Imagine Kalshi adding nosebleed heads up poker tables to the app tomorrow.
That was betfair poker in the mid 2000s.
BetFair was already where every serious gambler in the world lived. the biggest sports bettors, the whales, all of them.
By adding poker, especially nosebleed heads up tables, they served up an endless supply of rich gamblers to be slaughtered by specialists.
Best thing that ever happened to my personal economy. Lasted about a year.
Early online poker had this genius feature where sites would freeze for “updates” with no warning. Screen locks, text appears, come back in 2 hours.
One of these still haunts me.
The biggest whale was an Italian guy. I'm not using anything close to his real name here, some of this is sensitive. Lets just call him W.
Word was he was one of the biggest sports bettors in Europe. and that most of his games were fixed before he ever bet them. bankroll somewhere in the high 8, low 9 figures. Aggro, endless money, and not a dummy. Understood the game just enough to be dangerous.
Someone once showed me a photo that was supposedly him. Short guy, white hair, blazer. Your favorite uncle, but with a dickish side. Full Jose Mourinho vibes, if you know soccer.
And my fortune against him was never good. For months he bled me dry.
Playing nosebleeds against a fish with unlimited money who half knows what he's doing is way harder than it sounds. You get pushed around. I was not having fun.
Yeah yeah, i know. Scared money makes no money.
Then one beautiful day it turns. First time ever I'm having the best of him at $100/$200. Up 5 or 6 buyins, he's on full monkey tilt, and he kindly asks to move up to $250/$500.
Sure pal. Make my day.
He sits $50k, I sit $25k. first hand he opens, I click it back with AQ, he insta ships, i snap call. His QJ suited never gets there. Another $25k in the piggy bank.
Now up around $150k, grinding back months of losses, probably another $300k to go. But at the pace this is going, I tell myself this can be fast.
Life could be good again. I could sleep. Smile. Maybe even enjoy sex without his stupid Mourinho face popping into my head.
And just like that the screen freezes. Site is now in upgrade. Expected back in 2 hours.
I fucking lose it. Find myself on their customer service line yelling at some poor rep, demanding compensation for ruining my life.
May or may not have said the words "I want $300k credited to my account right now."
Not proud of it. Obviously no help.
Weeks later W shows back up in the lobby. Fully untilted, business as usual.
Linus Loeliger is often spotted at the NL2k tables during the summer.
"Are cash games dead?" the commentators panic.
“Get so good at poker that you playing $10/$20 sparks an industry-wide recession panic,” Patrick Howard mulled over.
"He's been playing 100/200 recently on CoinPoker," CoinPoker took the opportunity to mention . "He's been playing $100/$200 recently on CoinPoker, GazzyB and Ryan Riske broke down some of the hands in a video on our channel a few days ago."
– There's an interesting convo to be had regarding the evolution of private games in casinos, but I think before it's had everyone should be aware of the history before they assume cash games are headed to hell in a hand basket.
I moved to Vegas in '08. At that time the only regular 25/50+ was hosted by Jamie Gold & Gabe Thaler in the Venetian salon. It was private. The Bobby's Room list as well as the high side (10/20+) was controlled by the floor which was largely micro managed by the players via tips & fake stacks preserving seats.
At the Wynn one fateful night, Zach, a legendary whale that you'll read all about in Garrett Adelstein's new book, wandered into a $25/$25 game, dumped $250k and spent the next year listing games with only those lucky 8 who happened to be in the right place at the right time.
Hell, even $2/$5/$10 has flourished with oversight. Hollis Barnhart helped the organize Trashtalk Tues at the old Hard Rock lounge. We'd often see upwards of 5 tables and he managed the list. Eventually it became 4 or 5 nights a week at various casinos, even playing host to the Bellagio bandit during his epic binge (a story for another time) and lasted well into the mid 2010's.
Point is poker has always and will always require a pool of players seeking a thrill while knowingly taking the worst of it, and in return they wish to be catered to. Private games aren't new and if you, as a pro, have never had access or believe it's somehow unfair, I'm sorry to say it's a you problem. Life isn't fair and poker isn't a meritocracy. Playing poker professionally isn't just about knowing the best strategy for the game itself, but the best strategies for the game within the game as well.
"No it wasnt," Timofey Kuznetsov disagreed in the comments. "2/4k+ mix in Bobbys was first come first serve for decades."
– Ya mix has always been different at nose bleeds bc the money factor alone largely kept most out.
"We need you back TT 🐐," Martin Zamani said to Truteller.
This summer, the expensive Mix game ran almost every day at Aria.
Patrik Antonius put his impressive stack on display in one of the final sessions.
"People who play mixed really are a special breed," concluded David Paredes . "I was in line to register for an event WSOP and I ran into an old school pro. Before I got to the front of the line I was told bad beat stories in at least 5 different game formats."
"They are all insane," agreed David "ODB" Baker. "and yes I’m removing myself from 'them'."
It was wild they were all told in such a frenzy too like he had them stored up. Playing mix for decades really must mess with the mind.
– Hey guys, for the next six weeks I will be hosting a radio show on Sirius XM called Poker Weekly, every Saturday at 8pm EST on channel 82, Mad Dog Sports Radio.
Sirius hit me before the World Series about a trial type run, and if they like it they will cultivate more poker stuff, which would give other players looks to grow the game we love, and make some dough lol.
This is a great honor for me, I never thought I would be doing stuff like this. We have some great guests lined up, what I could really use from you guys are some questions, and some hands.
A big part of the show will be breaking hands down people send in, or maybe at some point we take live call ins also. Either comment here, or if say we have an insane torch on our hands but we still would like some insight, feel free to dm me.
Same goes if trying to be a guest, hit me up. Thank you so much, hope everyone is well and once again it's Poker Weekly, the next six Saturday nights at 8pm EST , Sirius XM radio (or the Sirius XM app) channel 82 Mad Dog Sports Radio let's work.
The first broadcast took place on July 17th. In it, Nick briefly introduced himself – he discovered gambling at age 11 in a billiards club and has been playing poker since age 15. The guests were poker enthusiast and well-known US sports commentator Nick Wright and Nick's old friend and regular of private games, Taylor von Kriegenberg.
You can listen to the episode on Twitter.
Nick recalled being invited to Molly's Game, among other things. He tipped $30,000, but was never invited back.
Many players followed Shaun Deeb's example and shared their WSOP entry statistics. As a reminder, Shaun made 122 bracelet tournament entries over the summer.
Jeremy Ausmus made 44 entries, but wondered how many entries other players made.
