PokerNews Podcast 515: Steffen Sontheimer
Goose!! One of the best players in the game, Steffen Sontheimer, joins Sarah Herring and [Removed:139] in Episode 515 of the PokerNews Podcast.
Sontheimer dives into why he passed on defending his title at the Poker Masters, what streaming online tournaments has been like, and his involvement in No Limit Gaming, which now has quite the squad.
Sarah and Jeff also go over the hottest stories in poker: Doug Polk calls it quits, Tom Dwan loses an absolutely massive pot to Paul Phua, and a couple World Poker Tour Main Events wrap up.
Plus, they discuss virtual reality...in poker!
This week's sponsors: Global Poker, Robin Hood (sign up using the link for a free stock!), & MasterClass with Daniel Negreanu (sign up at the link for unlimited MasterClass access)!
Show Time Stamps
| 0:30 | Intro: Big show on the horizon, Steffen Sontheimer joins us later! |
| 2:30 | Sponsor: globalpoker.com |
| 3:30 | Doug Polk Announces "Retirement" From Poker in New YouTube Video |
| 5:40 | What Doug Polk could do next |
| 6:30 | Sponsor: Robin Hood (sign up using the link for a free stock!) |
| 9:30 | Paul Phua and Tom Dwan Play $2.3M Pot at Triton SHR Jeju 2018 Cash Game |
| 11:15 | Erkut Yilmaz Wins WPT Borgata Poker Open ($575,112) |
| 12:30 | Jeremy Ausmus final-tables WPT Maryland, how commentating has sharpened his game |
| 14:00 | Wendy Freedman Wins HPT Black Hawk ($167,696) |
| 15:30 | Three Winners at RunGood Kansas City Old West Main Event |
| 18:00 | PokerStars VR Creates Live Poker Feel in Virtual Reality |
| 20:00 | What kind of value virtual reality poker could have |
| 22:40 | Sponsor: MasterClass with Daniel Negreanu (sign up at the link for unlimited MasterClass access) |
| 29:00 | Jeff recaps the premiere of Friday Night Poker! And wants to save a seat for Sarah in a future week. |
| 31:45 | Steffen Sontheimer joins the show! |
| 32:30 | The short deck craze: "Playing short deck is lots of fun...I got asked to dig deep into that topic, to coach some people, to help them out with short deck." |
| 34:30 | What does the future of short deck look like? "I think it will stay limited, to be honest. It's kind of a stupid game, it doesn't really fit in the tournament format." |
| 36:00 | How big of an edge could the perfect short deck player have in tournaments? "[Variance] is way sicker than PLO, and every one of us has seen PLO graphs, and how they jump around. Edges are thin. You can clearly make insane mistakes. There's a win rate out there, for sure." |
| 37:30 | The German poker contingent: "Everyone is kind of working for himself, it's not the same crew over and over again...everyone looks for other stuff." |
| 40:10 | Managing the high roller scene: "There are people that you don't see in every high roller...the German backing team is so well-organized that those guys have a look at the tournament, and there are some people that play pretty much everyone because they are considered to be the best." |
| 42:30 | Running through the No Limit Gaming team |
| 44:00 | The decision not to play Poker Masters: "My decision was pretty easy. I was super-pissed after leaving Vegas (in the summer)...I took 2-3 weeks off, had some vacation, and had to make up my mind...I like it in Vienna, I like it in Germany sometimes too, so I'd rather go somewhere where I really like the place to have some real-life value while traveling, or I go somewhere because it's really great value from a business standpoint. And Poker Masters was really none of that....if you look at the fields, it was great to watch...there were no weak spots. My ego is not that big." |
| 47:45 | How he knew Ali Imsirovic: "I said (earlier in the year) I've heard of that Ali guy who was crushing WSOP Circuits...I remember him from playing a tournament against him at PCA, where he just started doing fancy (stuff) and I loved it...I definitely had that name in my mind." |
| 50:00 | Imsirovic praising Goose: "It's nice to hear, it's obviously great, usually I just hear the older guys. You know I'm best friends with Phil Hellmuth." |
| 51:30 | The No Limit Gaming team streaming tournaments on Twitch: "It feels great to help (the viewers) and we're getting good responses...I think we have the greatest mix of all-time that Twitch Poker has seen." |
| 56:00 | Getting the hang of broadcasting while playing: "For me personally, I thought it was tougher. We thought to start at couples of two to make it more natural." |
| 58:00 | The esports element of No Limit Gaming |
| 1:01:00 | Sontheimer's plans for the next couple months |
| 1:03:30 | Follow Sontheimer on Twitter and follow No Limit Gaming on Twitter |
| 1:06:30 | Sami Kelopuro Bags a $317K partypoker POWERFEST Score |
| 1:07:40 | Sheldon Adelson's Coalition to Stop Online Gambling to testify before Congress about sports betting |
| 1:11:30 | Sponsor: globalpoker.com |
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