Garrett Adelstein's new book, Beneath the Cards, went on sale on September 1st.
In anticipation of this event, Garrett went through all the well-known podcasts:
- He spent more than 3 hours in the company of Doug Polk (they released one podcast and then released another).
- He spent 2.5 hours answering questions from the hosts of Mechanics of Poker.
- He spent 1.5 hours on Table 1 Podcast
- He spent 1.5 hours speaking to Poker.org.
Garrett also answered questions from GipsyTeam and Reddit users. We decided to leave the video content for his most devoted fans.
— You've shared a couple of crazy stories on social media: the time someone tried to rob you of $650,000, and the bet with Alan Keating. Will you share another similar one?
"There are so many of them, it's impossible to count them. But the story of the flips against Keating at the Bellagio had a sequel...
We were betting $20,000 a flip. I lost $300,000, then came out ahead by $320,000. And then Alan decides to call it a day. It's 3 a.m.—time to relax!
Of course, I didn't go to bed—I sat down to play heads-up with the top reg and took three stacks off him. After losing $60,000, my opponent left the table. It was time to jump into the "main game," with a $2,000 big blind. There, I won another $200,000: I flopped trips, and my opponent didn't fold his aces.
By 10am I was $500,000 up. Instead of sleeping off my hangover, I hung out on the Strip all day, then went to EDC (Electric Daisy Carnival – one of the largest electronic music festivals in the world, held in Vegas) for the first time and stayed there all night.
This festival was the most vivid experience of my life. I knew nothing about electronic music back then, but I've been going there almost every year since. I've always struggled with mental health, and to this day, nothing puts me in a more positive frame of mind than this genre. Whether it's concerts, festivals, or tracks on Spotify, electronic music remains one of my main passions."
— What's a typical day like for a high-stakes live tournament regular? Do you schedule a minimum number of hours of play? What's the chance of seeing you on Hustler streams anytime soon?
"Writing a book is an all-consuming process. Over the past four years, I've only played 5-10 sessions because I was working on Beneath the Cards. So now there's little left of my former life, when I played 2-3 streams a week and spent the rest of my time analyzing hands or playing GTO solvers."
Regular practice has always been a key component—it's how I felt confident in the game and combated anxiety. I'll still stream from time to time, but definitely not on Hustler Casino Live."
— Have you already made up your mind?
"Yes. This is a final decision and a principled position."
— What poker software did you use to improve?
"I'm an old-school guy. I've always used PioSolver. I've completed thousands of solutions; that's where I did all my theoretical training."
— Did the game help you cope with anxiety?
"On the contrary ( laughs ). Poker brought a crazy amount of stress."
— How do you fight it?
"Marathon running saves me. Few things calm the mind as much as a three-hour run."
— When did the idea to write a book first come to you? What inspired it?
"Part of me has been looking for a way out of poker for a long time. I've always dreamed of writing! After J4, the idea of writing a memoir became much more commercially sensible. But it's the hardest thing I've ever done in my life; nothing even comes close. It's only a short time before I share my work with the world, and it's incredibly exciting.
We covered the legendary J4 hand and subsequent developments in detail on our website."
— What's the process for writing a book? Did you pitch stories and have the editor compile the final version? Or did you sit down and write it yourself?
"I rewrote the draft several times before showing it to anyone. Those were incredibly scary days, because I had no idea if I'd come up with anything worthwhile. In the end, I hired a great editor...
Writing a decent book is difficult enough. But bringing the manuscript to the level I demanded of myself is a whole other level. Such work requires an incredible amount of time."
— You said there would be a separate chapter about J4 in the book. Are these memoirs, or will we be reading new thoughts on that scandal?
"I tell almost everything in the book for the first time; for example, I analyze my own mistakes that I made in this story.
There will also be a separate appendix where all the evidence, most of which has never been published, is analyzed. I suspect that when people read it, it will come as a shock!"
— Will you send Robbie a signed copy?
By the way, she tweeted me that she's already ordered a copy. I'd be happy to sign it the next time we meet! 😉
Garrett provided us with an excerpt from the book, which we're publishing below! You can purchase the e-book or paperback on Garrett's website.
Read ReadReturning to work after the wedding was tough. It was a striking contrast between the blissful week before and the poker world, where everyone was fighting for themselves. Over the next few months, I suffered a $500,000 downswing. When you get kicked in the balls every time you step on stage, playing poker isn't much fun. Frustration began to mount…
In December 2021, I promised to come for three days to film High Stakes Poker, one of the world's premier poker shows. I didn't want to go—the burnout was too severe. But the contract was more important than money: I had to hop on a plane and fly to Sin City.
I tried to clear my mind. And what could be better than a pre-game ritual? I ate a healthy breakfast, had a great workout, and then meditated in my hotel room. I had a chance to compete against the guys I grew up watching – Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Tom Dwan, and Patrik Antonius. And I was glad I did.
Early in the first day of the $500/$1,000 game, I went on a huge bluff against Negreanu.
The hand started with me raising from the lowjack to $3,000. Negreanu followed up with a three-bet of $10,000. A big bet, apparently for a strong range! I four-bet $40,000 out of position. A reckless bluff, considering how strong I thought his range was. Negreanu called.
The flop and turn played check-check. On the board , the path wasn't exactly optimal, especially if I wanted to represent something like AA betting the flop and turn for value. Instead, I decided to minimize my losses, check the bad hand until it's too late, and not make things worse.
When the river came out , I was still convinced Negreanu had a strong hand and wouldn't fold. The plan remained the same—throw in the towel. And the next moment, I bluff-shoved, putting $179,000 into an $82,000 pot. It was a kind of confusion that still defies explanation. My opponent quickly called with pocket tens.
I got wiped out. The $440,000 pot was a disaster, possibly the worst hand of my life. I never let it go over the next two days, so my level of play didn't improve much, to put it mildly.
When filming ended, I realized I'd gotten pretty lucky—I'd "only" lost $400,000 in such a high-stakes game. But what bothered me most wasn't the lost cash, but my inability to make a name for myself in the poker scene. It felt like a repeat of my Survivor debacle.
Read Read"The audience thought I was the best," flashed through my mind. "And here I am, under the spotlight, handing out chips. I'm nothing but a fake..."
Throughout my streaming career, I've cultivated the image of a top No-Limit Hold'em player. If I'm not that good at what I've spent half my life practicing, then who am I? And what do I contribute to people and the world?
I've spent my whole life running from impostor syndrome and using sheer willpower to overcome my constant self-doubt. But poker works differently. No matter how hard you try, you won't always be able to play your best. Sometimes you'll have to settle for a C-level game. And sometimes you'll lose with an A-level game.
A spot opened up, and host Brent Hanks invited me to participate in the final day of filming. I estimated the game would be worth +$50k in EV, assuming I was in the right frame of mind. But with my mental game shattered and my brain melting, I had to decline.
Instead, I got drunk at dinner with Tom Dwan and another friend, flew home the next morning with a hangover and sank into a deep depression. I quickly gained fifteen pounds. For a couple of weeks, I just lay in bed and ate everything in sight. Basically, I did the same destructive shit I thought I'd left behind.
After five years of successfully managing my emotions at and away from the table, it was a devastating relapse. I eventually recovered through exercise, hanging out with friends, and working through my irrational thoughts with my wife. However, I avoided streaming for two months: I didn't want to appear on camera until I lost the weight.
I still tried to play the role of the perfect guy, even if only subconsciously. I had no problem talking about my previous weight fluctuations—I was in great shape now, after all. I calmly talked about what a tilt machine I used to be, because I was now emotionally stable. I easily admitted to my previous mental health issues, because it was all supposedly in the past.
But the reality was different: after the failure at HSP, my mental state collapsed in an instant.
It was a theater of the absurd. Just as I'd once created a persona at the table to get paid off with the nuts, now I was lying to the world and myself, pretending my problems were behind me. But depression wasn't in the rearview mirror. Alas, I hadn't realized everything yet.
Naturally, Reddit users were also most interested in the J4 evidence that Garrett teased.
Garrett hosted an AMA, and answered many of the questions with long answers.
— The most important question: with J4o, do we fold preflop or push in the hopes of not giving up anything later? ( Ed. – This question has now been deleted by a moderator for some reason, but Garrett's answer remains .)
Nice, the question with the most upvotes is a (pretty clever) troll. Your popularity has earned a response 😉:
The book has 10 sections plus an appendix. Part 10 is everything related to Jack-Four. It discusses all that went down behind the scenes, my (often faulty) thought processes, many missteps, and what I eventually took away from it all. The rest of the book has nothing to do with the controversy.
My hope is that critics might be able to see the human element in all of this, especially after learning about my other vulnerabilities and weaknesses. That even if you’re convinced you would have handled everything far better, you’ll at least have an understanding of why I did what I did in the days and weeks post-Jack-Four. And why I often wish I could have executed better under the microscope.
Everyone is going to want something different from Beneath the Cards. Many want crazy gambling stories. Some want to understand what allowed me to rise to the top of my field. Others want poker strategy tips. Some want every intimate detail regarding the Jack-Four controversy. Others are sick of hearing about it and are more interested in learning about the rest of my nearly 25-year career. I try to give everyone everything—all while keeping the main text around 300 pages. It wasn’t easy.
Overwhelmingly, the evidence is tucked away in several appendices. This is one of many really tough decisions I had to make with the book. But for those of you with an interest in the million-dollar question: “Did Robbi and company cheat?” rest assured, the appendices have a ton of detail and evidence, information that’s overwhelmingly never been made public. I suspect it will come as quite a shock to those who’ve followed the controversy.
Also, some of this info is better illustrated in video form. This is the motivation behind creating the documentary-style video breaking down all the Jack-Four evidence. The vast majority of the Jack-Four narrative details are only in the book (along with the rest of my story, of course). But the video works as a great companion to the book if you are interested in the evidentiary aspects. It’ll be released in late 2026 on my YouTube channel.
Some have accused me of writing a book for a cash grab. I wish. I’ve never worked harder on anything in my life over the past 4 years. I’m going to need to sell a lot of books just to break even on this baby. To call it a passion project would be quite the understatement. But after a lifetime of making plenty of money in a zero-sum world, it was time to take a hard right turn.
I know plenty more venom will be headed in my direction in the coming weeks. I think (hope?) I’m better prepared to handle it all this time around. This AMA is good practice 😁.
— Garret, you’re 21 years old and have to start your poker career over in 2026.
How would you study and how aggressive would you move up stakes?
For clarity, without the knowledge-base I have currently, I’d never even consider it. Poker in 2026 is remarkably difficult. It now mirrors many other brutally competitive fields where you’ll have to invest years and years, with no guarantee of even turning a profit, let alone make the big bucks. There are so many problems with a career in poker.
But in the hypothetical that I’m 21, broke, but miraculously have all the technical poker knowledge, soft skills, experience, and on and on that 40-year-old Garrett does—well, I suppose that would be one of the rare instances where “continuing” my career would make sense.
I’d figure out how to scrounge up 50 buy-ins for the blind level I would play. Hopefully I’d find a way to save up or borrow $5 (big blind) X (100-big-blind buy-in) X 50 (buy-ins) = $25,000 (or $10K and play $1/$2 if I had to). If saving up by working another job first wasn’t an option, I’d probably do this by connecting with an investor to give him everything he needed to understand I was really, really good at this game.
From there, I’d start grinding the very best public and private games I could wiggle my way into, probably in LA or Las Vegas. I’d use everything I’ve learned over the years to find the best spots (shorthanded, overnight games), work 80 hours a week, and avoid various pitfalls (tilt, rigged home games, overspending) through all my experience. At $2/$5, there are plenty of opportunities for sick games.
I would not like the work. At all. But I’d be desperate to get back on my feet. Interestingly, this hypothetical has plenty in common with what I did after going broke at 22, minus the insights. You learn a lot about yourself when your back is pushed up against a wall.
— What’s the biggest mindset shift that low stakes cash players ($500-$1000 buy in) should make? What’s the biggest misconception that they have?
Read ReadThat poker is about one thing. Making the big bucks (especially in live poker) isn’t about knowing the GTO solution. Or incorporating the perfect exploit against every opponent. Or game selection. Or networking/poker politics. Or the stamina to play for > 24 hours in the juiciest games. Or picking up physical tells and bet sizing patterns. It’s about all these things—and so many more.
To become great, you have to figure out the highest leverage skills in your playing environment. And then put in the (often monotonous) work of becoming elite at every one of those skillsets. For most of you in 2026, it’s probably not a great use of your time.
— How frustrating is it to now have your entire career defined by an interesting news headline?
A couple years ago, it would have bothered the hell out of me. I’m sure I wouldn’t have even answered this question. But these days, the answer is more of a mixed bag.
I talk about all this in the book, but… There are certain things that I’m always going to be very sensitive about. Tell me I suck at poker, no problem. Rolls right off my back. But if you tell me I’m not a nice guy, despite years of work finding self-love, it’s still gonna sting.
I think that’s the hardest part about the Jack-Four questions. A lot of people have 1-5% of the information, but pass judgement as if they have 100% of it. It’s the internet, they are allowed 😄.
On the other hand, Jack-Four is, in my opinion, what propelled Beneath the Cards to life. Without the incident going mainstream, I don’t think I ever would’ve believed enough people would be interested in a poker memoir for it to make sense investing years in the project. Maybe I’m wrong.
I love poker. Always have, always will. But it was time to focus on the next thing. And that next thing turned about to be the most rewarding four years of my professional life. In that way, I’m grateful to Robbi and company. I’m not sure I could have walked away from my cushy, part-time, 7-figures annually gig otherwise.
Some people think I’m a moron for not playing nice with HCL and ensuring I kept my seat in those games. I get that. But what I think that judgement misses is how little another $1-3M a year would enhance my life, if at all. Plus, I still would have needed to keep doing a job that I had grown pretty weary of. Easy for me to say given all the fortuitous breaks I’ve had in my poker career.
— Hey Garret! If J4 didn’t happen, what do you think you would be doing today? Also, any plans to return full time to streamed games?
I’d like to think I would’ve pivoted to the personal development space (or something else that I found intrinsically rewarding) in some capacity. But I’m probably lying to myself. The competition, the money, the constant stream of praise from strangers on the internet—those things wouldn’t have been easy to give up, especially without the insight I acquired in the Jack-Four aftermath.
Probably won’t return to poker full time. But I suspect I’ll continue playing high-stakes games on streams several times a year for the foreseeable future. Especially in small doses, I still can’t get enough of this shit.
— What do you think would’ve happened if you won the J4 hand?
This one is going to get so much hate, but oh well. But the answer is the exact same thing if we’re talking about my response to Jack-Four. Period.
Maybe the world wouldn’t have cared though, which of course would have created quite the Butterfly Effect: no international scandal, no book, etc.