Month: May 2021

The Grid 055.5 Bonus Episode ft. Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

May 27, 2021 Jennifer Shahade 00:46:44
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Bonus Episode: Dr. Chanda Prescod Weinstein on times tables and Wu-Chess.

In a special bonus episode of the GRID, we welcome Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, theoretical physicist and author of the new paradigm shifting book, The Disordered Comsos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime & Dreams Deferred.

This episode originally appeared on Jennifer’s US Chess Women podcast, “Ladies Knight”, and we brought it to the GRID because we thought so many of themes were pertinent to the poker and gaming communities: a passion for numbers and geometry and for making our World more welcome to all genders, races and sexualities.

Listen in as Chanda tells Jennifer about how she fell in love with mathematics, how she met Jennifer and got more engrossed into chess via Wu-Chess and the Hip Hop Chess Federation, and how chess helps her refocus her brain. They touch on the recent issue of Chess Life Magazine (January 2021) with RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan and how much she enjoyed going over the games with her husband.

Chanda also talks about her powerful vision for seeing the world through the eyes of children and making sure black children have equal access to joy. She explains one of the most popular talking points of her book, why she sees “dark matter” as a misnomer, and gives her thoughts on the recent case Jennifer mentions, where artificial intelligence mistook a chess conversation for white supremacist propaganda.  

This is a bonus episode of the GRID. If you enjoyed it, be sure to sub to Ladies Knight as well. We will get back to our regular programming soon, as host Jennifer Shahade wraps-up and updates listeners on some new and exciting projects.

Now find previous episodes using our new Episode Finder. 

The Grid 055 ft. May Siu – Pocket-Jacks

May 1, 2021 Jennifer Shahade 52:29

Jennifer welcomes high stakes cash game player and Poker for Good and Murals for Good founder May Siu to the GRID to discuss one of the most coveted- and detested hands: pocket jacks. May was playing a big pot in a New York City cash game against one of her regular foes, “General Bang Bang.” Holding jacks in a 5-10-25 (straddle) game, she called Bang Bang’s under the gun open, and went four ways to an 8h-7s-2c rainbow flop. Playing 6K deep, Bang Bang bet big and fast on flop, turn (4h) and river (9s) to get all his money in by the river, putting May in the tank. This dramatic hand ended up being the last live poker hand they played in a year, as the pandemic surged and sent May and her trusted poker circle to online ZOOM games.

May also talks about a less pleasant experience in NYC games: a cheating scandal, in which five players infiltrated their home game, using marked cards that could only be detected with a black light. She explains how she helped eventually sniff them out and gives advice on how to rid your games of cheating.

Jennifer and May then go on to discuss May’s organization pokerforgood.org, and how she got so heavily involved in philanthropic initiatives from her work to spread #StopAsianHate awareness, to teaching child cancer survivors poker.

May is currently running a campaign muralsforgood.org to connect communities with mural art to #StopAPPIHate. Check out the website and gofundme here.  

She is also running poker tournament fundraisers on 5/4 for AAPI NYC Comptroller Candidate Reshema Patel, as well as a fundraiser in conjunction with the Children Brain Tumor Foundation on 5/23.

Stay posted with May and learn how to get involved on muralsforgood.org and pokerforgood.org.

Now that May Siu has taken pocket jacks, there are 114 hands left on thepokergrid.com. You can now find previous episodes using our new Episode Finder.