Table 1 Podcast

Francis Anderson quit running the day his little brother beat him.
Poker was different.
That one stuck.
Francis grew up in Poughkeepsie, New York, in a competitive family. Road races on the weekends. Soccer. School. A normal path.
Then college happened.
University of Albany. Accounting major. Study room poker games. $5 and $10 buy-ins.
And then Jamie Gold won the 2006 WSOP Main Event.
For a lot of people, Moneymaker was the moment.
For Francis?
It was Jamie Gold talking people into doing the wrong thing for $12 million.
From there, poker got serious fast.
He started playing online, driving to Turning Stone, grinding $150 nightlies with a tiny bankroll, and building a network through PocketFives and AOL Instant Messenger.
Then he satellited into the Sunday Brawl, got 7th for around $10K, and told his mom he was dropping out of college.
As one does.
In this episode of The Table 1 Podcast, Francis joins Art Parmann and Justin Young to talk through the full ride:
♠️ Finding poker during the Jamie Gold WSOP era
♥️ Dropping out after a Sunday Brawl score
♦️ Black Friday and the Costa Rica online poker migration
♣️ Grinding with David Peters and seeing elite work ethic up close
♠️ Moving to Vegas with a tiny bankroll
♥️ Getting crushed, going nearly broke, and rebuilding
♦️ Wearing a cowboy hat and mask to disguise himself in the Monster Stack
♣️ Turning a $5K bankroll into a massive WSOP score
♠️ Winning the $800 Independence Day event for $500K
♥️ Becoming Main Event chip leader the next day
♦️ Back-to-back WPT final tables
♣️ Why he still shows up early for $800s and $1Ks
This one is a real grinder story.
Not overnight success.
Not one heater.
A decade-plus of moving countries, rebuilding bankrolls, firing bullets, getting better, and showing up again the next day.
Sometimes in a cowboy hat.
👇 Drop a comment:
What was YOUR poker boom moment — Moneymaker, Jamie Gold, High Stakes Poker, or something else?
Show Notes:
00:00 The Legend of the 14 Espresso Martinis
03:19 Why Francis Can Never Go by “Frank”
05:40 Intense Sibling Rivalry
06:16 Retiring From Running After His Little Brother Beat Him
09:11 University at Albany & Accounting
09:41 Jamie Gold Sparks the Poker Obsession
12:48 Turning Stone Trips for 18+ Poker
13:30 Early Screen Names: The Lab Rat vs. The Lag Rat
14:34 Dropping Out After a $10K Sunday Brawl Score
15:38 PocketFives, AIM & Chris Hunichen
16:21 First 6-Figure Online Score
18:45 Black Friday, Vegas & Costa Rica
20:14 Learning David Peters’ Insane Work Ethic
27:23 Moving to Vegas for Live Poker
29:42 WSOP Marathon Breakthrough
35:40 Going Nearly Broke in 2022
36:38 Cowboy Hat / Face Mask Disguise
39:15 $450K Monster Stack Score
42:49 $800 Independence Day Bracelet Run
44:49 Winning $500K
45:51 Main Event Chip Leader 24 Hours Later
49:20 Coaching With Justin Saliba
51:42 Buying His Mom a Car
55:06 Still Grinding $800s and $1Ks
58:06 Back-to-Back WPT Final Tables
1:00:50 Deepest Main Event Run
1:01:49 Big Field Tournament Strategy
1:04:52 First Trip to Asia for APT
1:07:10 Francis Anderson Poker on Instagram
Francis’ Links:
Instagram - https://instagram.com/francisandersonpoker
T1 Links:
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Come Play Poker with us online & Get a 150% Deposit Bonus up to $3K!Sign up here: https://play.phenompoker.com/register?r=Table1OR...Come play with us in Las Vegas at Table 1! (https://table1.vegas)---00:00 Cold Open: Fixing Vera Richmond's WSOP Omission00:45 Welcome to Table One & Guest Linda Johnson02:10 Childhood, Military Upbringing & Moving Every 3 Years03:12 Turning 21: Shifting from Blackjack to Poker04:08 Sponsor Break: Phenom Poker04:45 Postal Service Career & Card Games with Coworkers05:33 Early Days of Stud & Razz at Caesars Palace05:49 The 1980 WSOP Ladies Event & Quitting Her Job07:32 Cutting Her Teeth in Gardena's Smoky 1975 Card Rooms09:14 Linda's Dad Missing Her Final Table for a Shoe Shine10:13 Moving to Vegas with a $5,000 Bankroll10:33 Grind Routine: Condo Living & Playing Until the Sun Comes Up11:23 Strict Money Management & Climbing the Limit Stakes12:18 Breaking Into the Male-Dominated "Man Caves" of Poker13:58 Sisterhood of Early Female Players & Mentors15:12 Tournament Poker in the 1980s: Lapel Timers & 3-Spot Payouts18:31 WPT Boot Camp Bankroll Advice: Cash Games vs. Tournaments19:35 The Rise of Texas Hold'em Popularity in the Mid-80s20:19 Table One Mid-Roll Promo21:03 Why Poker is Beatable Compared to Roulette & Craps22:28 Shifting Focus to the Business & Administrative Side of Poker23:43 Going Glossy: Buying Card Player Magazine in 199226:36 Table One Mid-Roll Promo27:15 Financing the Buyout & Turning a Profit on Card Player29:23 The Early Logistics of Managing Card Player Cruises31:36 Wild Cruise Stories: Bunk Beds, PTSD, & Mexican ATV Wrecks34:30 The Dangerous Financial Hit of the 2001 $1M Guarantee38:10 Becoming Global Ambassadors & Affiliates for Party Poker41:05 Turning Down a Foreign Move & The Historic 2005 Stock Buyout43:16 Founding "Poker Gives" & Feeding the Homeless in Las Vegas45:02 Private Jet Prop Games: Chinese Poker & Razz with Kenna James47:00 The 1997 Razz Bracelet Win & Confronting an Offensive Advertiser49:34 Emotional Walk to the Horseshoe Final Table & Fan Support

Come Play Poker with us online & Get a 150% Deposit Bonus up to $3K!Sign up here: https://play.phenompoker.com/register...OR...Come play with us in Las Vegas at Table 1! (https://table1.vegas)---Mike Noori's poker career started with a crime.Well...sort of.At 16 years old he was sneaking into casinos, waiting for security guards to look the other way before sprinting into poker rooms.When that stopped working?He bought a fake ID.Not to be 21.To be 18.Because all he wanted to do was play poker.That obsession took him through:online poker's wild west,college dropout life,massive bankroll swings,mixed games,prop bets,a WSOP bracelet...and eventually...a 43-acre farm in North Carolina.Seriously.In this episode of The Table 1 Podcast, Mike joins Art Parmann and Justin Young for one of the funniest and most unexpected poker journeys we've heard yet.We talk:♠️ Sneaking into casinos as a teenager♥️ Turning a free $50 online poker signup into $12,000 (and losing all of it)♦️ Why he chose college based on nearby poker rooms♣️ Dusting a PCA package and nearly going broke♠️ Staking a friend in the Mega Millions that saved his bankroll♥️ Learning mixed games at Commerce and Hollywood Park♦️ Winning the WSOP Monster Stack bracelet♣️ The legendary McDonald's prop bet♠️ Walking 30+ miles to get out of a golf bet♥️ Training for a $35,000 basketball prop bet♦️ Leaving poker behind for cows, bees, and farm lifeWe also get into:
fake IDs
bad beat jackpots
golf gambling
mixed game glory days
bracelet parties
contractor scams
beekeeping
and why sometimes the best move is leaving the game entirely.
This one starts in a garage home game and somehow ends with seven cows and a greenhouse.Only in poker.👇 Drop a comment:What's the most ridiculous prop bet you've ever seen?Mike's Links:X - https://x.com/MikeNoori---T1 LinksPhenom Poker (Daily MTTs + deposit bonus):https://play.phenompoker.com/register...Play with us in Vegas:https://table1.vegasCard Player Magazine:https://table1.vegas/cardplayerFollow us:X - https://x.com/table1vegasIG -   / table1vegas

Before Wayne Chiang was helping shape the future of poker content at the WSOP…
he was one of the best StarCraft players in the world.
Not “pretty good.”
World Champion.
Back when esports barely existed…
before Twitch…
before streaming…
before anyone thought playing video games could become a career…
Wayne was already there.
Grinding real-time strategy games.
Writing battle reports by hand because replays didn’t exist yet.
Competing against future poker legends, esports pioneers, and internet entrepreneurs before any of them were famous.
Then poker happened.
And suddenly the same competitive obsession that made him elite at StarCraft…
translated perfectly into online poker during the boom.
In this episode of The Table 1 Podcast, Wayne “D22-soso” joins Art Parmann and Justin Young for one of the most fascinating crossover stories we’ve had yet:
♠️ Becoming a StarCraft World Champion in the earliest days of esports
♥️ The original “content creator” grind before streaming existed
♦️ The overlap between elite gamers and poker crushers
♣️ Going broke in poker and rebuilding from scratch
♠️ The insane early online poker ecosystem
♥️ Playing the biggest games online before bankroll management existed
♦️ Becoming part-owner of Live at the Bike
♣️ Helping shape the WSOP Vlogger Program today
♠️ Why poker needs creators more than ever
♥️ How AI, content, and media are changing poker forever
We also get into:
esports history
Commerce poker politics
poker fame vs actual skill
livestream tells
what makes good poker content
and why “your network is your net worth” becomes more true the longer you play poker.
This one feels like a time capsule of:
early esports,
early online poker,
and the weird internet era that created both.
👇 Drop a comment:
What old-school poker or esports moment made YOU realize the internet was changing everything?
Show Notes
00:00 Pro Gamer Origins
11:46 E-Sports Forever?!
16:05 Poker!
19:30 “Old school” online poker
30:46 Going Broke
39:00 Streaming Poker & Live at the Bike
46:36 2-Hand Hold’em
48:49 WSOP & Content!
56:45 The BOOK
Wayne's Links
X - https://x.com/D22_soso
2 Hand Hold'em - http://play2hh.herokuapp.com/
YouTube - https://youtube.com/@waynechiangpoker
WSOP Vlogger Program:
https://www.wsop.com/poker-vlogger-program/
T1 Links
Phenom Poker (Daily MTTs + deposit bonus):
https://play.phenompoker.com/register?r=Table1
Play with us in Vegas:
https://table1.vegas
First-time depositors can get up to 200% on $2,000 when you use our link.
Card Player Magazine (Table 1 stories):
https://table1.vegas/cardplayer
Follow us:
X - https://x.com/table1vegas
IG - https://instagram.com/table1vegas

Come Play Poker with us online & Get a 150% Deposit Bonus up to $3K!
Sign up here
OR... Come play with us in Las Vegas at Table 1!
https://table1.vegas
Matt Savage almost changed poker history.
Seriously.
One ruling…
one sentence…
and the most famous hand of the poker boom might’ve played out completely differently.
But that’s only a tiny piece of Matt’s story.
Because before poker had standardized tournament rules…
before the TDA…
before modern tournament poker became the machine it is today…
everything was chaos.
Different casinos had different rules.
Players argued nonstop.
Structures were all over the place.
And during the poker boom?
Absolute insanity.
So Matt Savage helped fix it.
In this episode of The Table 1 Podcast, Matt joins Art Parmann and Justin Young for a deep dive into the hidden side of poker that most players never think about:
♠️ The early WPT days and poker’s Wild West era
♥️ Building the Tournament Directors Association (TDA)
♦️ Running the WSOP during the Moneymaker boom
♣️ The hand that almost changed poker history forever
♠️ Why Matt thinks some modern tournament structures are broken
♥️ The future of poker with AI, solvers, phones, and cheating concerns
♦️ Why recreational players matter more than pros realize
♣️ The chaos of old-school WSOP poker rooms
We also get into:
poker room disasters
missing money scandals
livestream headaches
bizarre rulings
why everybody hates the floor… until they need the floor
…and why tournament poker today looks completely different because of people like Matt.
This one is poker history, poker philosophy, and behind-the-scenes Vegas chaos all wrapped into one episode.
👇 Comment below:
What’s the most controversial poker ruling YOU’ve ever seen?
Watch on YouTube:
PASTE_YOUTUBE_LINK_HERE
Show Notes
00:00 Early Bowling Life
07:02 Lucky You
09:57 Almost Ruining The Poker Boom & Matt’s Poker Origin Story
21:50 Early Days at WPT & The TDA
34:50 The Boom!
40:25 WSOP!
49:29 Technology in Poker & Unique Formats
1:08:23 2026 & Beyond
Matt’s Links
X - https://x.com/SavagePoker
TDA - https://pokertda.com/
T1 Links
Phenom Poker (Daily MTTs + deposit bonus):
https://play.phenompoker.com/register?r=Table1
First-time depositors can get up to 150% up to $3,000 when you use our link.
Card Player Magazine (Table 1 stories):
https://table1.vegas/cardplayer
Follow us:
X - https://x.com/table1vegas
IG - https://instagram.com/table1vegas