Month: December 2020

The Grid 051 ft. Jonathan Little – Six-Eight Suited

Two-time World Poker Tour Champion Jonathan Little enters the GRID to talk about a hand from the 2015 World Series of Poker. Jonathan was at the final table of a 5K No Limit Hold Em event. In the big blind he looked down at six-eight of hearts, with blinds of 20/40K and 3.2 million chips. Six handed, he defended against an under the gun raise to go heads-up to a flop of jack-seven four rainbow. The flop checked through to bring a six on the turn, the second diamond. Jonathan bet 1/3 pot and UTG called.

Good news: Jonathan’s straight came in on the river, a five.

Bad news: The five was also a diamond, so the backdoor diamonds came in, so Jonathan loses to any flush.

Jonathan mulled over his decision on the river, and how he may play the hand different five years later.

With over seven million dollars in live earnings, Jonathan explains to Jennifer how he combines a career as a successful player with his multi-facetted content career, from podcasting to training to writing and publishing. He also explains how Jen’s brother and previous GRID guest Greg Shahade helped him many years ago when he was struggling with his win rate in sit n gos.

Jonathan is the author of over a dozen poker books, including the recent “Excelling at Tough No Limit Hold Em Games: How to Succeed Beyond the Small Stakes.” He’s also an author and editor of D+B Poker and the founder of pokercoaching.com. You can follow him on twitter @JonathanLittle.

Now that Jonathan has covered eight-six suited, there are 118 hands left on thepokergrid.com

Please subscribe to the GRID on your favorite podcast channel, and rate and review on Apple or wherever you listen. 


The Grid 050.5 Bonus Episode ft. Maria Konnikova

In a special bonus GRID, Jennifer Shahade shares an episode of her chess podcast, Ladies Knight, featuring author, psychology PHD and poker champion Maria Konnikova. In researching Konnikova, Jennifer realized that all of her books have natural overlap with games, starting with Konnikova’s premiere book, Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes. Mastermind shows how anyone can use Sherlock Holmes’ ways of catching culprits to improve their own cognitive ability from organizing your “memory attic” to  deduction techniques.   

Maria’s most recent book, The Biggest Lie, is about her journey from poker newbie to champion in just a year. Jennifer and Maria talk about how such a quest would differ if undertaken in chess. They also compare the deep focus required in chess and poker, and how her mentor Erik Siedel, allowed her to better understand the power of attention.   

Konnikova also reveals her short, but dramatic chess career as a fifth grader and flirts with the idea of giving it another go. It’s never too late to learn, Jennifer assures her

They also touch on Maria’s book, “The Confidence Game”, and what con artists can teach us about people who cheat in games like chess and poker. Spoiler alert: It’s not just about the money and rating points.


Maria Konnikova has previously appeared on the GRID to discuss a dramatic hand with seven-deuce offsuit.  

If you are or know a woman looking to dig deeper into chess, check out the Madwoman’s Book Club Jennifer co-hosts with US Chess Women, which will feature Maria Konnikova’s Mastermind on Dec 18th.

Find out more about Maria and her books on mariakonnikova.com and subscribe to the Ladies Knight for more chess-inspired conversations hosted by Jennifer.