What's new at the felt

A New World Champion Is Crowned

The poker world has a new king. Lucas Jumalon has won the 2026 World Series of Poker Main Event, defeating Finland's Lauri Saaskilahti in heads-up play to claim the coveted gold bracelet and a staggering $10,000,000 first-place prize.

How It Went Down

Jumalon entered the final heads-up battle holding the chip lead and never relinquished it, closing out Saaskilahti in a performance that appeared as composed and commanding as the headline suggests — built for this moment. It marks a landmark result for Jumalon, who now joins the most exclusive club in poker as a WSOP Main Event champion.

Why This Matters

The WSOP Main Event remains the sport's most prestigious tournament, drawing thousands of entrants from across the globe each summer in Las Vegas. Winning it doesn't just mean a life-changing prize; it means a permanent place in poker history. Every champion's name is etched alongside legends of the game, and Jumalon's is now among them.

Saaskilahti's runner-up finish is no small feat either — navigating a field of that size to reach the final two is a remarkable achievement in its own right, and the Finnish pro will no doubt be remembered as a significant figure in this year's championship story.

Looking Ahead

For Jumalon, the win is sure to open new chapters — whether that means more high-profile tournament appearances, media opportunities, or simply cementing a legacy that will be discussed for years to come. The broader poker community will be watching closely to see how the newest world champion builds on this defining moment.

Full details on the final table action, hand histories, and post-victory interviews are available at the link below.

Read on PokerOrg

The 2026 WSOP Main Event Final Table, Frame by Frame

The dust has settled on poker's most prestigious stage, and Lucas Jumalon has emerged as the 2026 World Series of Poker Main Event champion. PokerOrg has pulled together a gallery capturing the full emotional arc of the final table — from the electric highs of big eliminations to the raw, unfiltered heartbreak of finishing just short of the title.

What the Photos Tell Us

A final table photo gallery might seem like a purely visual exercise, but for serious students of the game it's actually a rich document of tournament poker culture in action. Body language at the felt, crowd reactions, chip stack arrangements, and the sheer physical exhaustion written across players' faces all tell stories that hand histories alone can't capture.

A few things worth watching for as you browse the gallery:

• The celebration moment — Championship reactions at the WSOP Main Event have become iconic images in their own right, often defining how a winner is remembered by the broader poker community.
• The heartbreak shots — Near-misses at this level represent years of dedicated work, and the gallery reportedly captures those difficult moments honestly.
• The spectacle — The Main Event final table is one of the few poker settings that generates a genuine arena atmosphere, and photos are often the best way to convey that scale to those who weren't in the room.

Why Jumalon's Win Matters

Every new Main Event champion reshapes the conversation around who belongs at the top of the game. Jumalon's victory adds a fresh name to one of sport's most storied lists, and how he navigated the final table — the decisions, the pressure, the variance — will be dissected by the community for months to come. The full narrative, with all its twists, is best appreciated through the lens PokerOrg's photographers brought to the room.

KidPoker Goes Full Tilt — on Camera

Daniel Negreanu has never been shy about wearing his emotions on his sleeve, and his latest vlog from the 2026 World Series of Poker is no exception. After busting from the $25,000 High Roller H.O.R.S.E. event, Negreanu let his frustrations fly — directing sharp words at an unnamed opponent he clearly found difficult to share a table with.

What Happened?

The excerpt is light on hand details, but the emotional aftermath is front and centre. Negreanu describes his feelings toward the player responsible for his exit with a blunt "I hate playing with him" — a sentiment that, coming from one of poker's most experienced and studied competitors, signals genuine irritation rather than casual table talk.

Why It's Worth Watching

A few things make this vlog stand out:

• H.O.R.S.E. is Negreanu's wheelhouse. The mixed-game format is widely considered one of his strongest, which likely amplified the sting of the bustout.
• High Roller fields are small and brutal. With buy-ins at $25K, every elimination hits differently — both competitively and emotionally.
• The candour is the content. Negreanu's willingness to document raw, unfiltered reactions is precisely what keeps his vlog audience engaged. Whether you view the outburst as authentic or theatrical, it sparks a genuine conversation about composure and emotional management at the highest levels of the game.

From a competitive psychology standpoint, it's a useful reminder that even elite professionals with decades of experience still wrestle with tilt — and that how a player processes a tough exit often matters as much as the exit itself.

Phil Hellmuth Denied Record-Breaking 18th Bracelet in Dramatic Finish

Phil Hellmuth came agonizingly close to cementing his place even further in poker history at the 2026 World Series of Poker — only to fall at the final hurdle in a heads-up battle during one of the series' closing events.

What Was at Stake

Hellmuth, who already holds the all-time record of 17 WSOP bracelets, was gunning for an 18th — a milestone that would have extended his own legendary mark by yet another notch. Had he closed it out, he also would have taken home $695,256 in prize money. Instead, he had to settle for a runner-up finish, adding to what is already one of the most decorated careers in the game's history.

The Bigger Picture

Heads-up losses at major tournaments are a unique kind of gut punch — players must navigate through entire fields only to see a title slip away in a final two-handed duel. For Hellmuth, it's a scenario he knows well from both sides: his 17 victories necessarily included 17 of those final heads-up showdowns won.

What makes this result notable is the context of the 2026 series as a whole. The WSOP calendar continues to expand, and with each passing year the competition grows deeper and more globally diverse. Winning even a single bracelet in that field is a significant achievement — which makes Hellmuth's run to the final two all the more impressive, even without the trophy.

What's Next

At 17 bracelets and counting, Hellmuth remains in a class entirely his own at the top of the all-time bracelet leaderboard. Whether he mounts another deep run before the 2026 series closes out entirely remains to be seen — but if history is any guide, he won't be stepping away from the felt any time soon.

WSOP Main Event Gets a Shot Clock — Eventually

The 2026 WSOP Main Event will feature a shot clock on Day 7, a notable policy shift for the world's most prestigious poker tournament. Veteran poker industry voice Lee Jones has weighed in on the decision, arguing that it wasn't so much a bold move by the WSOP as it was an inevitable response to player behavior.

The Core Argument

Jones' central point is straightforward: prolonged tanking at the final stages of the Main Event had become so disruptive — and so widely criticized by players, fans, and media alike — that the WSOP essentially had its hand forced. The infamous 17-minute tank that went viral earlier this cycle became a lightning rod for frustration across the poker community, crystallizing what many had long felt: that excessive time use at the table was damaging the integrity and watchability of the game's marquee event.

Rather than framing the shot clock as a controversial overreach by organizers, Jones positions it as the natural endpoint of a player-driven crisis. When the community itself loudly signals that something has gone wrong, tournament directors eventually have little choice but to act.

Why This Matters

The debate over shot clocks in high-stakes MTTs is far from new, but applying one specifically to the deep run of the Main Event carries real symbolic weight. It signals that even the most tradition-bound corners of tournament poker are not immune to structural reform when competitive behavior pushes past acceptable norms.

There's also a broader implication worth watching: if a Day 7 shot clock becomes standard and is received well, pressure will mount to extend such rules to earlier stages — or to other flagship events entirely.

Alleged Ambush Puts Spotlight on Player Safety After Tournament Wins

Jared Griener, a poker player who had just collected winnings from the World Series of Poker, claims he was assaulted and robbed inside his Airbnb rental shortly after leaving the casino — and footage has since emerged showing the alleged aftermath.

What We Know

According to reporting by PokerOrg, Griener says the incident occurred moments after he collected his tournament payout, raising serious questions about whether he may have been followed or targeted. Security camera footage referenced in the story reportedly captures the scene in the wake of the alleged attack.

Details on suspects, the exact amount taken, or the status of any law enforcement investigation have not yet been confirmed in the available reporting.

A Recurring Concern for the Poker Community

This incident — if confirmed as described — is a sobering reminder of a vulnerability that tournament players face: the gap between cashing out and getting those funds secured is a genuine risk window, particularly when large sums are involved in cash form. The poker world has seen prior incidents where players were followed from cardrooms, underscoring why personal security awareness is increasingly discussed at major series.

Community members and pros alike have previously advocated for:

• Varying exit routes after collecting live payouts
• Delaying social media announcements of wins until funds are safely deposited
• Using secure transport or casino escorts when available

Looking Ahead

No official charges or arrests have been publicly reported at the time of writing. FeltIQ will continue to monitor this story as more details emerge. The broader conversation around player safety at major live events deserves attention from organizers and the community alike.

WSOP Main Event Coverage: Your Viewing Guide

With the 2025 WSOP Main Event barreling toward its dramatic conclusion in early August, longtime commentator Norman Chad has stepped in to cut through the noise and clarify exactly where poker fans can tune in to catch all the action.

Why the Confusion?

Broadcasting rights for major poker events have shifted considerably in recent years, leaving many fans unsure which platform — cable, streaming, or otherwise — will carry the Main Event's final stages. Chad, a fixture in the WSOP broadcast booth for decades alongside Lon McEachern, addressed the uncertainty head-on.

What We Know

• The conclusion of the WSOP Main Event is scheduled for the first week of August.
• Chad's clarification points fans toward the right destination so no one misses the climactic moments of poker's most prestigious annual tournament.
• The source article on PokerOrg has the full breakdown, including specific network and streaming details straight from Chad himself.

FeltIQ Take

It speaks volumes that a broadcaster had to step up to clear the air — a sign of just how fragmented the live poker media landscape has become. For casual fans and die-hard railbirds alike, knowing where to watch is half the battle. The WSOP Main Event remains the sport's marquee moment, and missing the final table due to a platform mix-up would be a tough beat for anyone who followed the field from Day 1.

Bookmark the source link below, and make sure your streaming subscriptions are sorted well before the cards go in the air at the final table.

Read on PokerOrg

When AI Meets the Felt on National TV

Poker and artificial intelligence have been circling each other for years, but a recent development signals the relationship is maturing fast. AI expert Luke Geel has confirmed that his AI-powered tells detector has been adopted by the WSOP — and footage analysed by the tool has already made its way onto ESPN broadcasts.

What the Technology Does

Geel's system applies computer-vision and machine-learning techniques to analyse player behaviour at the table, identifying physical cues that human observers might miss in real time. Having that kind of analysis embedded in a major televised tournament suggests broadcasters are actively exploring AI as a production asset, not just a novelty segment.

A New Tool for Content Creators

Beyond the broadcast world, Geel is now turning his attention to the poker content ecosystem. He has unveiled plans for a new project aimed specifically at poker content creators — though full details remain under wraps. Given the explosive growth of poker on YouTube, Twitch, and short-form platforms, a purpose-built AI tool for that audience could reshape how hand histories, session reviews, and player breakdowns are produced and presented.

Why This Matters

A few angles worth watching:

• Transparency questions — as AI-generated tells analysis enters mainstream broadcasts, the poker community will inevitably debate how that data is disclosed to players and viewers alike.
• Creator democratisation — if Geel's creator tool lowers the barrier to high-quality analysis content, expect a wave of more technically rigorous poker media.

Malaysian Pro Wai Kiat Lee Reflects on a Career at the Top

Not every path to the highest levels of professional poker begins at a casino — for Wai Kiat Lee, it started with a video game controller. The Malaysian high-roller has been reflecting on a journey that took him from playing a WSOP title on PlayStation to competing against — and beating — some of the best players in the world on the live felt.

A Career Built on Consistency at the Top

Lee has carved out a reputation as one of Asia's most respected high-stakes tournament players, regularly appearing in Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APT) events and internationally recognised series such as the World Series of Poker. His career earnings run into the millions, a testament to sustained performance in fields packed with elite competition.

What makes Lee's story resonate beyond the numbers is the arc itself: a childhood fascination with a poker video game evolving into genuine mastery of the real thing. It's a reminder that passion for the game — however it first takes hold — can be a powerful foundation for serious study and improvement.

Why This Story Matters

For the poker community, Lee's reflection is a useful counterpoint to the idea that high-level players emerge fully formed from underground cash games or family card nights. His background underscores that:

• Entry points vary widely — simulation and recreational play can spark genuine competitive interest.
• Geography is no barrier — Malaysia and the broader Asia-Pacific region continue to produce world-class tournament talent.
• Long-term development matters — sustained results at the highest stakes require far more than early enthusiasm.

Three Contenders, One Race to Watch

The $25,000 H.O.R.S.E. event at WSOP Paradise has injected serious drama into the 2026 Player of the Year race, with three prominent names all running deep in one of the summer's final major buy-in tournaments.

The Key Contenders

Alex Foxen, Shaun Deeb, and Naoya Kihara each notched significant deep runs in the high-stakes mixed-game event — a discipline that rewards breadth of skill across five formats: Hold'em, Omaha Hi-Lo, Razz, Seven-Card Stud, and Stud Eight-or-Better. Strong showings in a $25K mixed event carry considerable POY-point weight, making this result a potential pivot point in the standings.

Why This Matters

The POY race is a long-game contest that rewards consistency across multiple events and buy-in levels throughout the series. When multiple frontrunners or chasers converge in a single high-profile event and all advance deep, the points differential can either tighten dramatically or create separation that's difficult to overcome in the remaining schedule.

With WSOP Paradise serving as the culminating leg of the 2025–26 series, every final-table appearance now carries heightened urgency. A single deep run — let alone a win — in an event of this stature could reshuffle the entire leaderboard heading into the closing stretch.

The Mixed-Game Dimension

H.O.R.S.E. has long been considered a true test of all-around poker acumen, which is part of why high-profile finishes here tend to resonate beyond the prize pool. For players targeting the POY title, navigating a multi-discipline field of this calibre signals more than just one good result — it signals range.

Expect the POY conversation to dominate the rail as WSOP Paradise winds toward its conclusion.

The 2026 World Series of Poker Delivered

Every summer, the World Series of Poker produces moments that linger long after the chips are bagged — and the 2026 edition appears to have been no exception. PokerOrg has rounded up five of the standout stories from this year's series, offering a look back at the human drama, surprising runs, and milestone achievements that defined the festival.

Why These Roundups Matter

The WSOP spans weeks and hundreds of events, which means even avid fans can miss significant storylines as they unfold in real time. Curated retrospectives like this one serve as an essential digest — surfacing the narratives that rose above the noise and earned their place in the broader conversation about the sport's history.

What to Expect in the Full Piece

While the excerpt does not detail the five stories individually, PokerOrg's coverage consistently highlights a mix of:

• First-time bracelet winners making their mark on the game
• Veteran players achieving career milestones or returning to form
• Unexpected deep runs from lesser-known competitors
• Memorable final-table moments that showcased high-level play under pressure
• Broader storylines — records broken, formats debated, and community moments celebrated

FeltIQ Take

What makes WSOP retrospectives compelling isn't just the results — it's the reminder that poker remains a game where preparation, patience, and composure intersect in ways that produce genuinely extraordinary stories year after year. Whether you followed every bracelet event live or are catching up now, this kind of roundup is a solid starting point for understanding the 2026 series in full.

Chip Leader with Something to Prove

Lucas Jumalon arrives at the 2025 WSOP Main Event final table not just as the chip leader, but as a player who has spent years knocking on the door of a major score without quite breaking through. In a candid conversation with PokerOrg, Jumalon opens up about the emotional weight of those close calls — and what it has taken to keep showing up.

The Cost of Coming Close

Near-misses in high-stakes tournament poker are a particular kind of difficult. The investment of time, energy, and emotional focus can be enormous, and when a deep run falls just short, the recovery process is rarely discussed publicly. Jumalon's willingness to address that heartbreak directly is a refreshing bit of transparency from a player now standing at the sport's most iconic final table.

Managing the Moment

What makes Jumalon's situation especially compelling is the pressure asymmetry of being the chip leader. Entering a final table in front means the rest of the field is, in effect, playing to catch you — but it also means every stumble is magnified. Jumalon has spoken about actively thinking through how to manage his emotions and stay grounded under that spotlight, a dimension of tournament poker that receives far less attention than hand histories or ICM strategy.

Why This Story Matters

For players who have experienced their own deep runs that didn't quite materialize, Jumalon's path offers a genuine point of connection. The WSOP Main Event bracelet remains the most recognizable achievement in the game, and watching a player who has felt the heartbreak firsthand compete for it with clear-eyed self-awareness adds a layer of narrative weight to an already high-stakes final table.

Keep an eye on how Jumalon navigates both the cards and the mental game as the final table plays out.

From Last $1,000 to the Final Table

Rami Hammoud arrived at the 2025 WSOP Main Event in a precarious spot — down to his last $1,000 for the summer. Now, he's one of the final nine players standing in poker's most prestigious tournament.

The Mindset That Made the Difference

According to the PokerOrg feature, Hammoud credits his deep run to a surprisingly simple mental framework: he genuinely did not care about the outcome. Rather than treating each hand as a high-stakes audition, he approached the felt with a kind of liberating detachment — a mindset that many experienced tournament players will recognise as one of the hardest states to manufacture artificially.

It's a compelling case study in pressure management. When the financial stakes feel abstract rather than existential, decision-making tends to sharpen. Whether that translates directly to final-table success is another question entirely, but Hammoud's journey to this stage is a reminder that tournament poker rewards composure as much as technical skill.

What's at Stake

The WSOP Main Event final table is one of the most watched spots in all of professional poker. The top prize runs into the millions, and the players remaining will face intense scrutiny from fans, railbirds, and the broader poker community. Hammoud will need that same calm mindset to navigate what comes next.

Worth Watching

• Hammoud's story offers a rare before-and-after narrative arc that will make him one of the more compelling figures at the final table.
• His run also highlights how the Main Event continues to produce breakout storylines beyond the usual circuit regulars.

Keep an eye on how Hammoud holds up when the lights are brightest — the mental edge that carried him here will face its biggest test yet.

Ian Simpson Gets Real About the Poker Grind

888poker ambassador and streamer Ian Simpson has shared a candid look at how professional poker players manage competing demands on their time — specifically the perennial tension between hitting the tables hard and stepping back to study the game.

The Core Trade-Off

For anyone serious about improving their poker game, the question of when to grind and when to study is one of the most practical challenges to navigate. Simpson, who balances live tournament play with streaming and ambassador duties, offers perspective shaped by genuine professional experience rather than theory alone.

The key insight from his piece is that neither study nor volume is universally superior — context matters. Factors like your current form, upcoming tournament schedule, bankroll health, and mental freshness all influence which lever to pull at any given moment.

Why This Matters for Developing Players

Most poker content focuses on what to study or which hands to play. Fewer voices address the meta-skill of structuring your time as a poker player — and that omission can quietly undermine even technically sound players. Simpson's willingness to address the unglamorous logistics of a poker career is a valuable counterpoint to highlight-reel content.

A Grounded Voice

a streamer, Simpson also navigates the added layer of content creation on top of playing and studying — a reality for a growing number of modern pros. His framework for setting priorities is arguably just as relevant for recreational players juggling poker with full-time jobs and family commitments as it is for aspiring professionals.

Daniel Negreanu Puts Together a Historic WSOP Run

It was a summer that will be hard to top. Daniel Negreanu wrapped up this year's World Series of Poker with over $1.6 million in profits, an eighth gold bracelet, and a victory in the prestigious $25K WSOP Fantasy competition — a trifecta that underscores just how dominant his 2025 series was.

The Bracelet That Matters Most

Eight bracelets is rarefied air. Only a handful of players in WSOP history have reached that milestone, and Negreanu — already one of the most decorated tournament players of his generation — now sits comfortably among that elite group. Each bracelet tells its own story, but adding one at this stage of a career speaks to a level of sustained focus and adaptability that few competitors can match.

More Than Just Results

What makes this summer particularly notable isn't any single cash — it's the consistency across the entire series. Clearing seven figures in tournament profits over a single WSOP is an accomplishment that most professionals never achieve in a lifetime of play. It signals not just variance running in Negreanu's favor, but deep, sustained performance across multiple events and formats.

The Fantasy Angle

The $25K WSOP Fantasy win adds a quirky footnote to an already impressive résumé. While fantasy competitions are often viewed as a fun side activity, a $25K buy-in makes it a serious contest in its own right — and taking it down on top of everything else is the kind of detail that makes this summer feel almost storybook.

What to Watch

Negreanu has long been one of poker's most public-facing ambassadors, and a summer like this one inevitably raises the bar for what fans and rivals will expect from him going forward. Whether he treats this as a capstone or a launching pad will be one of the more interesting storylines heading into the fall tournament circuit.

High-Volume WSOP Play Laid Bare on Social Media

Transparency isn't always the default setting in professional poker, but a wave of top players — including Shaun Deeb and Jeremy Ausmus — broke from that norm after the 2026 World Series of Poker, publicly sharing just how many re-entries and tournament entries they fired throughout the series.

Why This Matters

The modern WSOP is a grind of staggering scale. Elite players routinely enter dozens of events, and the practice of firing multiple bullets — re-entering the same tournament after busting — means the true cost of a summer in Las Vegas can far exceed a single buy-in. When seasoned pros voluntarily put those numbers into the public record, it offers the broader poker community a rare, honest look at the realities behind the highlight-reel cashes.

What the Pros Revealed

According to the PokerOrg report, Deeb and Ausmus were among a group of prominent players who took to social media to openly discuss their entry counts and overall WSOP results. While the full breakdown of each player's volume lives in the source article, the collective willingness to share — wins and losses — signals a growing culture of accountability at the highest levels of the game.

A Useful Reality Check

For anyone following the 2026 WSOP from the rail, these disclosures are a valuable data point. They underscore that even world-class players absorb significant variance across a long series, and that raw entry volume is a major strategic and logistical consideration for touring professionals — not just a side note.

The candid conversation around bullets fired also invites broader discussion about bankroll management, scheduling discipline, and the mental stamina required to compete at this level week after week.

The Longest Wait for the Worst Outcome

Few poker moments sting quite like this: Loren Klein was granted a full 17-minute tank at the WSOP Main Event, doing everything in his power to survive long enough to lock up a significant pay-jump worth roughly $20,000 more in prize money — only to bust out before the money bubble or pay tier passed.

What Happened?

The strategic logic behind the stall-and-survive play is well-established. When a pay jump looms and short stacks are at risk elsewhere in the field, folding into the money can be worth more in expected value than playing for chips. Klein apparently identified exactly that spot and used every second of his allotted clock time in pursuit of it.

The catch? Poker doesn't always cooperate with the plan. Despite the extended deliberation, Klein ultimately couldn't fold his way to safety — and his tournament life ended without the pay bump he was angling for.

A Classic ICM Dilemma

Klein's situation is a textbook illustration of ICM pressure (Independent Chip Model), where chip value and dollar value diverge sharply near pay jumps. The correct play in these spots is rarely obvious, and the decision to stall or commit chips can hinge on razor-thin reads about what's happening on other tables.

What makes this story particularly compelling is the transparency of the effort — 17 minutes is a long time to watch someone think — and the brutal simplicity of the result. Sometimes the math works out, sometimes the cards don't care.

• Player: Loren Klein
• Time tanked: 17 minutes
• Prize difference at stake: ~$20,000

Former Champion Making Noise at the 2026 WSOP Main Event

Seven years after hoisting the bracelet, Hossein Ensan is reminding the poker world exactly why he belongs at the top. The 2019 WSOP Main Event champion navigated Day 6 of the 2026 edition with impressive momentum, positioning himself among the chip leaders heading into Day 7.

A Familiar Name Near the Top

There is something compelling about a former champion threading their way back through one of the deepest fields in poker. Ensan's run is a reminder that knowing how to survive deep in a Main Event is a skill set that doesn't expire — the experience of having been the last person standing once is a rare kind of edge when the pressure mounts.

Shaun Deeb Still Alive

Also notable: Shaun Deeb, one of the most prominent tournament grinders in the game, continues to hang on. Deeb is known for running deep in high-volume schedules, and his presence deep in the Main Event adds another familiar face to what is shaping up to be a compelling final stretch.

What to Watch on Day 7

With the field now thinned to its most resilient survivors, Day 7 will be critical in determining who has a genuine shot at the final table. Key storylines to follow:

• Ensan's bid to become a rare multi-time Main Event standout at the deepest stage
• Deeb's staying power as the field continues to shrink
• How the broader chip counts shake out as pressure escalates across every table

The 2026 WSOP Main Event continues to deliver the kind of narrative drama that makes it the signature event on the poker calendar. Stay tuned as the field narrows and new stories emerge on Day 7.

Cardroom Stories From the Concrete

Lee Jones — veteran poker writer, industry figure, and longtime champion of poker culture — is back with another slice of life from the felt. His latest piece takes an unexpected detour: a story picked up in the Bay 101 parking lot, one of the most storied cardrooms in Northern California.

Why This One Stands Out

Jones has built a reputation not just for strategy and history, but for capturing the human side of poker — the conversations that happen away from the tables, in hallways, over coffee, or apparently, in parking lots. That instinct to find the story around the game rather than always in it is what makes his writing consistently worth a read.

Bay 101 itself carries significant weight in the poker world. Located in San Jose, it has hosted major tournaments and served as a daily proving ground for generations of West Coast players. A casual walk through its parking lot, in Jones's hands, becomes a window into the broader community that keeps the game alive.

The Bigger Picture

Pieces like this are a reminder that poker's richness extends well beyond hands and results. The anecdotes shared between players outside the room — the lore, the characters, the unguarded moments — form a living oral history of the game. Jones has always understood that, and this column appears to be another entry in that tradition.

Whether you're a Bay Area local with memories of Bay 101 or simply a fan of well-told poker stories, this one looks worth your time.

Read on PokerOrg

The Trap of Imitation at the Poker Table

Best-selling author and poker mindset coach Jason Su has a refreshingly counterintuitive take on improving your game: stop trying to play like your favourite pros.

In a new strategy piece on PokerOrg, Su argues that players who model their decisions on highlight-reel footage of elite professionals are actually working against themselves. Watching polished, curated plays on YouTube creates a mental template that belongs to someone else's thought process, reads, and risk tolerance — not yours.

Presence Over Persona

Su's core message centres on two deceptively simple qualities: being present and being clear. Rather than asking what would [insert hero] do here?, the more productive question is what do I actually see and know in this moment?

This matters because good decision-making at the table is deeply context-dependent. Elite players aren't running a script — they're processing live information with a mind that has been trained over thousands of hours as themselves. Copying their output without sharing their input pipeline is a recipe for misapplied logic.

Why This Is Worth Taking Seriously

The imitation trap is especially relevant in an era when solver outputs and training content are everywhere. There's a difference between learning concepts from strong players and performing their identity at the table. Su's framing is a useful reminder that the former is productive while the latter can introduce a kind of cognitive dissonance — a split between what you genuinely perceive and what you feel you're supposed to do.