As we know from being around poker players and the scene, the persona we see at the table is usually a trivial portion of our opponent’s full life, or occasionally, even a completely deceptive image. Professional poker player Ryan Schnabel, who can be seen in a tank top, tie, and[…]
Author: persuadeo
Poker player and low stakes coach.
Construction and its Discontents, Part I
In one sense, the day someone becomes my student is the day they should fire me. Why? Because I supply them with the question that ultimately answers all poker questions:What is a bet?Not just any bet, mind you – although we start with that – but a bet in poker.[…]
Vegas Matinée
Up, high among the shadowy beams of the ceiling or an unclear memory, I see or imagine a fan spinning so deliberately that I’d be wiser to say it was turning.An illusion of memory, though – and of a place I wasn’t sure I wanted to visit. In reality, light[…]
The Spirit of Solve For Why, Conclusion
The participants and assorted hangers-on, including your shady blogging servant, were listening. Christian Soto, cash game expert and tournament debauch, was wedged into one end of the living room sofa, a contradiction in posture and attitude. His arm was comfortably, even carelessly thrown across the black leather back of the[…]
Poker and Conscience
Recently a friend of mine sent me a photo he had taken of poker’s favorite villain. “I didn’t say hi,” he mentioned.No, it wasn’t Phil Hellmuth.Chris Ferguson is who I am talking about. Now smiles fade. The former owner, together with Howard Lederer, of Full Tilt Poker, not the most[…]
The Spirit of Solve For Why, Part II
I grabbed the keys from Steve: time for hospital. Downstairs, Jason was suffering. Earlier that morning, he had identified a ring of pain around his lower abdomen. I instinctively felt this was not gastric from the area he pointed out – yet how could it not be the Mexican Journalist’s[…]
The Spirit of Solve For Why, Part I
Matt Berkey is a sinewy man with a lean, slightly bulbous skull, shaven to the uneven surface his pock marked and rough face allows. His mouth, lined with a strong nasolabial fold, is naturally serious. When he grows his hair out, it clumps dense and brown and neat, vaguely Briton,[…]
All Vlogs Revealed: Sheils
A new generation of poker players is creating thousands of hours of previously rare poker content: The personal poker video log, aka vlog. In this series, I will attempt to review them all.“It’s difficult to talk to the camera,” admits Brandon Sheils, a once and now again aspiring poker vlogger.[…]
The Void and the Man, Conclusion
The screenwriters are gone. I’m alone at a long metal table in a back room of a café with my laptop. The meeting had in fact been successful, but it was short. Two members with work scheduled to present didn’t come. While the group had deliberated, I stared at the[…]