Card Player Poker Stories Podcast With Jean-Robert Bellande

Poker Stories is a new, long-form audio series that features casual interviews with some of the game’s best players and personalities. Each episode highlights a well-known member of the poker world and dives deep into their favorite tales both on and off the felt.

Click here to download or subscribe to the Poker Stories podcast on iTunes.

Age: 46
Turned Pro: 2004
Hometown: Long Island, New York
Live Tournament Earnings: $2.16 million
Best Score: 2nd Place — $50,000 Poker Players Championship ($784,828)

The Highlights

On his start in the nightclub industry…

“He said to me, ‘Why don’t you put your own guest list together here at The Roxbury. We’ll honor your guests and give you 20 drink tickets, and give you like $400 a week for that.’ I’m like, ‘Wait, you’re going to pay me to do this?’ I was 21, this was incredible. Naturally I became kind of a rock star on campus because I had this in with the hottest club in the world.”

On his first time at the poker table…

“I went in there and turned $5,000 into $20,000 [playing blackjack] the first day I ever went into the Bicycle Casino. On my way out, with the money burning a hole in the pocket of an up-and-coming degenerate, I see these guys playing poker… They put me in the $60-$120 game, which instantly evolved into an $80-$160 game. I lost $13,000 and that was my introduction to poker.”

On the worst beat he’s ever given…

“I was playing with Dr. Fred, an orthopedic surgeon out of L.A. There was a series of raises preflop and I had two queens. It came like K-6-2 and he just jammed all-in. He was super steamed, already in for a couple bullets, and he jammed like $100,000 into a $40,000 pot. I just did not believe [him] and I called. He had A-K. We ran two boards and I hit the queen on both boards.”

On his recent trip to the Academy Awards…

“We were right there in the 12th row. It was extra ridiculous to see people accepting awards from the rows behind us. That’s going to be the most memorable Oscars of all-time. Everybody was so confused. Is this a joke? Did La La Land win? Who even knows what Moonlight is? It was even more interesting to me, because I made a really bad bet with Joe Cassidy and Phil Ivey, betting the field against La La Land laying 2:1. For that to get reversed…”

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