If you enjoy poker stories from the pre-Boom years, check out our latest interview with Kathy Liebert!

http://www.thinkingpoker.net/2021/08...kathy-liebert/

Awesome! Love your podcasts Andrew

Fantastic podcast Andrew! Read those books like her Dale Carnegie and Napoleon Hill. Agree, we need to get back to it.

I had to stop listening to the recent guest who told his tales of robbing players via jacking up the rake while he was a private dealer, and you guys yukking it up with him. I couldn't take it that day and immediately flicked off the show to search for another podcast with more uplifting content.

I'm sure that someday I'll listen to the podcast again; no doubt about it, Thinking Poker Podcast has in general been a bright light in the poker scene. But overall I'm feeling sour about the whole poker world, what with the landscape of increased rake, seemingly more cheating, scumbags, angles, unethical behavior, the betrayal of Encore Boston Harbor to poker players, etc, and all of this has me taking a break now from all poker activities. Hearing about the robbing of players by the dealer guest was a temporary last straw for me and poker and I couldn't listen for one more second. Maybe if I kept listening I would have heard him repent, and show that he is actually a decent guy, and I would have heard you push back on him in your thoughtful manner. But regardless, you chose to air the episode, and give the thief the forum.

Poker really could be a great part of culture, but only if almost everyone in the poker community bands together and recognizes that there should be zero tolerance for unethical behavior, rules violations, cheating, stealing, and the like. Thieves should be banned from the game, shunned, and deplatformed for a long time, if not permanently.

I understand your feelings, Atrain. The guest was young, probably a bit naive, and did something he does regret (I did listen to the whole show).

As the host pointed out, playing in underground games runs all kinds of risk. Excessive rake is just one of them.

I find regulated poker to be very clean, with some obvious exceptions here and there. Some of them are part of the nature of multi player games, where your incentives can lead you to decisions that help one player at the expense of another.

Hi, ATrain. Thanks for the feedback on this. I can understand why it would be upsetting, and I hope we didn't come across as endorsing this. In the interview, Conrad does express regret for participating in the exploitation of these players (I'm not sure your description is quite accurate, though Conrad admittedly talks about it in similar terms - my understanding is that there was no posted rake, and the people running the game instructed him to just grab what he could from the pots - exploitative, certainly, but doesn't rise to the level of theft IMO).

We try to put a wide variety of guests on the show. Some of them are people who have done things they aren't proud of (probably all of them are, since they are all human beings, but some of them are more honest about it and/or their transgressions are more well known). My policy is that as long as people are wiling to speak openly and honestly about things, I'm not going to shun them. I have many times turned down interviews from people who had not expressed contrition for their actions and who I suspected were trying to use the podcast to rehab their image and gloss over those transgressions. Likewise, there are many well-known poker players I've not sought out for interviews because I don't think they would be willing to talk openly about the questionable things they've been involved with.

That's all just to explain, not necessarily to excuse. This is a tricky issue, and I respect that there's a chance I'm wrong, or at least that this interview wasn't for you. I appreciate you being such a long time listener. AFAIK our next guest has a squeaky clean reputation :-)

For those curious, the guest in question is Conrad Simpson: https://www.thinkingpoker.net/2022/0...onrad-simpson/. He talks about how he used to deal in private games where he was encouraged to pull as much money out of the pot as he could, with some of what he took going to the house and some going to him.

Andrew, I appreciate your response, very detailed and complete; you are logical and unflappable, and made excellent points. 3for3's post is good too. If I misinterpreted what the guest's actions were, I'm sorry. While I am frustrated at the way the poker community doesn't self-police the bad actions as well as it could, I didn't mean to come across as expecting the entire burden of defending poker's integrity was to be borne by just one podcast. I was grateful that you took my points seriously, and glad that you already have been considering these issues. I wouldn't have bothered posting in the first place if I haven't really liked the show over the years and had very high expectations of it.

That means a lot to us, ATB, thank you.

Hey, cool thread!

I never knew this existed.


- Carlos

I haven't bumped this in forever, but I'm particularly proud of our two most recent episodes and wanted to encourage people to check them out. They're a married couple, each with their own really unique stories and personalities.

Caitlyn Cobb: https://www.thinkingpoker.net/2023/0...-caitlyn-cobb/
Justin Arnwine: https://www.thinkingpoker.net/2023/0...ustin-arnwine/

Please give a listen and let us know what you think!

https://www.thinkingpoker.net/2023/0...400-clip-show/
https://www.thinkingpoker.net/2023/0...loria-jackson/
https://www.thinkingpoker.net/2023/0...-tommy-angelo/
https://www.thinkingpoker.net/2023/0...3-jesse-segal/

A veritable murderer's row of great episodes.

400 is a partial greatest hits of the show.
401 is another incredible back story on a unique poker story
402 is a double episode, with 2 of the best guests in the show's history
403 is about a poker cashier (there is such a thing) and player.