Chad Power, 30 years old, Washington DC.
You might remember him from his 26th place in the 2015 WSOP Main Event but Chad is primarily a live high stakes cash game poker player with more than $500k winnings in live tournaments!
Poker Analytics: Hello Chad! Thank you for doing this interview with us.
First thing I’d like to ask you (there’s no way around this one) is how you got started in poker? Were you playing live or online?
Chad Power: I started playing $5 home game tournaments after the Chris Moneymaker Boom.
Poker Analytics: How did you grind your way up to the top? Have you ever gone broke during this period?
Chad: I eventually started playing $1/$2 cash games in the casino. I had very little money and only a buy in or two as a roll. I built up a $10k roll a couple times but blew it playing blackjack. The second time I went broke I decided to start playing online. I played $0.01/$0.02 and grinded up to bigger stakes. This gave me the experience and skills I needed to start beating live poker for much more. Once I got to the high live stakes, like $10/$25, I realized that the value in live poker is much different than online, and I started studying less and trying to network more.
Poker Analytics: If you have any advice to give to people that want to follow your path up to the High Stakes, what would it be?
Chad: When you’re just getting started you should be studying more than you are playing. Once you’ve begun to move up in stakes, take a good look at where your skill set is. If you want to try to be the best in the world at game theory and you love to study, develop that part of your game. This will lead to you playing high stakes vs the best poker players in the world. If you are more suited to play, entertain, and have fun while making sure others have fun, start to network and set up fun games with players. This will lead to big games vs very wealthy people. For me, I was better suited for the latter path, and I’ve made a lot of really good friends and connections that would help me in life outside of poker more than poker ever could.
Poker Analytics: Do you like using Poker Analytics 5? What is the feature you like the most? How do you use the app? Do you use it more for bankroll tracking, results or the hand history replayer?
Chad: I enjoy Poker Analytics. I like the layout and interface better than my previous app. I don’t use nearly all the functions it has. I stick to results and stats. Results for tax purposes and stats for fun. I don’t track bankroll or location in the app, nor have I recorded a hand history, but if I had this when I was younger and putting more effort into learning then I would use all of those functions.
Poker Analytics: Thank you Chad ! Here is the last question, what can we wish you for 2019?
Chad: I’m setting up a big game in Scottsdale Arizona, and hoping that it plays as big as I’m expecting it to. Expecting it to be one of the biggest and best games in the country. No rake, and hoping I run good!
Thank you for this Interview @chadmfpower and GL for your future projects !