The 200th episode of the Thinking Poker Podcast is fast approaching! As part of the celebration, we’d love to get some thoughts or anecdotes from listeners like you. Which was your favorite episode and why? Do you remember being surprised by something you learned about one of our guests? Has any of them changed the way you think or play?
Please share in the comments here or by emailing andrew (at) thinkingpoker (dot) net. We’ll read some of our favorite responses during the show and may even invite you to discuss your comment on the air with us!
Off the top of my head this is what I recall, and I apologize if some of the stuff is from 2015.
Andrew being willing to spend 60k to spend a night at Tommy’s house, Carlos fixing race relations in America by hanging out with middle aged white guys in Vegas, Gareth quitting his job to move to a refugee camp, presumably to find the story for his novel (How’s the book coming? kickstarter?), learning that even if you place top 3 in the main event you can’t afford to live in San Fransisco, Will Kassouf thinking he could out talk the debate team, and well Nate saying “Hold on, that must be a joke!”
And here is hoping that in 2017 Vegas lets you bet on the Cate Hall cage match. Rounders 2 ???
2016 is the year I found the Thinking Poker Podcast. It’s been fantastic catching up on the back catalogue. I now wait impatiently for each Monday to roll around, so I can listen at work. The whole thing the first time, then the strategy segment over and over for the next 6 days. My favorite part of the show is when Nate drops an F-bomb! You both ask intellegent questions and provide the TPP community with a fantastic product. Here’s to 2017!
Thanks so much!
I am glad that you asked this question because it reminds me that I need to finish the Matt Berkey interview. My favorite episode was the “SuperDave” interview. I felt he was probably the best character that you interviewed this year. I wish there were a Super Dave type guy at my casino. I get a kick out of the outlandish acts of others even when they might be directed at me. Those type of characters just make my time at the table more enjoyable with their instability. I also really enjoyed the Matt Glassman interview from the information perspective. I almost skipped them, but I am really glad that despite my conservative view of the world, I gave them a chance. As a whole I really had a hard time differentiating between the best, honestly there were some great interviews in the calendar year. I don’t really remember a point in any interview I thought ” oh my, I have never thought of that” when I listened, but at the same time I felt that several of them did bring up some point or points that do shape how I think of my range or my opponents range in several situations. I think overall from this year I felt like you guys do a great job. You really make me think about poker in different ways and you bring on exciting and interesting guests, which I believe is your goal so good job on hitting those goals. If those are not your goals then you suck at life and you need to rethink what you are doing. Obviously kidding, and thank you for all that you do for these podcasts I do look forward to them weekly and I am becoming a better poker player because of them.
Serious questions for Nate. As a White Sox fan how did we do on the recent trades in your opinion? Sale for Moncada and Kopech…..Eaton for Giolito, Robles, and Perez? If when they deal Frazier, Quintana, Abreu, or Cabrera feel free to give thought.
Thanks for the thorough note, MJ. I especially appreciate your openness to the Glassman interview.
Thanks very much for this note! I’ll second everything Andrew said.
My own non-expert opinions (that nonetheless I’ve thought a bit about): The White Sox got a lot for Sale but I guess I thought they’d get even more. It’s strange seeing myself write that, but given the Eaton trade, the Dansby Swanson et al. / Shelby Miller trade, etc., I thought that an elite SP with that kind of contract would have gotten even a little more. The Eaton trade seems like a super great haul for the White Sox–he’s a very nice all-around player but Giolito is an elite prospect and IIRC the other two are also very nice, and Eaton is more “damn fine player” and less “superstar.”
Random notes about these guys:
(1) I remember watching a White Sox feed of a game soon after they got Eaton from the Diamondbacks. Someone asked Hawk “hey, you like Eaton, what exactly do you like about him?” He replied: “Everything.” I think that goes some way to explaining why they got so much for him. He’s sort of a baseball lover’s baseball player.
(2) Giolito’s father Rick gave an _amazing_ interview on episode 100 of Up and In. It’s old now, but if you want to know a lot about your new star prospect and about a lot of other things besides, you can check it out:
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=17891
(3) Cannot think of Moncada without thinking of this picture:
http://www.minorleagueball.com/2015/2/16/8037139/my-thoughts-on-yoan-moncada
Dude is jacked.
I noticed that it wasn’t super easy to scroll through all the episodes, so I did a little cutting and pasting to make this episode guide. I found looking through this document jogged my memory a bunch. Pretty damn fun to do too!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TUSX5wzJ_iv7B0CdI8AdvqEpWaVTrQwI9_EScGsQ_64/edit?usp=sharing
I enjoyed both Matt Glassman episodes lots more than I expected I would. Any episode with a “catching up with Carlos” theme is always a good one. And I miss hearing from and/or about Gareth, mostly because he seems both so easy to relate to and root for, and he makes life choices that are amazing and I (and I’m guessing 99% of others) wouldn’t dare making. Ed Miller’s timeshare strategy was fascinating. And please find a way to include into episode 200 an audio sample of Andrew singing (if that’s the right word) the lead-in music. As for the less-frequent guests, I liked Cate Hall and Jamie Kerstetter, maybe because it’s fun to hear from people who left traditionally lucrative careers to immerse themselves successfully in poker.
Going further back than 2016, your follow-up interview with the Computer Poker Research Group last year after they solved LHE inspired an interest in poker AI, which became the focus of my Master’s research. I have you guys to thank for that; I cite that interview and a few of your others in my thesis.
Beyond that, it’s hard to pick a favourite. I can only echo what I said on the post for #100: you put out a great show, and it’s been even better since then.
Holy moly! That’s amazing to me. Thanks so much for the note (and of course for the citation in your thesis).
Best wishes in all your projects, and thanks again.
I might be too late to this, but never mind. I’ve been on board since episode 1 – I think I started reading the site a couple of weeks before the first podcast started, so it was lucky timing.
Some of the interviews that stick in the mind – most of the regular guests, Liv B’s I kept on my phone for a long time as I found it inspiring as a general example of excellence, Jamie K’s recently was awesome. Several guests I think have been impressive for their openness and honesty (Kristie Arnett, Shane Schleger), but almost all of them have had something or other of interest.
I listened to Daisy Ridley say on another podcast that over time the hosts come to feel like friends, and I think a) that’s really true, and b) probably explains why I continue to listen despite being effectively retired from poker, also c) gets at least a bit realised with the 21st century world of social media, and blog comments and whatnot.
Please Nate explain what you mean by “Basian Logic” and give an illustrative example.
I know it’s explained in books but it’s TLDR and even if I did it would not benefit the other listeners who hear you use the term in about every third strategy segment.
Thanks for the great content.