Episode 140: Chad Power

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Chad Power just finished 26th in the WSOP Main Event, so if you haven’t seen him on ESPN yet, you probably will soon. His real claim to fame in the poker world, though, is as the manager of a large stable of live cash game players whom he coaches and backs, and as an organizer of some of the biggest games in Maryland. Chad talks to us about the logistics and complications of his backing enterprise and how a winning player can nevertheless be “good for the game”.

Before you ask, Chad is not taking staking applications at this time. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook though.

Timestamps

0:30 – Hello and welcome
12:16 – Strategy
46:33 – Interview

Strategy

Main V opens for 12 in EP (1100 eff). CO (350) calls. Hero flats with 3c 4c on the button.

Flop (37) Q42r with one club. EP bets 25, CO calls, Hero calls.

Turn (112) 6c. EP bets 60. CO folds, Hero raises to 165, EP calls.

River (442) 9d. EP checks, Hero bets $330

11 thoughts on “Episode 140: Chad Power”

  1. Great episode. I wonder what the attrition rate is for cash game staking compared to MTT staking. I suspect it’s lower, but I don’t know whether that’s due to less variance in cash games, cash games being softer than equivalent-stakes mtts, or what.

    • I think cash games are much tougher than MTTs at any equivalent level, and it’s not even close. I can’t answer your question because I don’t stake for MTTs, but it’s worth noting that you need far less money to be rolled for cash games than you do for MTTs. With a good winrate 10-15 buy ins safe for live poker. My biggest LLSNL downswing is 6.5 BI.

  2. What would you say an average win rate would be for a winning player at each level in live poker? I don’t mean absolutely crushing… Just something to shoot for. I know there can be a lot of variables here… but assume average city, average field etc.

    1/2?
    2/5?
    5/10?
    10/25?

    • I really don’t feel comfortable speculating about this. I’ve seen people quote some crazy numbers, and it really can vary a lot from game to game. Stuff like how deep the game plays is quite relevant. I will say though that it is impossible for any one person to get a remotely meaningful sample of hands. Both your own skill and the “average” composition of a given game will change a lot over the course of a year, and you really have to play quite a lot even to get in 50K hands of live poker in a year. So I don’t put much stock in anyone who tells me they’ve achieved such-and-such a winrate, because (a) people lie about that sort of thing, and (b) it’s easy to run good over the course of a few months and decide you are winning a lot more than you really are.

  5. I’ve not much to add, but that was a great interview. It was interesting to hear how someone actually handles in practice the conflicts/risks/ethics that come out of staking, although I guess Chad’s in a fairly unique position, so his robust commonsense approach might not work in other contexts.

  6. As an aspiring live cash semi-pro (with a non-poker income source), that interview was simply fantastic. So much insight into horses / staking that I’ve really just never come across. Thanks porter also for the 2+2 thread link – now that’s a wild ride. The stuff about live dynamics vs a broad range of opponent styles is very well described and the content is highly educational, whether or not Chad’s style is your own.

    I guess I’m a Chad Power fan now, specifically his common sense intelligence and relaxed attitude to life but combined with a competitive ability and desire to ruthlessly crush the game while playing it for nothing more than monetary gain. Thanks Andrew and Nate for getting him on the show.

  8. catching up on listening to recent episodes, this is one of my favorites. getting to look behind the curtain of the coaching/staking world truly fascinating

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