Table 1 Podcast

Come play with us in Las Vegas at Table 1!
https://table1.vegas/pod
—
Paul Gunness once held $650,000 in two bags of cash.
Later, he was texting friends for $500 to eat.
He’d already learned how fast a bankroll can disappear. A $600 tournament at the Venetian turned into a $70,000 win. Paul quit his job, jumped into $10/$20 cash at the Wynn, and was broke three months later.
Back to work. Back to trying to scrape together a bankroll.
Then his dad offered him a deal: quit the job and play one full summer of WSOP tournaments on his money. If Paul didn’t finish in profit, he’d go to law school.
For the first three weeks, he couldn’t cash a tournament.
Then came the $1,500 Millionaire Maker.
More than 10,000 entries. Third place. About $665,000.
Alex Foxen was feeding him advice on breaks. Paul was celebrating with his rail. And he shared a moment with his dad that he says he’ll tell his kids about someday.
The bankroll was back. Keeping it was another story.
High-stakes cash exposed the holes in his game. Eventually, Paul logged 18 straight losing months. He went broke, stepped away, and leaned on friends when he couldn’t cover the basics.
Nick Howard kept backing him and wouldn’t let him quit.
In this episode of The Table 1 Podcast, Paul “Win It All Paul” Gunness joins Art Parmann and Justin Young to talk through the full ride:
♠️ Chasing a golf career, earning a college scholarship and finally escaping the pressure to make every shot matter
♥️ His dad’s old Vegas stories, selling shoes out of a car at the racetrack, and the mom Paul calls a saint
♦️ Alex Foxen’s final-table advice—and why the Millionaire Maker’s unusual payouts changed the ace-three decision
♣️ Jumping from tournaments into high-stakes cash, calling too many rivers and finding close friends at Table 1
We also get into:
The college girlfriend who asked him to choose her or poker
Golf with Justin Young and Sean Winter, and getting lunch invites from Jungleman
The PG Boys rap days and Paul’s plans to put his poker life on camera
A game in Vegas with a visiting Louisiana crew helped him rebuild. Now he’s pouring himself into Risk It All TV, with a plan to show the swings, the friendships and the days his friends with normal jobs can barely believe.
Eventually, he wants other creators to have a place on the channel, too.
This is a story about needing help long after everyone saw you win.
👇 Drop a comment:
After 18 losing months, what would make you keep playing—and what would make you walk away?
—
Show Notes
00:00 — Intro + Paul’s Golf Years
09:59 — A Gambler’s Son + Old Vegas
15:42 — His Dad’s Comeback + His Mom’s Strength
23:17 — College Poker + Early Scores
29:45 — Moving to Vegas + Working a Day Job
33:38 — Justin Young + Finding the Right People
41:42 — $70K Gone + the Law School Deal
44:00 — The Millionaire Maker Run + Alex Foxen’s Advice
49:40 — Two Bags of Cash + the Final-Hand Debate
53:49 — Taking a Shot at High-Stakes Cash
57:26 — Nick Howard + 18 Losing Months
1:04:16 — Rebuilding the Bankroll
1:06:41 — Win It All Paul + Risk It All TV
—
Paul Gunness’s Links:
Instagram:
https://instagram.com/winitallpaul
—
T1 Links
Play with us in Vegas:
https://table1.vegas/pod
Card Player Magazine:
https://table1.vegas/cardplayer
Follow us:
X - https://x.com/table1vegas
IG - https://instagram.com/table1vegas

Alex Livingston takes full credit for “Old Man Coffee.”
The newspaper. The cup of coffee. The guy waiting all morning for a hand.
Alex’s own gambling habits were a little less restrained.
A $100 beer-pong game turned into a $40,000 debt. His entire poker bankroll was about $17,000. He negotiated it down to $20,000 and paid it off over time.
Still an expensive evening with some plastic cups.
Alex joins Art Parmann and Justin Young to take us from a Canadian chess kid to the WSOP Main Event final table—with a few detours.
A New York trading firm offered him a job with three conditions: finish college, get better grades, and quit poker.
He did none of them.
Then he slept through his flight home from Amsterdam, stayed for three months, and never went back to finish his degree.
By the 2019 Main Event, he’d already made one deep run, rebuilt his bankroll more than once, and climbed out of $125,000 in staking makeup. With 35 players left, he had nine big blinds.
He finished third for $4 million.
One friend had a free 1% piece as a wedding gift. That turned into $40,000.
A considerably better use of forty grand.
We get into the queens fold he’d still make today and the blackjack tables between him and the parking garage. There’s also a $400K upswing, a house purchase, a $600K downswing, and a house sale.
Now there’s PokerGO commentary, teaching mixed games, an upcoming wedding, and trying to play “small” on the golf course with Daniel Negreanu.
Definitions vary.
👇 What poker player type needs its own nickname? Give us your best one in the comments.
SHOW NOTES
00:00 Meet Alex Livingston and “Old Man Coffee”
04:28 Growing Up in Nova Scotia
09:09 Chess, Competition, and a Provincial Grudge
13:48 Almost Expelled for Playing Poker
16:31 Tufts, Online Poker, and Bootleg Lacoste
22:24 Dropping Out and Learning to Win
26:50 A Day-Trading Job with Three Conditions
30:02 Missing a Flight and Staying in Amsterdam
34:23 The $40,000 Beer Pong Debt
39:42 Giving Poker Winnings Back at Blackjack
43:01 Cash Games, Online Poker, and Black Friday
47:28 Finishing 13th in the 2013 Main Event
53:04 Backing and $125,000 in Makeup
58:57 Nine Big Blinds and 35 Players Left
1:01:00 The Queens Fold He’d Make Again
1:04:28 Dario’s All-In Tell and a $4 Million Finish
1:06:23 The $40,000 Wedding Gift
1:09:20 Life After the Main Event and the Pandemic
1:11:50 A House, a $600K Downswing, and Another Big Score
1:14:39 PokerGO Commentary and Missing the Action
1:18:47 Teaching Mixed Games
1:20:25 Getting Married and What Comes Next
1:21:43 Golf Bets with Daniel Negreanu
ALEX’S LINKS
X: https://x.com/rumnchess
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rumnchess/
Alex’s mixed-games course:
https://pokercoaching.com/rumnchess/
Mixed Minds with Alex Livingston and Chris Vitch:
https://www.mixedmindspoker.com
TABLE 1 LINKS
Play with us in Vegas:
https://table1.vegas
Enter the Mako bag giveaway:
Tell us why you need one. The funnier the better.
https://table1.vegas/mako
Phenom Poker — use code TABLE1:
https://play.phenompoker.com/register?r=Table1
Justin’s live cash game course:
https://pokercoaching.com/table1
Mako travel bags — code TABLE1 gets you 10% off:
https://safetravelsbag.com
Follow Table 1:
X: https://x.com/table1vegas
Instagram: https://instagram.com/table1vegas
#AlexLivingston #Poker #Table1Podcast

Jen Harman woke up from a kidney transplant. Her husband told her Andy Beal was back in town.
“Are we in?”
Ten days earlier, she’d been playing the billionaire while in kidney failure. She says she won and lost $6 million in 20 minutes. Now she was recovering in a hospital bed—with a piece of the next game.
Jen joins Art Parmann and Justin Young to take us inside the Corporation: the group of poker legends who pooled their money to play Andy Beal. The stakes kept climbing. The bankroll ran out. Doyle Brunson made a phone call, and $2 million showed up at Bellagio.
And somehow, that’s only part of her story.
Before the biggest games in Vegas, there was a fake ID in Reno, cocktail waitressing, and acting classes in LA. Then she left poker for love, bought a coal truck, and ended up so broke she couldn’t replace a windshield.
Going back to poker worked out considerably better.
We get into beating Sam Grizzle twice, her long friendship with Daniel Negreanu, and winning a WSOP bracelet the first time she played no-limit 2–7. There’s also the Chip Reese prank that sent her flying home from Italy, the rise and collapse of Full Tilt, and what changed when she became a mom.
Now she’s writing a memoir—and figuring out how much of a life spent keeping a strong front she’s ready to put on the page.
👇 Jen needs a title for her book. What would you call it? Put your best suggestion in the comments.
SHOW NOTES
00:00 “Are We In?”
00:28 Meet Jen Harman
01:32 Growing Up Competitive in Reno
15:41 Losing Her Mom and Facing Kidney Failure
23:23 A Fake ID and Poker as an Escape
33:26 Moving to LA, Acting Classes, and the Bicycle Club
42:10 Beating Sam Grizzle Twice
48:23 Love, a Coal Truck, and Starting Over in Vegas
57:20 Meeting Daniel Negreanu
1:05:00 Tournament Lessons and Her First WSOP Bracelet
1:15:10 Andy Beal and the Corporation
1:20:24 “We’re Broke”—Doyle Makes a Phone Call
1:29:34 A Kidney Transplant and a Piece of the Game
1:34:38 Chip Reese’s Prank and a $130,000 Win
1:36:02 Full Tilt: The Boom and the Collapse
1:43:32 Family, Her Twin Boys, and Life Away From the Table
1:48:40 The Poker Hall of Fame
1:52:00 Homeschooling During COVID
1:56:33 Tournament Comebacks and What She Plays Now
2:00:29 Writing the Memoir
JEN’S LINKS
X: https://x.com/RealJenHarman
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realjenharman
TABLE 1 LINKS
Play with us in Vegas:
https://table1.vegas
Phenom Poker:
https://play.phenompoker.com/register?r=Table1
Justin’s live cash game course:
https://pokercoaching.com/table1
Mako travel bags:
https://safetravelsbag.com
Follow Table 1:
X: https://x.com/table1vegas
Instagram: https://instagram.com/table1vegas
#JenHarman #Poker #Table1Podcast

Limon's boss caught him playing online poker at work.
He told him to choose: the job or the cards.
Then Limon showed him how much he'd been winning.
The boss changed his mind. Now Limon could play in his office—as long as he taught him how.
Unfortunately, the boss turned out to be a world-class tilt monkey. The keyboards didn't stand a chance.
Abe “Limon” joins Art Parmann and Justin Young for the story of a kid from Oregon who hustled baseball cards at Monopoly, discovered card counting through Mensa, and eventually decided he wanted a cut of the poker business—not just the pots.
He was making the calls. Filling the seats. Buying the drinks. Getting PLO games off the ground.
The casino was collecting the rake.
So he asked for half. They offered 40%. He says he would've happily taken 20%.
That deal leads us into the business behind the games: hosting, casino politics, ownership at Live at the Bike, and why getting pushed out didn't mean the checks stopped coming.
And after all of it, Limon says he made millions, kept the money, and walked away when the job stopped being fun.
His explanation: “I'm too rich for this.”
In this episode:
♠️ Becoming the house: Limon explains the table-stakes catch with an example of a $50,000 royal flush and a banker with only $10,000 in front of him.
♥️ The 40% rake deal—and what happened when the casino owner noticed how much the PLO host was getting paid.
♦️ Limon's side of the Live at the Bike split: Ryan Feldman, Doug Polk, a change in the business model, and getting paid for another year before the buyout.
♣️ The Main Event bet that lets you pick 100 top players—and why Limon says he's never lost it.
We also get into:
Talking his way into university without submitting an application first.
A 100% rakeback account at Ultimate Bet, being cheated, and the refund he says never came.
Why he blames bigger stakes and nonstop bomb pots for driving his regulars away.
His WPT call-in show, where the people he talks about can call to argue back.
Why he misses the old gambling scene—and thinks modern poker feels like a cubicle job.
👇 Drop a comment:
Has poker gotten better—or have we just gotten better at making it boring?
Follow the show for more stories from the people who've lived it. Preferably before Limon gets us banned.
Show Notes
00:27 — Meet Limon + “Country Club Ready”
02:50 — Where the Name Limon Came From
06:12 — Oregon Roots + Hustling Baseball Cards
11:27 — Talking His Way Into University
15:29 — Mensa, Card Counting + Getting Paid to Solve Puzzles
17:05 — Being Cheap Without Being Miserable
20:47 — Bookmaking, Credit + Keeping Customers in Action
26:46 — Getting Paid When Gamblers Owe You Money
30:01 — Card Counting Bans + A Career in Finance
33:50 — Becoming the House + The Royal Flush Catch
41:46 — Playing Poker at Work + Teaching the Boss
46:02 — Ultimate Bet, 100% Rakeback + The Missing Refund
49:08 — Getting Crushed in PLO + Wanting a Cut of the Rake
53:12 — Negotiating the 40% Rake Deal
59:27 — Live at the Bike + Hosts Losing in Their Own Games
1:05:34 — Early Poker Streams + The Money Behind the Table
1:10:58 — Bart, Ownership + Building Live at the Bike
1:13:24 — Ryan Feldman, Doug Polk + The Buyout
1:19:51 — Moving to Commerce + Protecting the Game
1:26:09 — Bigger Stakes, Bomb Pots + Losing the Regulars
1:32:08 — “I'm Too Rich for This” + Walking Away
1:33:09 — The WPT Call-In Show
1:34:51 — The 100-Player Main Event Bet
1:39:52 — Golf Hustles + What Happened to Gambling?
T1 Links
What is Table 1?
Find out here 👇
https://table1.vegas
Follow us:
X — https://x.com/table1vegas
IG — https://instagram.com/table1vegas
#Limon #Poker #Table1Podcast

Owen Messere quit university twice.
His parents were happier the second time.
The first time, he was studying maths at a campus he hadn't realized he'd signed up for. He discovered the mistake while booking his train.
Seven and a half hours from London. Surprise.
An acid trip, a long conversation with a mate, and a decision: he was going home.
He tried again. Philosophy at Warwick. Better friends. A degree he actually enjoyed.
Then he won a £10 poker tournament.
Soon, Owen was spending around 70 hours a week playing and studying. Christmas revision became hours poring over poker simulations. His parents had never seen him work that hard at anything.
Leaving university again suddenly made more sense to them than staying.
This was the same kid who learned chess at three, played for England's junior team by eleven, and retired at fourteen. Now he'd found a game he couldn't leave alone.
He filled notebooks with bluffs. Rented a server to run simulations. Spent months chasing answers to hands that didn't make sense.
Then he studied heads-up so hard that, when he started taking on the regulars, some reported him for using real-time assistance.
His explanation: he'd studied. He thought it was fun.
In this episode of The Table 1 Podcast, Owen “Pr0digy” Messere joins Art Parmann and Justin Young to talk through the full ride:
♠️ BTC Demon wins about $1.3 million off him at $1,000/$2,000 heads-up — while Owen scrambles to sell action.
♥️ A roughly $150K tournament win funds bigger cash-game shots. More than half his bankroll disappears before he gets help.
♦️ The Doug Polk challenge: nearly $200K up on day one, almost all of it gone on day two, and a nine-high call he thought was a flush.
♣️ Around $600K in profit at the Cash Game World Championships — followed by another championship run that comes down to a river decision with minutes left.
We also get into:
Turning chess into a drinking game without trusting your teammate.
Why studying solvers made poker stranger and more interesting.
Learning that high-stakes regulars aren't all unbeatable.
Why Owen thinks the winning hand should always be shown.
A $50K Rolex and some very concerned players in Barcelona.
Going from student to partner at Guerrilla Poker, and why getting better can mean getting less action.
It's a story about finding the work you want to do even when nobody's making you do it.
👇 Drop a comment:
Would you have backed Owen's decision to quit university for poker — or told him to finish the degree?
Show Notes
00:29 — Intro + The $1.3M BTC Demon Session
07:37 — London Roots + England's Junior Chess Team
20:23 — Rugby, ADHD + The Wrong University Campus
27:12 — Dropping Out + Finding a Different Path
30:56 — The First Poker Win
35:54 — Early Wins + The Reality Check
40:09 — Getting Obsessed with Solvers
49:19 — Going Pro + His Parents' Support
53:55 — Heads-Up, a $150K Score + Moving Up
59:59 — Guerrilla Poker + Learning to Exploit
1:04:24 — Reported as a Bot + Taking Over the Lobbies
1:08:11 — The Doug Polk Challenge
1:15:20 — The Cash Game Championships
1:19:11 — A $600K Win + A Last-Minute Near Miss
1:23:10 — Why Tournaments Drive Him Crazy
1:26:53 — Coaching, Streaming + What's Next
Owen's Links:
X:
https://x.com/OwenMessere
Twitch:
https://twitch.tv/pr0diiigy
Guerrilla Poker:
https://guerrilla-poker.com/
T1 Links
What is Table 1?
Find out here 👇
https://table1.vegas
Follow us:
X - https://x.com/table1vegas
IG - https://instagram.com/table1vegas