Month: November 2022

The Grid 071 ft. Nate Solon – Pocket Threes

November 26, 2022 Jennifer Shahade 00:58:24

Jennifer invites data scientist, chess master and writer Nate Solon to the GRID. Nate talks about a hand from a private game early in his poker career. He found himself flopping bottom set on a dry board against a friend—but things got progressively worse: not only did he lose the pot, but he and his friend were accused of colluding. Nate and Jennifer look back at the unexpected hand in light of cheating accusations that have rocked both the poker and chess worlds.

Nate Solon also recalls a hand against Garrett Adelstein and why Garrett made it hard to think straight. Nate kindly shares the tuna salad recipe that “G-man” divulged post-hand. I hope you like jalapeno.

They move on to discuss Nate’s new book, “How to Evaluate Like a Grandmaster”, which Solon co-authored with Grandmaster Eugene Perelshteyn, and how evaluation in chess compares to poker. Jennifer also gets to ask Nate some burning inquiries, like what fallacies annoy him most, and how many avocadoes fit in an airplane.

Now that Nate has covered pocket threes, there are 98 hands remaining on the poker GRID.  Use our episode finder to browse them all. 

The GRID is sponsored by PokerStars. Look for an exciting announcement on December 1st for a BIG GRID/PokerStars collaboration.  

Discussed on the show:

Nate’s blog, Zwischenzug (subscribe!) https://zwischenzug.substack.com/

Nate’s new book, HOW TO EVALUATE LIKE A GRANDMASTER: https://www.amazon.com/Evaluate-Like-Grandmaster-Eugene-Perelshteyn/dp/B0BHNF5CWB

Greg Shahade’s twitter review (with cameos by Jen!) : https://twitter.com/GregShahade/status/1582066200280195072?s=20&t=E2HGJO2wffRBT4XBm4oYgA

Jen’s writing, CHESS QUEENS (available now) and the forthcoming THINKING SIDEWAYS: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1399701371?geniuslink=true

Nate’s Blog about wicked vs. kind learning environments: https://zwischenzug.substack.com/p/why-is-chess-so-hard

Previous GRID guest Peter Svidler: https://thepokergrid.com/2019/08/24/the-grid-015-ft-peter-svidler-ace-seven-of-diamonds/

Now that Jennifer has covered Pocket Threes , there are 98 hands remaining on the poker GRID.  Use our episode finder to browse them all. 

The GRID is sponsored by PokerStars. Logo art photo by Kyle Cassidy, intro music “Gotta Switch it On” by Grace Mesa.

The Grid 070 ft. Wey Xie – Ace-Queen Offsuit

November 5, 2022 Jennifer Shahade 01:01:39

Jennifer Shahade invites Wey “CRAIBaby” Xie to the GRID. A high stakes online player who has battled and won with the best players in the World, Wey Xie talks about a pivotal hand he played with Ace-Queen offsuit on PokerStars.

150 big blinds deep in 1K NL, The hijack opened to 2.7x and Wey Xie called in the big blind with the Ace of Hearts and the Queen of Clubs. The flop came 6d7h9h. After Wey Xie checked, the original raiser bet $18.59, about 1/3 of the pot, and true to his online name, CRAIBaby put in a check raise to $88.73. The hijack flatted the raise to see the four of hearts on the turn. Wey Xie continued to aggress with a bet of $70 into $236. The villain raised to 223, and CRAIbaby put in the three-bet for $527. This left a 75% pot sized bet on the river. An offsuit jack came leaving him one big question: To jam or not to jam?

After unraveling his river decision, Wey Xie explains why he dropped out of a promising six figure starting salary job to become a professional poker player. Jennifer and Wey Xie also talk about theories of effective poker study, and what he thinks most people get wrong in their approach to the game, explaining what he means when he said, “the Beauty of the game is invisible if you don’t fully understand poker.”

Follow @WeyXie on twitter and Instagram.

Now that Jennifer has covered ace-queen offsuit, there are 99 hands remaining on the poker GRID.  Use our episode finder to browse them all. 

The GRID is sponsored by PokerStars. Logo art photo by Kyle Cassidy, intro music “Gotta Switch it On” by Grace Mesa.