Digital Social Hour - How a Nesquik Addict Built a Viral Beverage Empire | Joelle Weinand DSH #932

Episode Date: November 29, 2024

How a Nesquik Addict Built a Viral Beverage Empire 🥛🚀 Join us for an incredible story of entrepreneurship and innovation! From Nesquik addiction to founding a viral beverage empire, this episode is packed with valuable insights on building a successful brand. 🌟 Discover how a craving for healthier chocolate milk led to the creation of Nutcase, a celebrity-backed beverage company taking the industry by storm. Learn about: • The unexpected origins of Nutcase milk 🥛 • Collaborating with big names like Ninja and Steve Aoki 🎮🎧 • Balancing rapid growth with strategic planning 📈 • The power of authentic partnerships in business 🤝 Don't miss out on this inspiring journey from kitchen experiments to viral success! 🔥 Watch now and subscribe for more insider secrets on building game-changing brands. Hit that subscribe button and join the conversation in the comments below! 💬 #NutcaseMilk #EntrepreneurshipJourney #BeverageIndustry #DigitalSocialHour #discoveringtheentrepreneurjourney #kickstartyourentrepreneurjourney #entrepreneurship #entrepreneurmotivation #veganfood CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Intro 00:32 - Joe's Competitive Nature 02:08 - How Nutcase Milk Started 05:52 - Nutcase Milk's Early Success 08:42 - Investors: Phil Hellmuth and Ninja 12:49 - What Makes V1 Different 17:31 - Poker Insights 20:17 - Pre-VLOGMAS Activities 21:55 - Craziest Experience in Event Planning 23:15 - Phil Hellmuth: Best Poker Player? 26:24 - Uncomfortable Moments in Poker 27:49 - Playing Styles in Poker 29:00 - GTO vs Feel in Poker Strategy 30:10 - Reasons People Gamble 31:00 - Joe's Poker Stakes 31:30 - Highest Stakes Game Played by Joe 32:20 - Where to Find Nutcase Drink APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [e-mail] GUEST: Joelle Weinand https://www.instagram.com/jo.parenteau/ https://drinknutcase.com/ 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 podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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a lot of cashews. Because we do that, we get all of the texture, all of the protein, all that comes directly from the nuts, and we don't have to like use fillers and just extra garbage to like give it a mouth field and give it texture. All right, guys, Joe from nutcase here today. Thanks for coming on. My pleasure. Good to be here. Yeah, gearing up for the poker tournament tonight. You excited? I'm pumped. You're a player. So you got a little edge on everyone. I so I'm not playing tonight. I'm here rooting ninja on tonight. And then we have our own game

Did you give ninja some lessons? You would kill me if I said that yeah, yeah, we're very competitive But we try to give him some pointers, but he's got the hang of it. I love that Where'd you get that competitive nature from you think I don't know I always had it I I grew up playing competitive boys hockey and I think I've always just loved to challenge myself. And yeah, I don't know where it comes from, but everything needs to be a battle or a challenge or we prop bets. I love that.

Well, that's how poker players think. They bet on everything. Exactly. So you were too good for the girls hockey team, huh? It wasn't a big thing at the time, but I also, and I like to play full contact as well. I had a bit of an edge because girls tend to mature sooner. So in the first few years,

I was actually bigger than most of the guys. And then they all caught up and just beat the shit out of me. I was like okay. That's how it works. I remember going on the playground as a kid. It was even matches with both genders. Yeah. Then guys got faster and stronger. Over one summer you're just like yeah. It's like maybe middle school around that time. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah we used to play soccer with everyone and it was super fun. If only life could stay that way. Let's talk about the drink though, nutcase milk. How did this start?

So I was one of those kids that was a total Nesquik addict. And it was a sad day when I started to read labels and finally just kind of clued in and was like, I really shouldn't be putting this in my body anymore. Also it, you know, noticing how I felt after it. So that just, you know, shattered all the dreams of chocolate milk and it was, you know,

probably over a decade that I kind of just forgot about it. And of course, silver lining of just forgot about it. And of course, silver lining of COVID is that it gave us time. And that's a recipe for disaster in my case, most of the time, because I get bored really quickly. So I was in Canada, we had some lockdowns, we really couldn't do anything. And I just started craving that chocolate milk again,

that comfort food. And that's when, because I had nothing else to do, all of a sudden I was like, I wonder if I can make my own. I'll just Google how do you make cashew, or and I really like cashews. I'm not vegan, I just really think it makes a like rich, creamy base for milk. So I always liked cashew milk.

I found some cashews in the pantry, worked with the Vitamix, and just kinda whipped up a batch. Really not thinking it was gonna work. You know, I was like, this is, how is this possible that you just throw things in the Vitamix and it comes out great? But I tried it and it shocked me because it was actually really good.

And that said, I'm like, I'm biased. Maybe I'm just telling myself it's good. So I invited my friend Brooke over and kind of just handed her a cup. And I was like, hey, drink this. And good thing she trusts me because she's like, okay. And she had a sip and she was kind of like, wait, you made this?

And I was like, yeah. We were both like, can you believe it? But that kind of confirmed it was so good and then my husband tried it as well and he's my toughest critic and he was like, yeah, actually I would drink this. And he doesn't drink nut milk or anything. So I was like, okay, cool.

And then that's when we're like, okay, well, what do we do with this? I think like, okay, cool. Like, and then that's when we're like, well, what do we, what do we do with this? I think it's actually really good. I happen to have back home in Canada, I own a restaurant. So we're like, why don't we just put it on the shelf at the restaurant? We'll see what happens. And it just flew off the shelf. We're like, well, that's interesting. And the other part that was really cool is within a few weeks we started to have other restaurants and retailers coming to the restaurant being like hey like who's

your supplier like where are you getting this stuff from we're like oh that we're just making it in the back and that's where we kind of started to say okay maybe we're maybe we're wrong. BetMGM, authorized gaming partner of the NBA, has your back all season long. From tip-off to the final buzzer, you're always taken care of with the sportsbook Born in Vegas. That's a feeling you can only get with BetMGM. And no matter your team, your favorite player, or your style, there's something every NBA fan will love about BetMGM. Download the app today and discover why BetMGM is your basketball home for the season.

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and like stickers and like, what are we gonna call it? And of course I just started thinking of, I'm like, what are funny words that have not, or like fun things. And of course in that case, the first thing that comes to mind, clearly I was a bit of a hyper child. So it's something I've been called more than once

in my life, so the brand is very authentically named up after me. And that's actually been really cool to see that it resonates with a lot of people. Like one of my favorite comments is when people comment on the brand name and they're just like, oh, like welcome to the club, or just like they feel seen.

So yeah, from there, that's basically how we created it, tested it, validated it, and kind of saw the opportunity. And then of course, I'm kind of a serial entrepreneur. So as soon as I kind of saw that, I was like, OK, I'll dive in, do my research, and really saw that there is a big gap in the market. And of course, I kind of already knew that because I'd been looking for years for a healthier chocolate

milk that was also tasty and had not found one. So from there, we saw the opportunity, wanted to try to scale it, but didn't obviously I never run an average company. I have no idea what I was doing. And because it was mid COVID to be honest, we like struggled at first because no one couldn't find a co-packer. No one would answer the phone. And lo and behold it all came down to a random brunch at Catch in Vegas with some friends with Rich Blankenship and Jonah and we were just chatting about startups and businesses and stuff and

Rich was like, hey, what's this chocolate milk I keep seeing on your Instagram? And I was like, oh, that's super random. And I just explained the story to him. But I told him, like, we haven't been able to figure out how to scale it. And out of nowhere, he's like, oh, by the way, we started a VC fund.

I was like, what are you talking about? He's like, we've backed CPG companies. And I was like, like, I had no clue. And so he said, why don't you talk to one of our other founders? And he has an ops guy. They might be able to help make this happen. I'm like, OK, cool. But really, I got not thinking much of it.

But of course, he made that call made the intro that guy Connected me to this ops guy David and and Susie Heard about the concept in the product. He's like, oh, I love this like yeah, let's do this Wow, and he was like I've got like here's here's a formulator for you Here's a coat backer to just line it up open all the doors and we're like, okay I guess I guess we're doing this. And it's- Just got real.

And yeah, I remember the day being like, oh shit, yeah, I guess we are doing this. And they came in and true to the word, they were our lead backers, because when he made the intro, he kind of made a joke of like, if you do this though, you have to let us in the first round.

And I was like, yeah, of course. Still like not really think it was serious at the time, but yeah, all of that just these little moments that unlock something and then, and then a lot of them go, okay, here we are. I guess we're doing this. Here we are, wow. Go to catch out, I gotta go to catch more than that.

Yeah, I mean. Get brunch there. You never know what's gonna happen. Damn, that's awesome. And now you guys are doing really well. You got a good catch more. Yeah, I mean brunch there. You never know what's gonna Damn, that's awesome. And now you guys are are doing really well. You got some big people behind this thing We so that's also been super interesting. It's We look a lot bigger than we are because from before we even launched we got introduced to ninja That's another funny funny poker story because we I know Phil Hellmuth and he had just played a crazy big game in LA with Ninja and Mr. Beast and all those guys. And Phil sat next to Tyler so they got to know each other

and kept in touch. So when Phil, I was catching up with Phil one day, I told him about this chocolate milk and he was like, I love chocolate milk and he got all giddy, he's like, send me some. So I'm like, sure. So I, I shipped some to him. He loved it. So he came on as a, an investor and advisor and he immediately was like, you know, who should we send them, send them to? And I was like, like who, who you thinking? And he's like, Ninja. And I'm like, oh, that's random. I'm like, okay, sure.

Like why not? So he texted Tyler and Tyler immediately was like, oh, that's random. I'm like, OK, sure. Like, why not? So he texted Tyler, and Tyler immediately was like, yeah, this looks really cool. Send me some. We sent him some. I really didn't know what he would think about it, or if he drank nut milk or whatnot. But as soon as he got it and tried it, he's like, I love this. He's like, I have a massive sweet tooth,

and this just hits the spot. I love how clean it is. and make new family connections. But hurry, these savings are only for a very limited time. Visit ancestry.ca to start your journey today. Offer ends December 3rd. Terms apply. And he's like, well yeah, let's do something together. And I was like, oh, again, I keep getting cut off guard because it's just not expecting these things

to all come together. So I actually flew down to have dinner with him and kind of brainstorm and see, first of all, see how we hit it off. And it just was all so natural. We got along so easily. He totally understood the product. Like he really genuinely loved it.

And I know he was excited to work with a product that he'd feel really good about, you know, promoting to his fans and whatnot. So he ended up coming on board fully as a co-founder. That's awesome. Pre-launch, so that makes us look a lot bigger than we are. So we launched with Ninja, like, it's only been about half a year. Wow. So that makes us look a lot bigger than we are.

So we launched with Ninja, like, it's only been about half a year. And we started with just online D2C. And through, after a few months as well, we met Steve Aoki, and just before launching the strawberry flavor, he tried that one. He loved the strawberry one. So he also came on board. So yeah, we have this like powerhouse dream team, but we're still like brand new.

So people think we're a lot bigger than we are. And we get like these crazy partnership requests sometimes that we're like, yeah, we don't have that budget. We got a call from the UFC a week before the Sphere fight. And they're like, one of our sponsors just dropped out. Do you want the spot? I'm like, yeah, sure. What does that cost?

Probably like 500,000. Pretty much exactly. I was like, that is all of what we've raised so far to date. But I was like, cool. But yeah, maybe next year. Yeah. So that's just the trick. It's cool, but it's tricky because people

are looking at it, coming at us for big sponsorship and stuff. And I'm like, yeah, we're not. We're a scrappy startup still. But well, I'm like, yeah, we're not. We're like, we're a scrappy startup still. And they're like, well, I'm like, we're not paying them. Like, they're part of the team. So yeah. That makes sense. Well, I think things will change soon as you get in more retail stores and get some revenue.

Yeah, that's the next step. We really wanted to be strategic this year in terms of like laying the foundation, getting feedback. A lot of the advice I got from other creator-backed brands was like, we went too big too fast, and it just blew up in our face. So they're like, go slow, get the feedback. So that's something that we're doing.

So this year really is testing, and then we're gonna go big next year. I love that. I can't wait till I see it in stores. This is good by the way. Thank you. I never was a Nesquik kid but I saw that stuff everywhere growing up. It's yeah.

It's Nesquik or Yoohoo. Yeah, I saw them everywhere. I wasn't big on chocolate milk growing up but I know a lot of kids were. Like I remember the milk cartons. Yes. That was the most popular flavor. flavor yeah and those are probably terrible for you too there it's so it's crazy across the board of like chocolate milks on the dairy side the nest quicks and the yuhus and stuff you have a lot of um breads have carrageenan and all this sugar and

just all this garbage in it yeah and then even when you go flip to like the nut milk side, a lot of those have oils. Oh, they got seed oils? Yeah. Most of like all the oat milks and a lot of the almond milks, like the silks and this kind of stuff. And that's weird that they're using that in drinks too. And the reason is probably because like if you think of oats

or like even almonds, like they're not fatty and they're not rich, so you don't get that creamy texture from them. So you have to add fats to give it the right texture. And that's a big thing that we do differently is first of all, we use a lot of cashews. So it's nutritious and it's more expensive. It's a more premium drink. But because we do that, we get all of the texture,

all of the protein, all of that comes directly from the nuts and we don't have to like use fillers and just extra garbage to like give it a mouthfeel and give it texture. That makes sense. Yeah, five grams of protein in this. If you drink two of these a day, that's 10 grams right there.

Exactly, and we're not trying to be a protein shake either because I find you sacrifice too much on taste for that and I just really don't like the chalky protein. I got terrible memories of trying to gain weight off protein shakes and almost throwing up. Exactly, so we're just trying to be a better for you chocolate milk. And there's five grams of protein. The one thing that we really knock it out of the park with

is potassium, which is really good for recovery, especially for cardio endurance-based workouts. Or athletes like post sports, post tennis, post pickleball really helps with hydration. And that naturally from the cashews and the agave and the ingredients that we have in there, it's naturally incredibly high, like more than coconut water, which we were just talking about. Like that can has more potassium than a large banana.

Whoa. So for runners and stuff that like to crush bananas after a run, it also helps prevent cramping. Yeah. So I got to start drinking this after basketball games. There you go. Wow. That's good to know.

680 grams. That is a lot of potassium. So cashews have that much? Cashews and the agave in the dates also contribute to that. That's cool. Yeah, this thing is, I see a lot of potential with this. Thank you.

And you got the right partners, the right celebrities that actually care about it. Because sometimes celebrities just put their face on stuff. Yeah, that was one thing I would never do. So it had to be super authentic. And the funny story with Aoki actually is he tried our V1 chocolate and it was not very good and he was just like, yeah this is not good. And we're like, oh okay. But

I appreciated the honesty, right? And when he got to try the strawberry, that was like, then he was like, oh yeah, like this is it, this is my jam. This is the V1? So, no, this is the final chocolate. And this one here is the vanilla and we have strawberry as well. So, and that's really mimicking the Nesquik lineup of like chocolate vanilla strawberry kind of thing. But we also had a funny moment with Steve

where he had tried the strawberry. We hadn't launched it yet, we were still testing it. But he tried it, loved it, and the next day we had our streamed poker game. And he was playing, he shows up, and it's live streamed. We're not, no one knows we're launching strawberry yet. He just got to try it. And first thing he says, he's like,

yo, I tried the strawberry So good and we're like all like oh my god So and up being a really fun moment cuz also Tyler ninja leaked the chocolate before he was supposed to on stream. Oh, so we're kind of just like yeah, okay you guys but no No secrets. Yeah next flavor. You're keeping that internal. Yeah. Yeah, I can't tell them anything. That's hilarious Yeah, you guys do the poker streams, right? You got another one coming up Saturday. Mm-hmm. Yeah, next flavor you're keeping that internal. Yeah, yeah. I can't tell them anything. That's hilarious. Yeah, you guys do the poker streams, right? You got another one coming up Saturday. Yeah, really. That's just the, it's on brand because I met Tyler

because of poker, Phil's an investor. My husband and I, like poker is the hobby that we bond over. And a lot of our friends and community and so much of anything we're doing kinda always comes back to poker now. Did you meet your husband through poker? Not through poker, but when I met him,

he was just learning it. Okay. And so that got me curious. So he was just ahead of me, so he would learn it and then like teach me kind of things. He'd read all the books and then I just like would follow along kind of thing. And then we started going to the casino together. Then we started going to Vegas together.

And it was only a matter of time because before we just made so many good friends in the poker world that were like, were hooked. Yeah, it is a cool community for sure. I've topped into a little bit. Where's your favorite spot in Vegas to play poker? Definitely here. In this studio? At the studio. I mean, you're kind of spoiled here.

Yeah, I meant casino-wise, but yeah. Casino-wise, it'll be a toss-up between The Wind and Aria. Okay. Yeah, The Wind's nice, right? It depends on the mood. Yeah. During the day, um, because it's brighter and stuff. I like to play there. Um, cause it's, it's much darker in Aria, but at night that's kind of the vibe. Have you tried the new one in the Venetian yet? The new room? No. Yeah. They just opened up. Okay.

Apparently it's the biggest poker room in the, it might be the country or something. Oh geez. Okay. Cool to the vanitian there or resorts world either resorts world okay vanitian is my favorite hotel overall okay like if i'm gonna pick one to stay at that's that's the one for me interesting i we bounced between arian cosmo and now we're throwing fontainebleau in the mix um the location isn't great because it's far but then the hotel is nice the gyms really nice. Yeah, the spa is nice Yeah, you're in Vegas a lot, right? Yeah, it's hard to hard to be Vegas. I mean, I love the desert Oh really and the people and the hell yeah. Well, I've never heard someone love the desert. Oh really? No, I it's dry

It's perfect. I don't know I guess coming from Canada. Yeah, that's like the opposite of that weather So and Vegas is so nice to like um anywhere you look the backdrop is like those mountains. Yeah, I Don't know Yeah, it's got some good scenery for sure Yeah, I think well I haven't been to Canada where you're from, but yeah, it's hard to be Vegas for me Yeah, it's I mean it's humid there and Yeah, just a different. It's humid in Canada? Yeah. Oh I didn't know. Well in East Coast I guess Ottawa is on the east so. Oh got it. Yeah. You said you were an entrepreneur before this company. What else were you doing beforehand? So before that I

well I have a restaurant that still operates but I you know I put people, have a general inventory, kind of runs it, so it runs itself now. And prior to that, we had launched an experience company, which basically just gave people access to really crazy experiences. And we actually pulled off some pretty crazy, really cool stuff, but ultimately just wasn't sustainable.

It was also a funny story where I knew some of the guys high up at Airbnb, and then I told them this idea, I launched it, and then Airbnb launched Airbnb experiences. And I'm like. Oh, that was because of you? They won't admit that, but it was suspicious. I've seen that. I've never used it, but I've seen it. Yeah, I've seen that I've never used it but I've

seen it. Yeah I've tried a couple in Japan that was pretty it was worked out pretty kind of cool we really like met this like samurai guy and sliced some stuff with the swords. Wow and you booked that on Airbnb? Yeah that's interesting. Yeah it was pretty cool. Okay I'll have to look into that but I'm upset they stole that from you that sucks. I mean yeah. They're ruthless. It was. That's how businesses at a high level though. It really is. Yeah. Damn yeah. Well they sold their company though right? Airbnb? They're the founders? They've I'm sure they've cashed out somewhat but I'm not sure. Okay well I'll use a Verbo instead for you. Yes, thank you.

I know. I haven't stayed in Airbnb since. You said you pulled off some crazy stuff, though. What was the craziest thing you pulled off for that experience company? So in Canada, we got access to the Special Forces training facility. And one thing that was cool, we went to, we went in like a private quarry

and we were racing Humvees. And then like working with like world-class snipers to do like shooting stuff. So that was like, on the military side, we did some really cool stuff. And then we did, with some flight instructors, like some crazy aerobatic flights. You were in the plane with them?

In the plane, yeah. Oh my gosh. I almost threw up. Yeah, I would have been freaking out. It was not good. They're like, after a few barrel rolls, I was like, take me down. I'm like, I always had to be the guinea pig for these things. And some of them were pretty rough.

And that's how we actually, that's how we initially met Hellmuth as well, cause he did like a cool poker experience. Oh yeah. That was one of the prizes or experiences? It was one of the ones that you could book way out was to play with Phil. Got it.

Like heads up or like? He would do whatever you wanted. So like if you, we could try to organize a little game if you rather play like a proper game or you could just do like a coaching session or whatever you wanted. So like if you we could try to organize a little game if you rather play like a proper game or you could just do like a coaching session or whatever. That's cool. Is he the best player you've ever played against? It's Yeah, this is a tricky question. It all depends on the

style, right? Like, he's great. Obviously in like big fields in different areas. And then there's we're also friends with You know like the Fox's and stuff. They're like who crush it if you're playing a bunch of other like really high high level pros Yeah, so I would say depends. Oh, he's gonna be angry with you I mean Phil it's okay. We troll each other. It's a lot. Yeah, he came on the show and said he's the goat I mean, I got so many OK. We troll each other. It's a lot. Yeah, he came on the show and said he's the goat. Oh, I mean, yeah. I got so many hate comments for that one.

I do have some pretty cool Phil stories, though, where. So when we come to Aria, most of the time, we have our dog with us. OK. And she looks like a mini wolf. The breed's called Tomaskin, but they're pretty striking, and they get a lot of attention and We Phil invited us to a group dinner at Carbone and we didn't have a dog sitter

So we're like he's like come come we're like we'd love to come but we can only come if we can bring Billy And he was I was like, I'm pretty sure Carbone will not let us bring our little wolf dog into the restaurant. Um, and Phil, Phil goes, I'm fucking Phil Homey's. Oh my gosh. He's like, of course we can. So I'm like, okay. So we show up with our dog. They let us in. What? Um, yeah. So Carbone's like the nicest restaurant in Vegas. And everybody, like everybody in the restaurant, I swear stopped and like looked at us And then we went to the private room.

The best part of this story is the waiters then go like, does the dog want something? And we're like, what? And they're like, like a steak. And we're like, sure. You'll bring her a steak. And so they brought her this big steak. And they were dumping Fiji water for her into a wall. I were just like oh my god. I thought got a great

and Of course because it's all a poker crowd at the end of the dinner. We play credit card roulette. Mm-hmm. So someone Wins or loses in this case. Yeah, and and they're like, huh? Everybody's you know Poking at them how you lost you have to pay for the dinner And then they're like they're fine with it But then it dawns on us after like five minutes like you just paid for the dogs dinner That steak was probably like 60 80 bucks, right? Billy says thank you.

$2,000 bill. I've actually not knock on wood. I've never lost credit card roulette. Me neither. I'm five and oh. Yeah, I'm doing good, but I'm overdue. So I should not do this. There's some techniques.

Like you gotta strategize on what card to use. I don't use the heavier MXs. Right. Cause I feel like they'll take that one out, you know? So I use the sleek ones. Smart. Yeah, five and oh, credit card rou heavier MX's. Right. Cause I feel like they'll take that one out, you know? So I use the sleek ones. Smart. Yeah, five and O. Credit card, that's fun.

Yeah. I highly recommend everyone try it. Yeah. I mean, when you're going for dinner with poker people, like there's- That's normal. It's never gonna be split bills. Either that or you're gonna end up doing some sort of prop bet or-

Yeah, yeah. Do you play pretty comfortable? Have you ever been like playing uncomfortable? Like the stakes were too high? It's not the stakes, it's the cameras. I hate playing on camera. Oh, wow because I have my own I have my own ideas in the They might not really understand what I'm doing. Oh So you're afraid of getting judged on your style. Yeah, I think it's that and or sometimes it just makes stupid miss

I'm like like I'm not a pro and I'm still learning and I haven't played as much lately. So I'm a little rusty Yeah, so yeah, of course. I'm not a pro, and I'm still learning, and I haven't played as much lately, so I'm a little rusty. So yeah, of course, I'm not gonna play perfect. And the other thing is a lot of the tables, the thing that's most misunderstood when people are watching in this commentary is that you don't know the history that we have with players.

So I will play a very specific way, in a hand for instance, against my husband, because he taught me. So I know, you have to go like, you're meta, you're like three levels deeper, like he's thinking that I'm thinking that this, and then you're trying to do something different to like throw him off.

But it doesn't make sense to the commentator who doesn't understand like what I'm doing, or that I know a specific player, you might be able to bluff more or whatever. So I'll try different things with different people and it might not make sense to everybody. No, that's a good perspective though. I never even thought about that.

Because when you're watching, you're thinking so logically, you're seeing the percentages and stuff. Exactly, especially if you're a numbers player and you're just like analyzing it right exactly And this is what's funny my between my husband eyes were very different styles of players, so he's more he's German So he's more like he knows all the numbers and he plays like by the book optimal Yeah, whereas I'm more like I like to play the brain game So I'm like I'm just gonna try to mind fuck the shit like that. They won't know what I'm doing

So I'm like, I'm just gonna try to mind fuck the shit. Like then they won't know what I'm doing. So sometimes we get into debates because we're just like playing very differently. But there's times where, for instance, there's someone who's giving away so many tales. Like the guy clearly is like, call, call, call. And like in a hand that my husband's in and he's next to me and I'm like,

I'm looking at him, I'm like, just by the guy, I'm like, do not call this guy, right? But he's in his, in the tank, he's in his head running numbers. And I was like, I don't care if the number says you're like 90% favorite or like you have the odds to call here, like just look at this guy. Right, he's too confident.

He's pretty much drooling. Just like, don't call. So he's like, you got to run more numbers. And I'm like, you got to just look around. Right. I think you need both to be the best. Ideally, yeah. Like, you need that feel for the game,

being able to read people. But also the GTO stuff is pretty needed these days. Right? Yeah. A lot of people live off that GTO thing. Depending who you're playing, though, again. And then tonight, like or you're playing with people who don't really know. So I'm like, you can't analyze someone who doesn't even know what they're doing

themselves. Yeah, that's a good point. I heard pros actually struggle against amateurs. Yeah, they really do. They can't predict they're overanalyzing. Right. And then it's really just bingo at that point. Yeah, for real. I don't like games that are luck-based. Me neither. And that's the whole difference right between gambling or the misconception of poker in a casino

and it just being pure gambling. Like, well, there is actually a skill component. So it's different from just playing blackjack or craps. I played bingo on this cruise and I was itching in my seat. Like I had no control over who won and I lost. So I'm good on bingo. Every hotel has it and it's always packed. I'm like, what the hell?

Like people play bingo. It's weird, eh? Yeah. I guess people like the slots too, which makes no sense to me, but everyone has their gambling. Their fix. Or you know, for some people it's just like an escape

of like, just zone out. Yeah. But you're doing it for fun and you're not doing an escape of like, just zone out. Yeah. Whatever. But you're doing it for fun. You're not doing it to make money, right? That's not the main thing. No. No. It definitely, I mean, for me, sitting at the poker table

is one of the few times I stop thinking about work. It's a good, it's like meditative. It's where people think poker is the stressful part. I was like, no, I play it to like, To de-stress? Yeah. That's funny. Zone out. And was like no I play it to like Zone out and just like sit around table

Meet some new people But I need the stakes for me to be engaged So if it's like one two you won't exactly or like and that's why I find it hard to get into Board games or video games or anything where there's not something I say I I'm like, what's the point though? Like, why am I playing this? What's the meaning of life? Yeah, the stake. Having something, being able to win something actually makes it engaging.

Yeah, so what's that level for you right now? What stakes? Stakes wise, yeah. I think, I mean, I like to play, I think 25, 50. It would be what we're gonna play on Saturday is a good level. You get the heart rate going. Yeah, that's pretty baller, damn.

You could get some like $5,000 hands at that level, right? Yeah, exactly, and that's like, it's good so that it's like, if you win, it's meaningful. Yeah, it funds the trip. But if you lose, you're not like ruined. Right. That's a good level, yeah. What's the highest stakes game you've seen

or played in I guess I Think it was the fifth a couple of 50 to 100 games. Okay. There's a couple of poker after dark So I think that's what we played and I if the honor that was stressful. That's like a hundred K buy in it That's a big buy-in No 50 100 we're buying it for 10k Oh 10k to be be 100 BB deep. It wasn't, yeah, it wasn't too deep. I've seen some crazy streams where like people

buy it for a million. That's like, yeah, the Ninja helped me with Mr. B's XUC stream that they had at Hustler. That was... Nuts. Insane. And Keating was in that game. Saw that.

Yeah, that was insane. Yeah. I don't feel the need to... I don't think that's necessary, to be honest. Yeah, there was that was insane. Yeah, I don't feel the need to I Don't think that's necessary to be honest. Yeah, there's levels to it. It's just guys just Joe it's been fun working people buy the drink and keep up with you. So we're mostly still online right now So drink nutcase calm. We're also on go pluff in most major cities Cool now so drinknutcase.com. We're also on GoPluff in most major cities and then we'll start attacking retail next year. Cool, thanks for coming on. Yep, we'll link the site below guys if you're interested. See you next time.