Generation Next - James Hudson Graduates With Both a College Degree and a Poker Degree

While majoring in sociology at Concordia University in Canada, James Hudson also chose to minor in a subject not found in the college catalog — poker. He had fallen in love with the game while playing every week during the previous summer with friends. So, he got all of the textbooks for his required courses and loaded up his library with poker-strategy books, and off to school he went.

When boredom set in with school, he studied poker, and vice versa. Each evening, he would play online, and the following day, analyze the results, painstakingly going through each hand, looking for costly mistakes. Soon, Hudson began to amass a juicy bankroll and climb up the stakes. Upon graduating from college in 2009, he felt more inclined to pursue poker than the profession inscribed on his diploma.

“It’s not like everyone who comes out of college goes into his job or chosen profession and loves it,” said Hudson. “That’s not necessarily the key to an easy life. There are ups and downs in poker, but there are ups and downs in any job.”

As a big winner in the medium-stakes games, it wasn’t long before Hudson was sought by a multitude of online training sites. He eventually signed a deal with DailyVariance.com to produce a series of training sessions called The Six Figure NL System: Crushing 200NL in 2011. Hudson is a popular teacher because he knows how to check his ego at the door, and he makes the most complex concepts easy to grasp and apply. So, it’s no surprise that the soft-spoken Canadian crushes the medium-stakes cash games.

Craig Tapscott: So, you chose gambling instead of finding your way out in the real world with a sociology degree.

James Hudson: I’m not a gambler. I’m boring compared to a lot of the other guys playing online poker. I’ve been to Vegas only once. And I don’t play credit-card roulette for the dinner tab [laughing]. I’m not into gambling, for the most part, unless I feel like I have an edge in a game. I gamble on poker because I enjoy playing the game; I don’t play for the gambling rush.

CT: Talk about your concept in the videos of “know thyself.”

JH: You need to know before you sit down at the table what kind of frame of mind you are in that day. Some people play better after exercising, and some better late at night or early in the morning. Do what works for you. And it’s important to be cognizant of how you are playing and how your opponents perceive you. Basically, at and away from the table, you need to know yourself, apart from just playing hands.

CT: Let’s talk strategy regarding play from the blinds. How can we lose less money?

JH: The way that we can lose less is vital to our overall success. A lot of people end up flat-calling with hands and playing fit or fold post-flop from the blinds. They will flat-call with a hand like K-Q, and then pretty much check-fold if they miss. You want to grab the initiative and three-bet with those kinds of hands, or make sure that when you go into the hand, you’re thinking about what kind of flop textures will enable you to take away the pot. Pay attention to what textures you can check-raise as a bluff, or what textures you can lead out on or float. Basically, you’re looking for ways that you can win the pot without hitting your hand.

CT: How many hands of poker do you play during an average week?

JH: About 7,000 to 10,000.

CT: And what do you do away from the tables to improve your game?

JH: I spend one to two hours a day going through hands with a friend of mine. We think about alternative lines and what might be the best play overall.

CT: So, why teach other players to be as good as you, or, God forbid, better?

JH: Good question [laughing]. Many people have told me my entire life that I should go into teaching. I love talking about poker and theory. So, I thought it might be good to share my ideas with other people. I read Tri Nguyen’s book, Let There Be Range, and loved it. Then, we talked, and he thought it might be cool to do a video series helping players with common leaks that they might have in their game.

CT: Thanks, James, for sharing your story and these strategy tips. Good luck at the tables. ♠