Third Man Walking

A series of stories about poker players underreacting to seemingly noteworthy events.
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Recent WPT champion Ilyas Muradi joins Third Man Walking to discuss his improbable path to poker glory.

I learned about Muradi's story from the following articles:

Sean Chaffin: "WPT champion's journey…

Rapper, YouTuber, Live at the Bike commentator and high-stakes crusher Marc Goone joins your correspondent to talk about what he likes and dislikes about big no-limit games.

0:18 Introduction
2:25 Marc…

A rant about live private home games, and a comparison of poker with the show Survivor that leads into a discussion of whether poker requires us to lie.

0:23 Live private games and COVID
7:45 What your…

Your correspondent shares some details of the life he led before becoming a professional poker player, then recaps two big cash game sessions, $10/$20/$40 NLHE and $5/$10/$20 NLHE.

0:20 Introduction
1:…

Peter Alson joins me to discuss his new novel about poker, The Only Way to Play It.

0:21 Introduction
1:12 Peter Alson
26:05 Session review: $5/$5 No-Limit Hold-Em in San Diego County
37:04 Session revie…

Your correspondent discusses one of poker's best-known players and the training site he helped found.

0:23 Introduction
4:10 Matt Berkey (T7dd) vs. Jack Laskey (AKo)
12:08 Berkey (KxQh) vs. Chris Konval…

Live poker is shrouded in uncertainty. It often isn't clear what's happening in a given hand, or even who's winning. Your correspondent examines the implications of this uncertainty for two player ty…

Your correspondent describes his own experiences playing poker during quarantine.

0:00 Introduction / live poker vs. online poker
4:28 Private online games
13:22 Playing on apps
17:30 Cash games and meri…

Your correspondent's initial thoughts on Maria Konnikova's excellent new book "The Biggest Bluff," in which she learns how to play, and succeeds in, live tournament poker.

0:00 Introduction/COVID/podc…

Your correspondent plays the Main Event of the World Series of Poker for the first time.

0:00 Introduction
0:57 Why does everyone think they run bad in tournaments?
3:30 WSOP update
8:36 The Main Event
9:…

Your correspondent discusses cash games vs. tournaments, whether cash-game players really are better than tournament players, and the allure of winning life-changing money as he heads to Las Vegas to…

Why does poker keep getting harder? Are our opponents improving as quickly as they used to? And what factors will determine whether live poker remains beatable in the years to come? Also included in …

Your correspondent outlines his path to becoming a professional poker player and describes the challenges of playing for a living. He also looks back on a wild -- and complicated -- session of $5/$5 …

Variance in poker, and especially in poker tournaments, can be maddening. This episode investigates the effects of variance in tournaments (where variance is insane) and cash games (where it can be m…

Episode 2 of Third Man Walking explores the dark, anarchic underbelly of the poker world, including the alleged poker cheating scam involving Mike Postle and Stones Gambling Hall.

0:00 Introduction
0:3…

In the first episode of Third Man Walking, we discuss how it feels to play poker for a living, and why professional poker players are best described not as sharks, but as cockroaches. We also review …