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

How do you stay so locked in every day?

Man, um, I actually I drank this stuff called brain fuel.

Okay.

It's like some like keeps you sharp.

Neutron shot or something?

Yeah, 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, your adrenaline put like gets you through.

I was like, at the end of it, I was actually like super sick.

Oh, wow.

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All right, we're here with Poker Pro and Real Estate Entrepreneur Stephen Jones Jr.

How's it going?

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.

I kind of just...

It's been groundbreaking.

Finished second in the main event this year.

Yeah.

And actually, just why I had to cancel on you last week, I got 10th in the

WPT Prime for 135K.

Dang.

Yeah,

that one was $1,000.

Holy crap, you made 135X.

Yeah.

Dude, that's the thing with poker.

If you're really good, like the multiples you can make are insane.

Yeah, especially in tournaments, too, because in cash games, you may be buying for like 5K.

You might double your money, but in a tournament, you can have.

couple hundred X you're buying, which is that's the dream, you know.

So and that happened to 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,

I actually, I drank this stuff called Brain Fuel.

Okay.

It's like some like...

keeps you sharp.

Neutroxic or something?

Yeah, 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 body shut down.

But I think the adrenaline

kept me going.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's fascinating.

Cause at night you're probably replaying all the hands you lost.

Yeah, exactly.

You're like, 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 100-ish people left.

It was just like, wow, this is like surreal.

Cause like that, that is like the poker tournament that everyone dreams of like doing good in, right?

Even if you don't know poker, like everyone knows the main event.

So as a kid, this was like my dream to like be on the final table, the main event, as it is so many other poker players.

But yeah, 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, I had enough chips to where I, you know, I felt confident.

Um,

I think I was, I, 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.

And I was like, I called my mom.

I was like, yo, you got to come out here.

So I flew my mom out here, my sisters.

You could call during the game?

No, like it was like maybe at like dinner break.

Oh, okay.

I was like, hey, you should come out here.

It's getting real.

And because my mom taught me poker, too.

So it was like, yeah.

So it was like kind of her dream too.

That's awesome.

I 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, there was like 30-something people left.

So yeah, it was.

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.

Yeah.

So yeah, she she was all about it.

Was she a pro?

No, but but um but she was decent like back in her day.

You know, she would go and play a lot of the cash games.

Um, yeah, it's she wasn't a pro by any means, but she made a little bit of money from it.

Yeah.

It seems like uh guys tend to win more than the woman, 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.

Um, I think it's getting better now, and they're trying to do things to encourage that.

But yeah, 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 out of females gone is maybe like 20 or 30 something's place, okay, right in there, so close, but yeah, I don't think a woman's ever won it.

Interesting, yeah, wow.

Was there any one any like big celebrities at your tables during that main event?

Um,

Yeah,

probably nobody that stands out.

I didn't have Negrano or Ivy or anything, like anybody too crazy huge.

But more of like online guys, I guess.

I can't remember.

There's one guy's name.

I'm drawing a blank, but he's a big online guy that people know and respected.

Because the mindset thing's interesting to me because you could sort of get intimidated by these bigger names when you're playing against them.

Yeah, I think when, 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, 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, it was, I was good.

You're just locked on it.

Yeah, Yeah, 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 stacked most of the tournament.

There was like three days in a row because at the end of the night, 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 at the last.

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.

Just surviving.

Yeah, literally.

And then like day six or 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 ten, not that many.

Okay.

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.

Oh, yeah.

I feel like people play way more.

Yeah, bounty tournaments.

Yeah, 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.

It's just making it work.

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 Helmuth out here, literally, yeah, that's like more of my style, it's Phil Helmuth.

Yep, exactly.

I mean, people give him shit, but his numbers don't lie, man.

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 age range where poker players kind of peak at or is there no really

I mean 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 so in their 30s like I see a lot of people having more success.

So similar to chess because yeah 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.

Okay.

Yeah.

So there's some correlation there.

Yeah.

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.

So, right.

I made some tax plays.

I bought a G-Wagon.

That's been like my dream car for

it.

And it's a write-off.

So it's like, hey, it's a double win right there.

And just invested.

I haven't done anything crazy.

I've been traveling a little bit more, but I've kind of always been.

Still playing, too.

Yeah.

I'm taking a break.

Yeah, I'm playing a lot more.

I took a break after maybe maybe like for a month, but now I'm just like, you know, hey, might as well build off to success.

So I've been playing like some higher buy-in tournaments and trying to just like keep building my brand and my name and playing more.

But yeah, nothing crazy.

I filled up.

Nothing crazy.

Yeah, I feel like poker players are pretty reasonable with their winnings, not like blowing it.

Yeah, most of them.

I feel like there's some that probably do,

but you know, yeah, reasonably and most of them are pretty cool with that.

What kind of real estate are you into?

Residential.

Residential, yeah.

So I do real estate here and also in Vegas and then also also in the 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's awesome because you can 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.

And now I have my own company.

So I have like a lot of agents 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 worry you at all?

Or?

Yeah, actually it did.

Like, so 20, like during like real estate was crazy.

Yeah.

And I had the best year of my life in 2020, real estate wise.

And then 2021 and 2022 was a bit slow.

2021 was okay.

2022 was a little slow.

And then 23 was.

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i was hurting like it was just like real slow so that was like the perfect time to blow up and 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 the 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 insane yeah now they're they're starting to come down a little bit so i think it's gonna get better in the next year or so i hope so because if you're just living in the house it's 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 because I wanted a $2.5 million house.

The interest alone was like $12K.

Insane.

And I'm like, dude, that's nuts.

It's insane.

It's like just not affordable.

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 really pinpoint because it's very volatile because it so much it relies on tourism, but it's just Vegas has been blowing up over the last few years.

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 anymore.

It doesn't seem to have gotten hit that bad.

Yeah, it does, yeah, right.

Got the spear, and 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 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?

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, for sure.

I mean, it's just, 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 then just like talking shit at the tables with people and like the camaraderie.

Like, I just love that.

Yeah, it's just, it's fun.

And like, I just like working with people in general.

So like, that's why I like real estate was good for me because you're working with people, you're making them happy, happy, you're making them dreams come true by buying them or helping them buy a dream home.

But poker is just, there's just something about it.

I just love it.

That's my happy place.

Yeah.

Have you always been profitable with it?

Or was that of recently?

Yeah, more recently.

I mean, I've always 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

I can just do this full time, right?

Exactly.

But it's like, I 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 I 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.

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 then 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 um just a lot of like youtube stuff and that's cool a lot of practice and 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 the right spot though and make the right plays but you got to you know you got to have the hands that hold um you're going to 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 so but then you got to, you got to also make the big folds.

You got, you know, you got to navigate through 10,000.

I mean, this was the biggest main event in the history.

So over 10,000 people.

Jeez.

Just crazy.

You just got to navigate and stay alive.

So 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, not always fascinating because you rarely ever see the same people at the final table in the main event.

It's almost always new people.

Yep.

Yeah.

Because there's so many people.

And

there's that luck factor.

There's been a handful of people that have made the main event, uh, like Joe Kata 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 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.

Wow, this is cool.

Like, that is cool.

Yeah.

And some of them, like, some, some people at the table don't speak English, but like, you know, we're, we're all playing the same game.

It's just really cool.

It's interesting.

So you got to be able to read them without being able to talk to them.

Yeah, yeah, literally.

Yeah.

And some people, 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're just, they won't say a word, which it bugs the 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.

They only study the engines or whatever.

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 seriously.

Like, I'm also there to have fun, right?

I want to banter.

I want to talk.

And like, you know, 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 if it's like a really good player, I won't even try because I'll be like, they might read me before I find

them.

But if if it's like, if I'm like, I think I'm better than this player, then I'll probably talk to them more.

What are some giveaways you've noticed people do?

As far as like when I'm talking to them, or just like in general?

I guess just in general, some common ones people do.

A common would be like eyes.

So like I always like, while while like when they were going to put out the flop, like I look at someone's eyes rather than look at the board because like I can, that's always going to be there, right?

I can look at that in a second.

So I'll like 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.

But like pros won't make this mistake.

But like, you know, more novice players will.

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.

So that's a big one.

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 a 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 like 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 what's funny.

Just trying to get in their head a little bit.

Dude, that's so cool.

You got to be really aware of how you're acting at the table.

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

All your eye motions, even how you're moving your hands probably.

Yeah, yeah, literally.

Yeah, and another one that you just made me think of, sometimes like if people are like trying to like do some kind of level rubbing, like they're trying to comfort themselves.

And it's sometimes it's a subconscious thing.

But when you get like, you know, know to a high enough level you'll have people trying to reverse tell that so like really good players will be doing it to try to like throw you off you know but it's usually a sign of uh if someone's bluffing they'll do that it'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 um

so it's like you got to figure out what you know what that is which that's that's what i love about poker is yeah reverse tell as well there's levels to this game yeah there's so many levels which is the the beauty of it yeah have you ever done those high roller tournaments like crazy high buy-ins uh 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.

I got a main cash in that, so I made 20K.

Nice.

But yeah.

And that was a 10K buy-in?

Yeah, it was a 10K buy-in.

The winner probably gets millions.

Yeah, I think it's 5.4.

Something like that.

Oh, crap.

Yeah, it's crazy, man.

It's like squid game numbers.

Yeah, literally.

I just finished watching that show.

You watched that?

I haven't watched the game show.

I just watched like two episodes of it, and it looks pretty good.

I haven't finished it yet.

I like it more than the original.

Really?

Okay.

It's more relatable.

That's awesome.

You're putting yourself in their shoes.

And there was a winner and all that?

There 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.

Yeah, people keep spoiling it everywhere.

That's the one thing with social media.

Yeah, yeah.

You just, you know, everything.

You got to watch it 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 The Avengers.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Did you see that one?

I have not.

I stopped watching them.

Okay.

You 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, literally.

Come on, no.

They're making money.

You know what I'm saying?

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.

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 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.

It's a tough one to beat.

Yeah.

I mean, mind reading is good, too.

I didn't even think about that.

I was just like, mind reading is good.

It could be used in the wrong ways, and 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 want people to know what people are thinking.

People are thinking badly about you, and then it'll affect you, you know?

Literally, yes.

Yes, that is a tough one, actually.

I don't know if I'd want it.

Teleportation is nice.

You can can be over here there and just like, yeah.

Yeah, that'd be good for business, too.

Business, yeah, I think that's why I was thinking that.

Go to conferences for real estate.

It's probably amazing.

If you want to have a meal in France, just go and teleport, eat some snails.

Yeah.

What else do you do for fun outside of poker?

Just traveling a lot.

I work out a lot.

So

that's how I de-stress, I guess.

And then I've always loved traveling.

Once you start traveling, I just feel like you just don't stop.

It's so amazing to see other cultures and how other people live.

It's really eye-opening.

And

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 by traveling and what else?

My top three?

Yeah.

Greece, Thailand.

Yes.

I really like Mexico, honestly.

Really?

Okay.

Okay.

I've only been to like

just over the border of Arizona.

What is it?

Like Puerto Penasco or like Rocky Point.

They call it right?

I haven't been there.

Okay, yeah.

So

I don't count that.

It's like real Mexico.

But Thailand is my number one.

Oh, yeah.

Thailand's the best.

Wow, 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

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.

Literally.

Like I would live there for a year.

It's not good.

Yeah, me too.

Yeah.

So I've thought about it.

Yeah, I thought about it.

I haven't been to Greece yet.

That's on my list.

So So 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'm Irish.

I'm Irish.

Oh, really?

Okay.

Hell yeah.

I didn't like it, though.

Yeah, I mean, me.

Sorry, guys.

So food sucks.

Food sucks.

It's always gloomy.

Rain.

Rainy.

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

so bad.

Which wasn't yeah.

I'm half Chinese and China was pretty dope though.

I haven't been to China yet.

Yeah, 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 ideal.

I mean, it's got to be way better than here, I'm assuming.

And I like Chai food here, so yeah.

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?

Yeah, 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, 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.

Check out Berry's.

It's in Circa.

Okay, I heard about that one.

I haven't been yet yet.

I like Carver.

Carver.

Is that a local one?

Like, Like, not in the...

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'm 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 really good drinks, too.

Like, they're known for their drinks, like whiskeys and sh ⁇ .

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 as Herbs and Rye.

Oh, that's the one I was thinking of.

Oh, Herbs and Rye.

So 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 Herbs and Rye.

Yeah, so you're in Arizona right now?

Yeah, mainly.

I'm here like 30% of the time, probably.

Now that I'm doing more poker, probably try to.

So you're going to move out here?

Yeah, I'm going to buy a house eventually.

Why do you like, which town in AZ are you in?

Scottsdale.

Nice.

I like Scottsdale.

Scottsdale is awesome, man.

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 is a lot, like the metro Phoenix area is bigger, but it's just a great place to live, man.

Yeah, I got engaged there.

Oh, you did?

Yeah, I liked it that much.

Nice.

Sedona.

Oh, yeah.

Sedona's beautiful.

That's beautiful.

It's a different world up there in Sedona.

Yeah.

Sedona's awesome, though.

You can feel it when you just walk outside there.

Yeah.

Energy.

Yeah.

That's the thing in Sedona.

It's like all about the energies.

You can go to a lot of these places and get these crystals.

Yeah.

I'm into that stuff, man.

Are you?

Hell yeah.

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 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?

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

poison, right?

Like, they are poisonous.

So I like micro-dosing.

Yes.

I love micro-dosing.

Micro-dosing is awesome.

Yeah.

Have you noticed a difference when you're playing on a micro-dose?

Dude, I've only played poker one time, micro-dosing, and I was so dialed in.

I was like, dude, 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, 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 sh ⁇ .

Oh, 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

he he was open about it too.

He's like, dude, I'm shrooming my mass 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, he did very well.

I mean, he

made it very far.

I'm shocked they don't bannick.

There's something to be.

You can feel people's energy.

You literally can.

Like,

I might need to try a big tournament with this.

No, 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, yeah.

So I'm like, dude, let's play frisbee.

You need to get the f ⁇ away from me.

Go over there and get him.

So I felt better as soon as we did that.

But when he was physically next to me, you could just feel it, dude.

Like he was like a Coke dealer or something.

It was just like

a bad drug, right?

So I'm surprised that didn't happen to that guy at the table.

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 there.

I've only done it once, so I need to experiment with it.

But I noticed in business, like when I'm working on a mega dose, 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 adderal almost.

You're just more aware.

Yeah.

I've done it podcasting, too, and I've done better

interviewing people.

Oh, yeah.

You have to let me know which podcast.

I'll go ahead and go.

I don't need to 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.

But now that I'm like coming on more of them, I feel like I'm going to start getting that realm.

But to be honest, I just love music so much.

Like, that's what you, you know, I feel like that's what you interchange podcasts for is the music, right?

I used to be like that too.

All 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 yeah or if you're trying to be a little nostalgic listen to some 2000 throwbacks that's what i'm saying 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't have access to what they were thinking right 20 years ago same with poker players dan cates negranu 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 yeah i mean you can always take away a little bit from from stuff so yeah do you have any more poker goals now that you've reached the pinnacle of people's dreams honestly i'm like trying to figure that out because like i had a vision board and you know all that um and i've accomplished a lot of things on my vision board this year yeah you know very grateful for that so like i told myself I would, I was kind of not trying to like 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, like making it to the final table of the main event is already like huge I want to do it again like as crazy as it sounds

because on my vision board like I had dreams of winning and I came so close it just feels like so I'm it's great like I'm I'm very like happy that that I did it but like I want to I want to win like I want to at least get back to the final table again or show like hey this wasn't an accident because 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 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 yeah dude i'm big on vision boards i have one as my screen receiver on all my laptops and computers that's a good idea too yeah so my subconscious is constantly yes constantly seeing yeah i just have like in my office but that that's actually really cool because sometimes you're traveling yeah 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 tesla i made this like three years ago.

Get a Tesla, get a nice house, get a six-pack,

get watches, get gold, get money.

Like, I was able to accomplish a lot of them.

Oh, yeah.

So, you got a six-pack and all the watches?

Yeah.

Well, I'm skinny, so it's easy.

Yeah, that's true.

That's all 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 like, there was three of us left.

And then the one, the third place guy, lost all his chips to

the guy who eventually won.

So, I think I was a little, a little over like a, maybe like a 3.2, 3.3 to 1 deficit going into heads up.

And 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 because that 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, it usually lasts a while.

Um, but we got, we got into a hand where it was like it wasn't, it wasn't wasn't terrible.

We both had top hair.

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.

Triple E were coaching, Alex Fox, and then Chance were kind of coaching me at the final table.

But we didn't even get to a break to where I got to go back and like, okay,

let's review some of these hands and talk about it.

So you hired them, but you couldn't even use them.

Well, 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.

But we never even got that far.

And next thing you know, we were in this big hand.

And then, you know, I lost it all.

But he definitely had an advantage of having 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.

But it didn't happen.

Wow, that's cool.

I didn't know people had coaches on the sidelines while you're playing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's pretty common once you get down to like the final table in that spot because the implications are just so huge.

Right, because the difference between

ninth and I mean, first is 12 million in that tournament.

And

probably not even a million it was it was a million i thought it was it was either a million or like 900k like really yeah really close so right in there so every decision you make is 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 coaches that's cool and you hire two of the best those guys are legends yeah yeah they're great um and they were it i think it was very helpful i mean yeah

so when 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 all yeah you're just folding and you're right right back in the hand but when there's 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 a 20-minute break.

So in the breaks, we're like, we're sitting down at a table and just kind of going.

Strategizing.

They're probably reading the other players, giving you tips on their expanding styles.

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.

Guys, 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.

No, 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