Digital Social Hour - Getting 2nd at WSOP Main Event, Real Estate & WSOP 2024 Predictions I Steven Jones Jr DSH #405

Episode Date: April 10, 2024

Steven Jones Jr comes to the show to talk about getting 2nd at WSOP main event, real estate background & WSOP 2024 predictions APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://forms.gle/D2cLkWfJx46pDK1MA BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [e-mail] SPONSORS: Deposyt Payment Processing: https://www.deposyt.com/seankelly LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How do you stay so locked in every day? Man, um, actually, I drank this stuff called brain fuel. Okay. It's like some, like, keeps you sharp. Neutropic or something? Yeah, stuff like that. So I was doing that. And then, like, you're so wired at nighttime.

Like, I was taking melatonin to, like, try to get some normal sleep. Yeah. Yeah, your adrenaline, like, gets you through. I was like, at the end of it, I was actually, like, super sick. Oh, wow. Wherever you guys are watching this show, I would truly appreciate it if you follow or subscribe. It helps a lot with the algorithm. It helps us get bigger and better guests, and it helps us grow the team.

It truly means a lot. Thank you guys for supporting, and here's the episode. All right, we're here with poker pro and real estate entrepreneur, Stephen Jones Jr. How's it going? Good, man. How are you doing? Good, man. How you doing? Good, man. You're looking happy. Coming off some big wins, huh? Yeah, yeah. It's been a good year for me. Has it been your best year ever in poker?

Yeah, yeah. It's been groundbreaking. Finished second in the main event this year. And actually, just while I had to cancel on you last week, I got 10th in the WPT Prime for 135k. Dang. What was it, Ryan? That one was 1,000. Holy crap. You made 135x. Yeah. That's the thing with poker. If you're really good, the multiples you can make are insane.

Especially in tournaments, too, because in cash games, you may be buying for 5k. You might double your money, but in a tournament, you can have a couple hundred x you're buying, which is the dream. That's nuts. That happened to you in you in the world series too yeah yeah that was like 650x holy crap and that was like 10 days of playing right yeah yeah i was exhausted man but it was worth it it was worth it how do you stay so locked in every day man um actually i drank this stuff called brain fuel okay it's like some like some, like keeps you sharp.

New tropic or something. Yeah. Stuff like that. So I was doing that. And then like, you're so wired at nighttime. Like I was taking melatonin to like try to get some normal sleep. Yeah.

Yeah. Your adrenaline put like, get you through. I was like at the end of it, I was actually like super sick. Oh wow. So like after the tournament for like a week, I was just like in bed,

my, my body shut down, but I think the adrenaline like kept me going. Yeah, that's fascinating because at night you're probably replaying all the hands you lost. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, literally just going through everything. It's hard to fall asleep because your brain is just going. So melatonin got me through that at least. What was that breakthrough moment during the tournament

where you were like, I might make it far in this? Probably like when there was like a hundred-ish people left, it was just like, wow, this is surreal. Because that is the poker tournament that everyone dreams of doing good in. Even if you don't know poker, everyone knows the main event.

So as a kid, this was my dream to be on the final table, the main event, as it is so many other poker players. But yeah, when there was 100 left, I was like, holy crap, I might do this, this is crazy. Were you chip when there was like 100 left, I was like, holy crap, like I might do this. This is crazy. Were you like chip leader at that point? No, I wasn't actually. But I was, I had enough chips to where, you know, I felt confident.

I think I was pretty close. I was like top five with like 30 something people left. So then they even got more real, right? That's when I started calling my family. I called my mom. I was like, yo, you got to come out here. So I flew my so i flew my mom out here my sister's you could call during the game no like it was like uh maybe at like dinner break oh i was like hey you should come out here it's getting real and because my mom taught me poker too she was like yeah so it was kind of her dream too

that's awesome flew her and my sisters my dad drove up from arizona so i had like a lot of family and friends that started coming when yeah yeah, there was like 30-something people left. So, yeah, it was awesome. Dude, what a relationship because most parents stray their kids away from gambling, but your mom's like, fuck up. Yeah, she taught me when I was probably a teenager. I was playing online back in like the full tilt days. So, yeah, she was all about it, which was cool. Was she a pro?

No, but she was decent. Like back in her day, you know, she would go and play a lot of the cash games. Yeah, she wasn't a pro by any means, but she made a little bit of money from it. Yeah. It seems like guys tend to win more than the women, right? I think it's just because there's more guys in general that play. Yeah, there's just not that many females in poker, which is, you know, it is what it is. I think it's getting better now, and they're trying to do things to encourage that.

But yeah, that's probably what. Has a woman ever won the main event? I don't think so. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, because they're just so outnumbered.

It makes sense. It's so outnumbered. Yeah, it's pretty wild. Yeah. I know there's, I want to say the furthest set of females gone

is maybe like 20 or 30 something place. Okay. Right in there. So close, but yeah, I don't think a woman's ever won it. Interesting.

Yeah. Wow. Was there anyone, any like big celebrities at your tables during that main event? Yeah, probably nobody that like stands out that like I didn't have in the ground or Ivy or anything like anybody like too crazy huge. But like some more of like online guys, I guess. I can't remember this one guy's name. I'm drawing a blank, but he's a big online guy that people know and respect.

So you were, because the mindset thing's interesting to me because you can sort of get intimidated by these bigger names when you're playing against them. Yeah, I think, but when you're, it's just something different about when you're that deep in a tournament. Like everything just meshes together. Like nobody's thinking about that anymore. I think you just feel like, oh, well, I belong here.

So now I'm one of them. And just like, I don't know. I never got intimidated at any point. I was just feeling like dialed in. Interesting. Playing my best game. Yeah. Yeah.

Because I would have imagined you had anxiety or like were feeling emotional. Yeah. I didn't actually. I thought I would be way more nervous too than I was. But when you get there and you're just like in the zone, like it just all went away. I don't know if it was adrenaline or what, but yeah, I was good. You're just locked in. Yeah, surprisingly.

That's cool. How many people did you knock out? I haven't even thought about that. To be honest, no, I was like short stack most of the tournament. There was like three days in a row because like at the end of the night, they'll announce like, oh, five more hands until we're done for the night. Right. So there was like three nights in a row. Cause like at the end of the night, they'll, they'll announce like, oh, five more hands until we're done for the night. Right. Yeah.

So there was like three nights in a row where I had like a short stack in that time and I doubled up. Oh, nice. So like people had a chance to knock me out, but I just kept like doubling up at the end. So I wasn't the one knocking people out. I was the guy like staying alive. You were just surviving. Yeah, literally.

And then like day six or seven, then I got a lot of chips and then I knocked out a few, I probably knocked out, I don't know, five to 10, ten not that many but i knocked out two people at the final table that's when i had a lot of nice so and that was that was huge obviously yeah i like the tournaments where they give you like a bonus when you knock someone out yeah i feel like people play way more yeah bounty tournaments yeah yeah yeah those are cool too i'm not a huge fan because i'm like i said i'm like i'm the guy with the short stack just making that making it work but so you're super strategic yeah yeah yeah i'm just trying to stay alive like i'm like i don't want to put my chips at risk like if i don't have to just trying to take small spots and that kind of thing you're like phil helman without here

literally yeah that's like more my style is phil helman yep exactly i mean people give him shit but his numbers don't lie man exactly yeah i mean he. I mean, he's a beast. He's a goat in tournaments. I mean, he's got like 18 bracelets or 17 bracelets. Crazy. It's insane, yeah. And that longevity, too. It's like LeBron. Yeah. He's been doing it for 20 years.

Yeah, you wouldn't think he'd just be that good for that long, but he's still out there doing it. I think he won a bracelet last year, so, I mean, he's still doing it. Yeah. Crazy. Is there a certain age range where poker players kind of peak at, or is there no really? I mean, I think i think yeah a little

younger typically like there's a lot of 30 year olds that are really like in their 30s i think i see a lot of success with people in that age range or when you see like 20 20 something year olds winning bracelets it's it's pretty insane but it does happen but i would say yeah more more so in their 30s like i see people having more success So similar to chess, because I guess the brain starts losing or deteriorating maybe in your 40s, 50s. Yeah, it makes sense. Yeah, because chess people peak in their 30s as well. So there's some correlation there.

What did you do with the money, man? Well, I bought a house. I'm going to buy another one, because I'm in real estate too. I made some tax plays. Bought a G-Wagon. That's been my dream car. It's a write-off, right? It's a write-wagon that's that's been like my dream car it's a write-off right and it's right off so it's like hey it's a double win right there um and just invested some like i haven't done anything crazy like i've been traveling a little

bit more but yeah kind of always still playing too yeah you didn't want a break yeah i'm playing a lot more i took a break after like i maybe like for a month but now i'm just like you know hey might as well build off to success so yeah i've been playing like some higher buying tournaments and trying to just like keep building building my brand and my name and playing more but yeah nothing crazy i filled up nothing yeah i feel like poker players are pretty reasonable with their winnings they're not like blowing it yeah most of them i feel like there's some that probably do but but you know they have reasonably and most of them that's cool. What kind of real estate are you into? Residential.

Residential. Residential, yeah. So I do real estate here and also in Vegas and then also in Scottsdale, Phoenix area. That's kind of, I did that for like 10 years, but kind of burnt out, you know, just grinding, grinding. But I mean, I'm in a good spot now to where I get like a lot of referrals and such. And that's also allowed me to like,

real estate is awesome because you can like make your own schedule. So it's allowed me to play a lot of poker too so i'm like super grateful for real estate um and now i have my own company so i have like a lot of agents um or a few agents and now i'm just like i kind of like give a lot of the deals to them and have them do a lot of the work for me like when i'm traveling or playing poker so that's cool it works out pretty well yeah did the recent downtick kind of were you at all? Yeah, actually it did. Like during, like real estate was crazy. I had the best year of my life in 2020 real estate wise.

And in 2021 and 2022 was a bit slow. 2021 was okay. 2022 was a little slow. And then 23 was. Are you interested in coming on the Digital Social Hour podcast as a guest? We'll click the application link below in the description of this video. We are always looking for cool stories, cool entrepreneurs to talk to about business and

life. Click the application link below and here's the episode, guys. I was hurting. I was just like real slow. So that was like the perfect time to blow up in poker because I was not doing that many real estate deals. That makes sense. Everything, everyone was just kind of like hanging out.

Yeah. And then rates like went crazy high. Too high, man. I was shopping a few months real estate deals. That makes sense. Everyone was just kind of like hanging out. Yeah, and then rates like went crazy high. Too high, man. I was shopping a few months ago and I gave up, honestly. Yeah. The rates were just too high, bro. Insane, yeah. And now they're starting to come down a little bit. Yeah.

So I think it's going to get better in the next year or so. I hope so. Because if you're just living in the house, it's too much. I feel like if you're in the spot where you're flipping them or getting rent, it's justifiable maybe in certain situations. Yeah. But I remember like because I wanted a $2.5 million house, the interest alone was like $12K. It's insane, right?

And I'm like, dude, that's nuts. It's insane. It's like it's not affordable for most people. Yeah. So I'm just going to wait another year. We'll see what happens. Yeah. I think things will be good like towards the end of next year.

So you'll be in a good spot. We'll see though because Vegas is hot. You're looking out here? Yeah. it's tough because we got nba coming mlb so many new things durango just opened fountain blue yeah i don't know if houses will drop out here dude yeah vegas is a weird market to to really pinpoint because it's it's very volatile because it so much it relies on tourism but but it's just vegas has been blowing up over the last few years yeah when the market crashes, Vegas usually gets hit pretty hard. But I don't know.

Like Vegas is blowing up so much that who knows if that's going to happen again. It doesn't seem to have gotten hit that bad. Yeah, right. We got the Spear. I mean, they just announced a tech hub, $100 million. Hollywood's coming here. Yeah. So I don't know if it's ever going to drop.

I guess you just like kind of bank on rates dropping. Yeah. So that's what I'll wait on. We'll see what happens from there. But do you like poker more than real estate uh yeah yeah for sure i mean it's just the poker's like just i love poker it's just like just being in someone's head or you know just trying to figure out what like what they're trying to tell you based on what they're betting and they're just like talking the tables with people and like the camaraderie like i just love that yeah it's just

it's fun and i like i just like working with people in general. So like, that's why I like real estate was good for me. Cause you're working with people, you're making them happy. You know, you're making them dreams come true by buying them or helping them buy, you know, a dream home. Um, but poker is just, there's just something about it. Like, uh, I just love it. It's just, that's my happy place. Yeah. Have you always been profitable with it or was that of recent? Um, yeah, more recent. I mean, I've been semi-profitable like I'll make a little bit to supplement my income like I never made enough to where it's like hey like a full-time I can just do this full-time right exactly but but it's like I've profited enough to supplement my income that's cool and then I think

I had last year was like a little bit of a downswing year I lost a little bit so that was the first time I had a losing year in like five years. Wow. So that was like, damn, like what am I doing wrong? Yeah, so that, but then this year was just massive. So I made up for it. Dude, that's awesome. Yeah.

So did you have a coach or mentor or did you just learn from your mom and then self-taught? Yes, like self-taught. And I mean, I learned from my mom when I was younger and that she can only take me so far because she hasn't really played that high of a level. But there's so much, there's so many resources these days, like online. So there's a lot of YouTube videos. And I've taken like some small stuff and just like watched, I haven't taken any like one on one, any big coaching like that.

Just a lot of like YouTube stuff. That's cool. A lot of practice. Yeah, self-taught. That's awesome. How much luck do you think goes into making the World Series final table? A lot. You definitely got to put yourself in do you think goes into making the World Series final table? A lot. You definitely got to put yourself in the right spot, though,

and make the right plays. But you got to have the hands that hold. In tournaments especially, you're going to get into a lot of spots where it's 50-50, right? And I was fortunate enough to win those spots, which is massive. But then you got to also make the big folds. You got to navigate through 10,000. This was the biggest main event in the history.

Yeah. Over 10,000 people. Jeez. Just crazy. You just gotta like navigate and stay alive. So it's, it's a bit of both to be honest. I mean, yeah, I can't lie and say it takes no luck. It definitely does. No, that always fascinated me because you rarely ever see the same people at the final table in the main event.

Like it's almost always new people. Yeah. Yeah. Because there's so many people and, and you know, there's that, that luck factor. Yeah.

There's been a, there's been like a handful of people that have made the main event. Uh, like Joe Cata did it twice. He won it. And then he got fifth, like six years later or something like that.

Um, Mark Newhouse got ninth back to back years, which is insane. Um, but it's very, very rare to do that. So hopefully I'll be able to do that. That's like my next thing, you know, that'd be cool. I'll be able to do that. That's like my next thing.

That'd be cool. I'll cheer for you in the next one, man. Appreciate it. That'd be dope. I like poker because it's also like universal worldwide. Yeah. There's so many countries that have games. Yeah.

I was actually thinking about this the other day because like you're just sitting like, because the WPT is in town, right? And like people are here from all over the world. So you're sitting at a table and you're like, I'm a minority at the table. Wow. This is cool. this is cool.

That is cool. Yeah. And some people at the table don't speak English, but we're all playing the same game. That's interesting. So you've got to be able to read them without being able to talk to them. Yeah, yeah, literally. And some people will speak English, but they just won't talk to you.

They're like robots out there. They're just sitting there and they won't say a word, which bugs the shit out of me. But like, I try, I'll try my best to like pull something out of them. Yeah, I know people comment on YouTube about those guys

that are all like analytical. Yeah. They only study the engines or whatever. Yeah. And then they show up in a hoodie and glasses and don't talk to anyone.

Yeah, literally. Which you got to respect it. You know, it's like, okay, you're taking it serious. But like, I'm also there to have fun, right? I want to banter. I want to talk. And like, you that's that's the fun part for me personally

yeah that's so fascinating when you're talking to people are you trying to read them yeah yeah exactly so like if it's like a really good player i won't even try because i'm like they might read me before but if it's like if i'm like i think i'm better than this player then i'll probably talk to him more and what are some giveaways you've noticed people do? As far as when I'm talking to them or just in general? I guess just in general, some common ones people do. Common would be eyes. So I always, when they were going to put out the flop, I look at someone's eyes rather than look at the board.

Because that's always going to be there. I can look at that in a second. So I'll stare at someone while they look at it. And if they look and they like look away like really quickly that means they liked it if they're like but like pros won't make this mistake yeah but like you know more novice players well and if they're like staring at it for a little while they're trying to figure out how it connects with their hand so maybe it wasn't as good of a board for them yeah so that's a big one um and then just like i guess that's just like a big one without talking to them.

But like when I'm talking to them, usually I can like just try to gauge like how comfortable they are in the hand and that kind of thing. Or sometimes I'm not even trying to get a read. I'm just trying to mess with their head and just talk about the most random stuff just to like throw them off. Yeah, exactly. And make them like not know what to do. So in turn, they just fold, you know, they just have no idea what i'm trying to do and sometimes i don't either

that's funny just trying to get get in their head a little bit dude that's so cool so you gotta be really aware of how you're like acting at the table yeah yeah for sure and all your eye motions yeah even how you're moving your hands probably yeah yeah literally yeah like another one that you just made me think of um sometimes like if people are like trying to like do some kind of little rubbing like they're trying to do some kind of low rubbing, they're trying to comfort themselves. Sometimes it's a subconscious thing, but when you get to a high enough level,

you'll have people trying to reverse tell that. So really good players will be doing it to try to throw you off. But it's usually a sign of if someone's bluffing, there'll be some kind of little bit of movement, like they're trying to be comfortable. But then there's the reverse tell where they're doing it on purpose. So it's like you got to figure out what that is. That's what I love about poker.

Yeah, reverse tells. Wow, there's levels to this game. Yeah, there's so many levels, which is the beauty of it. Have you ever done those high roller tournaments, like crazy high buy-ins? No, not yet. I want to eventually, but the highest I've gone right now is like 10K. Okay, that's pretty high. Yeah, it's not

bad like i just played in the wpt championship it's actually still going i think there's like 40 people left right now yeah um i got a main cash in that so i made 20k nice um but yeah and that was a 10k buy-in yeah it was a 10k buy-in yep yep the winner probably gets millions yeah it's i think it's 5.4 holy crap yeah it's crazy man it's like squid game numbers yeah yeah literally i just finished watching that show you watch that i i watched the uh like the i haven't watched the game show i just i watched like two episodes of it and it looks pretty good it's good finished it yet i like it more than the original really okay it's more relatable like that's awesome you're putting yourself in their shoes and there was a winner and all that was a winner i'm surprised

you haven't seen it spoiled on twitter or something no i haven't seen it i haven't seen it yet yeah yeah people keep spoiling it everywhere that's the one thing with social media yeah yeah you just you know everything you gotta watch it yeah when it's live right there's always that one guy spoiling the end of the movie i'm like really dude yeah that happened to me when i watched uh the avengers oh yeah yeah did you see that one i have not i stopped watching okay i just keep making them i'm just like okay i'm done that's true there's certain characters where you're like do they really need a movie yeah like literally come on now they're all they're making money you know of course they need a movie like i wasn't a fan of the ant-man one oh the ant-man yeah i love paul rudd though but i get what you're saying it's just like it's

like you're an ant like yeah yeah how interesting can that be they're stretching it yeah yeah certain characters if you could be if you could have any superpower, what would you have? Any superpower? Probably like teleportation or something. I thought you were going to say mind reading for poker. Oh, maybe I should have. I feel like I can already do that, though. Teleportation is a good one.

Yeah. That's a tough one to beat. Yeah. I mean, mind reading is good, too. I didn't even think about that. Mind reading is good. It could be used in the wrong ways and it it would be annoying if you couldn't turn it off exactly yeah so i don't know if i'd want that because you don't always know

yeah what people are thinking we're thinking badly about you and then it'll affect you you know literally yeah yes that is a tough one actually i don't know if i'd want it teleportation is nice you can be over here there and just like yeah yeah that'd be good for business too business yeah that's that i think that's why i was thinking that. Yeah. Go to conferences for real estate. It's probably amazing. If you want to have a meal in France. Just go. Teleport, eat some snails.

Yeah. What else do you do for, for fun outside of poker? Just traveling a lot. I work out a lot. So like, that's like my, that's how I de-stress, I guess. And then I've always like loved traveling. Once you start traveling, like I just feel like you just don't stop. Like it's, it's so amazing to see other cultures and like how other people live. Um, it's really eyeopening. And, um, yeah, it's like, that's my main thing.

Yeah. Traveling's number top three for me, for sure. It's amazing. What's been your favorite? You were about to ask me. What are your top three? You got me intrigued. Traveling. What else? My top three? Yeah. Greecereece thailand um i really like mexico honestly really those three yeah okay i've only been to like uh like just over the border of arizona what is it like uh porto penasco or like rocky point they call it right i haven't been there okay yeah so i don't i i don't count that it's like real mexico but thailand is my number one oh yeah thailand's the best wow it. It's amazing. Like it's beautiful. Everything is cheap and everyone is just so grateful. Like the attitude, the energy, everyone's so like happy to be alive and you know, and maybe they're poor, but they're just like,

they're so grateful. It's just, absolutely. It's amazing. The energy there, you could feel it. You can eat like a King for five bucks a meal. That's exactly what I say. Like a nice meal is like $5. Like literally it's not like I will live there for a year. It's not good. Yeah. Me too. Yeah. I thought about it. Yeah.

I haven't been to Greece yet. That's on my list. Yeah. Now that you said that, I'm going to put it higher. Yeah. Check out Greece, man. What else is up there for you? As far as places?

Yeah. I've been to the Philippines too. I like Thailand a little bit more. What else? I've been to Ireland. I wasn't a huge fan. I irish i'm irish oh really okay hell yeah i didn't like it though yeah sorry guys the food sucks food sucks it's always gloomy rained rain yeah it's just like it's sorry guys there's nothing great it really hurt me because

i'm half irish and i wanted to like it yeah so bad I'm half Chinese and China was pretty dope though. I haven't been to China yet. I was super tall. I went in fourth grade and I was already the tallest one. Oh, wow. That's crazy. It was nuts. Food is slamming though.

Is it? Okay. Chinese food is really good. I mean, it's got to be way better than here. I'm assuming. Oh, way better. Oh, you would love it then. What's your favorite cuisine to eat?

I mean, probably Thai food or steak. Like I just love steak. Steak's its own cuisine. It is to me. I could live off of steak. There's so many steakhouses out here. I could go to a different one every day for a year probably. Vegas is great for steakhouses.

There's a lot of good ones, yeah. What's your favorite steakhouse here? Actually, like I know more steakhouses in Arizona because that's where I'm primarily at. I would say Steak 44. Here, I haven't been to all of them, like a lot of them yet. So I don't have a favorite yet. Okay.

Check out Barry's. It's in Circa. Okay. I heard about that one. I haven't been yet. I like Carver. Carver. Is that a local one?

It's in Resorts World. Oh, it's okay. I haven't been to either one of those. Really? Okay. Yeah. Check those out. And then, oh, there's one that's really good. I forget the name. It's in Resorts World. Oh, it's okay. I haven't been to either one of those. Really? Okay. Yeah. Check those out. And then, oh, there's one that's really good.

I forget the name. It's not on the strip. It's next to Ahern Hotel. But yeah, there's so many. I was going to say, I know it. If you said it, I would know it. It's like at the tip of my tongue. I can't think of it.

They have like really good drinks too. Like they're known for their drinks, like whiskeys and shit. Yeah. They're known for their drinks. Oh, I go there all the time. I know what you're talking about. I swear I know it. I don't know.

It's the same owner as Herbs and Rye. Oh, that's the one I was thinking of. Oh, okay. Yeah. So it's not that one. It's not that one. No, it's similar though. Okay.

Okay. I'll have to check it out then. I'm sure I can Google like Herbs and Rye or whatever. So you're in Arizona right now? Yeah, mainly. I'm here like 30% of the time probably. Okay. Now that I'm like doing more poker. Yeah. So you're going to move out here? Yeah. I'm here like 30% of the time probably. Okay. Now that I'm like doing more poker, I try to.

So you're going to move out here? Yeah, I'm going to buy a house eventually. Nice. Why do you like, which town in AZ are you in? Scottsdale. Nice. I like Scottsdale. Scottsdale is awesome, man.

Yeah. It's got a lot to offer. I mean, I think Arizona and Vegas are just so similar. I mean, we don't have the strip, right? But other than that, it's just so similar. Arizona's a lot, like the metro Phoenix area is bigger, but it's just a great place to live man yeah i got engaged there dude oh you did yeah i liked it that much nice sedona oh yeah sedona's beautiful that's beautiful it's different world up there in sedona yeah sedona's awesome you can feel it when you just walk outside there

yeah energy yeah isn't this isn't there that's that's the thing in sedona it's like all about the energies you can go to like a lot of these places and get these crystals. Yeah. I'm into that stuff, man. Are you? Hell yeah. That's dope. I mean, it would probably help in poker to be a little spiritual.

Yeah. I mean, I need to be more spiritual. I have that like side, but I don't really like dive into it all the way. Like I could do some more work as far as that goes. So you haven't dabbled in psychedelics at all? Uh, a little bit of mushrooms. Okay. That's about it.

Yeah. Yeah. I honestly like, it hurts my stomach so like yeah well mushrooms are they do like a poison right yeah like they are poisonous so i like i like uh like microdosing yeah i love microdosing microdosing is awesome yeah have you noticed a difference when you're playing on a microdose dude i've only i've only played poker one time microdosing and i was so dialed in i was like dude i this there might be something to this i haven't done a big tournament yet because I'm like, you know,

I haven't done it enough to where like I – but like I played at a cash game and I was, you know, microdosing. I was like – I was owning people. I was like – I feel like I could just feel their souls. I'm like, I know you're full of shit. No, for sure. You could feel energies. I'm surprised poker tournaments don't ban it because it's so good.

There was a dude who was – who got like 23rd or something in the main and like I was playing with him like every day. And he was wearing like a mushroom shirt and he had like uh 23rd or something in the main and like i was playing with him like every day and he was wearing like a mushroom shirt and he had like oh he was for sure no he was open about it too dude i'm shrooming my ass off like right now and i was afraid to get into hands with him exactly like he i was just like this guy is like reading my soul right now like i just don't want to play with you just get off my table like you did very well i mean you i mean dude very far so i'm shocked they don't ban it there's something to feel people's energy you literally can like i might need to i might need to try a big tournament with yeah no i i'm surprised he wasn't freaking out

because certain people have bad energies yeah so i remember taking shrooms once in high school and like this kid came over and i wanted to just throw curl up in a ball basically and throw up because like his energy was so bad so bad so i'm like dude let's play frisbee you need to get away from me go over there and catch so i felt better as soon as we did that but when he was physically next to me you could just feel it dude he was like a coke dealer or something it was just like oh yeah yeah bad energy bad drug right so i'm surprised that didn't happen to that guy at the table i'm it might have i don't know i didn't really ask him all that all i knew is that he was dialed in and I was not having it. That's fascinating. I mean, it's definitely worth trying, man. Let me know how it goes. Yeah. Yeah. I definitely will. I'm going to have to,

there's something to be said that I've only done it once. So I need to, I need to experiment. But I noticed it in business. Like when I'm working on a megadose way more productive, really way more. Okay. I haven't tried that yet either. I feel like I wouldn't want to work, but maybe I think you just, it's like a natural lateral almost. You're just more aware. I've done it podcasting too, and I've done better interviewing people. You have to let me know which podcast. I'll go there. I don't even remember. I've done so many.

Yeah, that's true. Are you big into podcasts? Do you listen to any? You know, I'm starting to get into them, but I really haven't listened that much yet. Now that I'm coming on more of them, I think I'm going to start getting that realm but to be honest like i just love music so much like that's what you know i feel like that's what you interchange podcasts for is the music right i used to be like that too yeah music now i'm probably like all podcasts audiobooks yeah yeah

which which i'm gonna try to like make that transition because you can learn a lot from podcasts too like music you're just like kind of zoned out. So it's like not as beneficial. Yeah. Well, music has its purpose. I think if you're trying to change your mood, it's a good way to get out of a funk. True. Or if you're trying to be a little nostalgic,

listen to some 2000 throwbacks. That's what I play. There you go. Yeah. But with podcasts, dude, it's so fascinating because never before have you had access to these minds. Yeah. So like the top NBA players are having podcasts now.

Paul George, Draymond Green, all these guys. Yeah. You didn the top NBA players are having podcasts now. Paul George, Trayvon Green, all these guys. Yeah. You didn't have access to what they were thinking 20 years ago. Same with poker players. Dan Cates,

Negrano, all these guys have podcasts and it's pretty inspiring. Yeah. You can learn a lot. Yeah. So I need to get on that for sure.

I mean, you already got second place so I don't even know if you need it. I mean, you can always take away a little bit from stuff. Yeah.

Do you have any more poker goals now that you've reached the pinnacle of people's dreams? Honestly, I'm trying to figure that out because I had a vision board and all that. And I've accomplished a lot of things on my vision board this year. Very grateful for that. So I told myself I was kind of not trying to force it and give myself some time to figure out what my next goals are. I definitely want to make it as crazy as it sounds. Making it to the final table, the main event, is already huge. I want to do it again, as crazy as it sounds.

Because on my vision board, I had dreams of winning, and I came so close. It just feels like so—it's great. I'm very happy that I did it, but I want to win. I want to at least get back to the final table again or show like, Hey, this wasn't an accident. Cause like a lot of, a lot of poker success can be chalked up to,

okay, that was a, that was a fluke, but I've already had some success since then. And I just want to, I just want to keep going with that. So I don't have, I guess exact concrete goals.

I do know that that's one of them is getting back there. And then I have to like, I do have to work on my, my next vision board and figure out my next goals and figure out what those are. Yeah. Dude, I'm big on vision boards. I have one as my screensaver have to work on my next vision board and figure out my next goals and figure out what those are. Yeah. Yeah, dude, I'm big on vision boards. I have one as my screensaver on all my laptops and computers.

That's a good idea. Yeah. So my subconscious is constantly. Yes. Constantly seeing it. I just have like in my office, but that's actually really cool because sometimes you're traveling. You have your laptop, your vision board is there all the time. I like that a lot.

And I, it was there so much that I forgot about it. And I looked at it like last week. I'm like, dude, I already accomplished half of these. One of them was like, get a lot. And I, it was there so much that I forgot about it. And I looked at it like last week. I'm like, dude, I already accomplished half of these. One of them was like, get a Tesla. I made this like three years ago.

Get a Tesla, get a nice house, get a six pack, uh, get watches, get gold, get money. Like I was able to accomplish a lot of them.

Oh yeah. So you got six packs and all the watches. Well, it's skinny. So it's easy. Yeah. That's true. It's no fair.

I didn't have to do the hard part of losing fat. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, when you were heads up in the fair. I didn't have to do the hard part of losing fat. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. When you were heads up in the final table, was there any point where you could have won it? No. He was so far ahead.

Yeah, unfortunately. So there was three of us left, and then the third place guy lost all his chips to the guy who eventually won. So I think I was a little over maybe like like a, maybe like a 3.2, 3.3 to one deficit going into heads up. And that, that was the only like regret

is maybe like heads up. I didn't play as aggressive enough because he was just pounding me, like putting pressure. He was bullying. Yeah, he was bullying me a bit and I didn't have,

like it happened so fast. Like we did, it was, maybe it only lasts like 30 minutes. Oh, that's it? Yeah. So usually the final two last like,

that's what I'm saying. Yeah. Yeah. It usually lasts a while. But we got, we got into a hand where it was like it wasn't it wasn't terrible uh we both had top pair he just had a little bit better of a hand but before that i didn't realize how aggressive he was being like he was raising a lot but it wasn't enough of a sample size to know like is he just bullying me or is he actually picking up cards so we didn't like i actually hired a coach at that um chip leader coaching alex fox and then chance were kind of coaching me at the final table um but we didn't even get to a break to where i got to go back and like okay what you know let's review some of these hands and talk about so you hired them you couldn't even use them well

i used i used them from like 10 handed all the way down but like for heads up i think it would have been advantageous to like have a conversation um but we never even got that far and next thing you know we were in this big hand and then i you know i lost it all but he definitely had advantage of having you know way more chips and i had to try to figure out some way to make a move and try to even the score a little bit yeah it didn't happen wow that's cool i didn't know people had coaches like on the sidelines while you're playing yeah yeah it's pretty common like once you get down to like the final table in that spot because like the implications are just so huge right because the difference between yeah ninth and i mean first is 12 million in that tournament

and ninth is probably not even a million it was it was a million it was either a million or like 900k like really yeah really close so right in there so like every decision you make it's just so much money at that point so um i don't think that many people hired coaches this year but like in years past like everyone's got's got coaches. That's cool. And you hired two of the best. Those guys are legends. Yeah, yeah, they're great. And I think it was very helpful.

I mean, yeah. So when do you get to talk to them? Is it in between hands? You just walk over? Yeah, so obviously heads up. You can't talk to them at all because you're folding and you're right back in the hand. But when there's, like, a full table and there's, like, let's say eight left, if I fold and they're in hands, I can go back and talk. That's cool.

Every two hours we get, like, let's say eight left. If I fold and they're in hands, I can go back and talk. That's cool. Every two hours we get like a 20 minute break. So in the breaks, we're like, we're sitting down at a table and just kind of go. Strategize. They're probably reading the other players, giving you tips on their betting styles. Yup.

Yup. That is cool. And we had a day off in between the final table. So that's where like I met with them and we went through like some strategies and tips. That's helpful too. Love it, man. Steven,

it's been fun, man. Anything you want to close off with or promote? No, nothing I can think of really. It was great. I appreciate you having me on. It was fun. Absolutely.

Thanks for coming on, man. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for watching, guys. See you tomorrow.