview him about overhauling our MTT games. We focus on pre-flop leak-busting, the subject of Haward's debut Red Chip PRO video, but the discussion reaches wide and far into subjects like staking, ICM, leveraging stack sizes, bubble and final table dynamics, and more. It's a must-listen for any MTT player.

Hand reading is consistently the most frequently requested topic for our podcast. In this episode, James "SplitSuit" Sweeney answers five questions submitted by Red Chippers on the subject of hand reading. He covers hand reading LAGs and loose passives, and how to study hand reading skills off-table to develop profitable intuition at the tables.

A lot of players wonder what it takes to play poker as a full-time professional. James "SplitSuit" Sweeney dedicates an entire episode to answering the question, "Should I go pro?" Doing the math and being brutally honest with your strengths and weaknesses are just the tip of the iceberg on this challenging endeavor that is not for everyone. www.redchippoker.com/61

Tommy Angelo's The Elements of Poker makes many poker player's top 10 lists for poker books, and it hardly contains any strategy tips. Nonetheless, as coach Doug Hull says, absorbing the poker life lessons it contains will make you an immeasurably better player. He highlights some of his favorite "elements" in this podcast, which may leave you running to pick up a copy of Angelo's classic.

New Red Chip Poker coach and mid-stakes online crusher Brad Lampman joins us for a discussion on building complete ranges. Learn how Lampman constructs and analyzes his ranges in range visualization and GTO solver software. Hear him walk step by step through his study process. Get to know the ins and outs of how and why we build ranges.

Christian Soto joins us for a lively, wide-ranging discussion of how deviating from conventional poker wisdom can be a source of uncommon profit at any stake. Soto explains the strategy he's going to expound on in a webinar called "I'll Name This Strategy Later". Soto discusses the mindset necessary to be a top-percentile winner, by understanding the state of the game and where other players lie within it.

Can you win online poker without using a HUD? James "SplitSuit" Sweeney answers a forum member's questions the impact not using a HUD might have on win rate. The key is not to think about whether or not you can win, but whether or not you are optimizing your win rate. As long as your HUD skills are solid, Sweeney generally sees little reason to give up an information edge in a game of information.

For all the live $1/$2 NLHE players out there, Hull and Shaw have the podcast for you. Action-packed with missions for you to execute at the card room, this episode reveals some of the techniques used by winning $1/$2 players to profitably deviate from ABC poker. Build your low stakes edge simply by listening, then watch these techniques pay off at the table as you execute them.

Peter "Carroters" Clarke wrote the book on 6-max. Literally. His 'The Grinder's Manual: A Complete Course in Online No Limit Holdem 6-Max Cash Games' is a 500+ page strategic powerhouse, and we dig deep into its wisdom for our listeners. After this episode, you'll be able to approach today's six-handed tables with a complete toolkit of workable strategies honed over time by a true 6-max sensei.

Mike Gano joins us to discuss his webinar 'How to Play the Blinds'. He brings tons of +EV advice for players at all levels. We lose more money from the small and big blind than any position in poker. Some of this is natural, some of it comes from leaks. Gano gives both a general framework and specific techniques players can use to make more profitable decisions in this awkward position.

Matt Bodnar from the Science of Success podcast joined us to discuss his insights into the science and psychology of success in poker and in life. A venture capitalist as well as an avid poker player, Bodnar's podcast features interviews with luminaries in many different fields, from neuroscience to business. He talks about tilt, ego, goals, planning and mental game topics any winning poker player will appreciate. Get the full shownotes at www.redchippoker.com/53

When your opponent picks up on the fact that you're exploiting their frequencies with aggression, how should you react? James "SplitSuit" Sweeney breaks down the common reactions you're likely to face from thinking villains, and how to adjust to their adjustments. He explains how to stay one step ahead and continue exploiting their reaction to your 3-bets and other aggression. Get the full shownotes at www.redchippoker.com/52

Today we are joined by Fausto Valdez, one of the most aggressive Red Chippers out there. Fausto opens up about his journey through poker, moving between limits, and how his naturally-aggressive style has impacted his game. Zac and Fausto have a great discussion about the differences between stakes and all sorts of powerful advice for players considering poker as a profession. Get the full shownotes at www.redchippoker.com/51

Should you get that seat change button? Should you leave this table and look for another one? Is this the right game for you? James "SplitSuit" Sweeney and Doug Hull sit down and discuss this subject. Topics include what makes a good vs bad game, changing seats, socializing to create good situations, and more. Get the full shownotes at www.redchippoker.com/50

Today we answer two questions that we commonly get from players newer to cash games. James and Doug discuss buying in with a smaller stack sizes and then wrap up the conversation by answering a question about cashing out (when, why, etc.). If you are a seasoned cash game player you can likely skip this episode, but if you aren't 100% sure on this, tune in and enjoy! Get the full shownotes at www.redchippoker.com/49

Poker is a complex game, but even outside of general strategy there are things many players do that just leave money on the table. Doug and James sit down and discuss some of the common ways they see players leaving value on the table through the lens of things like straddling, checking dark, rebuying, etc. If you play live poker especially, this episode is a must-listen before your next session. Get the full shownotes at www.redchippoker.com/48