Kelly Minkin, a professional poker player with $1.5M in career live tournament earnings, is an attorney, professional poker player, and works to support the charity 0 to 100 Challenge. She shares how women and men play differently on the felt, the role of emotions in poker, and how it feels to find her groove in deep runs. Tune in to hear Kelly share how she spends her tournament winnings, why her mindset is unique, and why she believes live play will always drive poker’s popularity – and learn what this poker pro uses behind-the-scenes to improve her game.   

Visit Jeff Gross - The Flow Show or find us on iTunes to subscribe, visit previous episodes, and learn more about your host, Jeff Gross.

Time Stamped Show Notes:                                                                                                              

• 00:00 – 30:30 – On living in Cypress, the 0 to 100 Challenge, the work it takes to stream, what it takes to build a charity, the benefits of having a following, and online support.
• 30:30 –51:00 – On building her lifestyle, streaming burnout, how she started playing poker, her tournament play, what she did with her tournament winnings, and grinding.
• 51:00 – 01:12:00 – On getting better, losing money, her big win, the “groove” of going deep, wild runs, her family’s interest, her career outside of poker, and why her mindset is unique.
• 01:12:00 – 01:38:30 – Recalling past hands, her take on poker as a female, the differences between male and female decision-making, playing live versus online, and the future of poker.
• 01:38:30 – 01:59:00 – Her poker career, Eric Afriat’s subtle angles and speech-play, why the book Sophie’s World changed the way she thinks, and her schooling and appeals process.
• 01:59:00 – 02:28:00 – On studying, what programs she uses, what she thinks about solvers, leveraging emotions in live play, other hobbies, investing, and the balance of luck and skill.

3 Key Points

• You’re either built for streaming or you’re not.
• Be conscious of mental fatigue.
• Humans play with emotion, which will always create variance.

Contact/Resources

• Partner - partypoker
• Website - Jeff Gross Poker
• Jeff’s Twitch
• 0 to 100 Challenge
• Kelly’s Instagram
• Kelly’s Twitter