The Mechanics of Poker Podcast

In todays podcast Viktor “Enlightq aka Zas” Kudinov walks us through his journey towards poker successer success. He grew up in a hard environment and saw being competitive in sports and games as a way towards a better life. He shares how he uses anger as a competitive driver to put in insane amounts of volume both on the tables and in the lab. This drive also has it’s dark sides as he overdid it and ended up burning out. He then had to redevelop his strategy and refound his motivation for the game and is currently playing the highest stakes in online cash-games and in live MTTs

Gruffudd "d.apollo777" Jones is celebrated as one of the top heads-up Pot-Limit Omaha players online. He shares his journey to high-stakes poker, revealing his strategy of confronting rather than fearing tough opponents. Gruffudd emphasizes learning from losses and the significance of friendly competition for personal growth. He discusses the evolving landscape of PLO, adapting to challenges, and the psychological aspects of gameplay. His candid reflections underscore the value of resilience and evolution in mastering the game.

In this conversation with Sergey 'MunEZ_StaRR' Nikiforov, a high-stakes online cash game player with a background in applied mathematics, we delve into his rise to playing $100K NL. He candidly shares the challenges of moving up the stakes and the psychological hurdles he faced transitioning from lower to mid-stakes. Sergey discusses the unique mindset shaped by the Russian poker scene and how skills from competitive Warcraft 3 influenced his poker strategies. The importance of adaptability and maintaining self-awareness in high-pressure environments is also a focal point.

In this episode, we talk with high stakes player Jose “JMBigJoe” Jimenez about his 12-year journey to playing the biggest online poker games. Jose is obsessed with growing in all areas of his life, and he shares with us the profound impact of silent retreats, spending time in nature and being structuring his days has had on his poker success.

In today's podcast, we will have a chat with Julian "JVL_Starrrr69" Schultheis. Julian has been playing online poker professionally for over 12 years and plays high stakes cash-games. He has credited a big part of his success to his work ethic which he learned when he was younger being competitive in both video games and football. Being a professional player has made him develop a stoic mentality which next to technical poker wisdom he will share with you in this episode.

In this episode we speak with the 2021 MTT Player of The Year Pedro ‘Pvigar’ Garagnani, who has been one of the most consistent online winners in the last few years. In this wide-ranging conversation, we discuss how he is able to deal with extreme downswings, why emotions are a big part of poker and the skills that you need to develop to have poker success in the modern game.

Uri Peleg, a high-stakes poker player and world champion in Magic: The Gathering, shares his insights on exploitative poker strategies. He argues that GTO can sometimes justify poor plays and discusses treating all opponents like novices, even at high stakes. The conversation touches on managing downswings, the importance of mindset, and avoiding burnout. Peleg also shares experiences from his competitive gaming background that shaped his strategic thinking, highlighting the need for a balanced approach to life and poker performance.

In this episode we speak with the charismatic High Roller Johan “YoH ViraL” Guilbert. He walks us through his journey from losing his bankroll trying to play like Tom Dwan, to later playing against Dwan in some of the world's biggest cash games. Johan shares with us his unique Micro and Marco strategies that poker players at all levels can apply to progress with their poker careers.

In this video, we speak with NL5K regular Luke “Clanty” Johnson about his meteoric rise to the high stakes. He shares with us how he instills confidence when moving up stakes, the importance of thinking in EV, and how he has built his game around GTO using creative solver approaches.

In this episode, we speak with the number 1 ranked online tournament player in the world Patrick “Pads1161” Leonard. You will learn how his passion for the game, combined with his intense work ethic has allowed him to stay at the very top of the MTT world for the past 8 years.