The Grid is a 169 episode poker hand scavenger hunt hosted by chess champion and PokerStars pro Jennifer Shahade. Jen interviews poker players about dramatic hands they’ve played, aiming to fill out all 169 possible starting poker hands, from the worst, seven-deuce offsuit to the best, pocket aces.
The Grid 061 ft. Amanda Botfeld – King Jack Offsuit
Jan 10, 2022
Show notes
Jennifer welcomes Amanda Botfeld, author of “A Girls Guide to Poker” to the GRID. Amanda discusses a hand from the tag team event at the World Series of Poker, where she paired up with the man who taught her poker 15 years earlier: her dad. The heart-warming duo came in third place, cashing for 50K total. Amanda emphasized the wholesome elements of poker in a viral tweet from one of their early poker lessons “Love you dad, and couldn’t have done it without you.”
Amanda brings to the GRID the very first hand she was dealt on the final table: king jack offsuit. She elected to play aggressively against the chip leader, three-betting the button vs a hijack open. As the hand progressed, she had to decide whether to commit most of her chips…or play it safe.
Amanda talks about her passion for getting more women into poker as an author, and as an instructor and the curriculum coordinator for Poker Power, a rapidly growing organization that aims to bring over one million women into poker. Jennifer has recently joined the Poker Power advisory board.
This episode features special music from Austin based musician and friend of the GRID, Jenny Parrot. Check out her new album, the Fire I Saw, on bandcamp,spotify and YouTube.
Now that Amanda has covered king-jack-offsuit, there are 108 combos left on the GRID. Check out previous episodes using our Support the GRID by pre-orderingJennifer’s book, Chess Queens on Bookshop, B&N oramazon.
The Grid 060.5 Bonus Episode ft. Rusudan Goletiani
Dec 30, 2021
Show notes
In a bonus holiday episode of the GRID, Jennifer introduces listeners to International Master Rusudan Goletiani. Goletiani is a three-time World Youth Champion, a two-time Olympic medalist and a former US Women’s Champion- she took Jennifer’s title in 2005.
In 1992, Rusa fled her region of Georgia, Abkhazia, due to war. She explains the dramatic story to Jennifer in the podcast, revealing the most terrifying moments of her life during her escape, as well as the most relieving.
Rusa and Jen also discuss the legendary Georgian champions that inspired her as a youngster, including Nona Gaprindashvili, Maia Chiburdanidze, Nana Ioseliani and Nana Alexandria. All four were featured in the documentary “Glory to the Queen.” They wrap up with a discussion on the importance of confidence and girls and chess. They also discuss how it extends beyond the game, to fields like finance, business and poker.
Beyond her chess accomplishments, Rusudan is a mom of three, a Columbia University business grad, and currently works in finance. This episode originally appeared in Jennifer’s other podcast,LadiesKnight.
The Grid 060 ft. DGAF – Nine-Seven Offsuit
Dec 21, 2021
Show notes
Jennifer welcomes a very special guest to the GRID, a prolific podcast host who captures the voice of a peripatetic cash game pro: DGAF. DGAF, as he calls himself, is the creator of epic “Sessions” podcast, with over 700 episodes, and the founder of Poker Rags.
DGAF brings the hand that hooked him on No Limit Hold Em almost 20 years ago, in 2003, right after Chris Moneymaker sparked the poker boom. After showing enormous discipline by folding three hands, DGAF got in the mix with nine-seven offsuit, flatting in the cutoff against an under the gun open from an older gentleman in suspenders. The flop came eight-six-deuce rainbow, giving DGAF an open-ender. He called in position against bets on the flop and the turn, which brought a three. When the river, a six, is checked to him- he finds the words that draw so many into the No Limit game: All in.
DGAF explains to Jennifer why this hand unlocked his poker career: he understood that he could now win in two ways in No Limit Hold Em, allowing him to control his destiny.
The conversation then veers to other topics, including his recent cash in the only tournament of his year, the World Series of Poker Main Event. Inspired by Jennifer, DGAF gave a portion of his winnings to three charities, including an abortion fund selected by Jennifer: The Lillith Fund. They also talk about creating content around poker, and when DGAF realized he may have an iconic voice to capture the highs and lows of the poker road.
The Grid 059 ft. Dara O’Kearney – King-Six Suited
Nov 10, 2021
Show notes
The GRID is back just in time for the Main Event bubble, and an appropriately timed interview with Dara O’Kearney, professional poker player and three-time author, most recently of Endgame Poker Strategy: The ICM Book.
Dara tells Jennifer about a hand from a decade ago at a tournament in Dublin which was modeled after the WSOP Main. The villain was David Lappin, who is now Dara’s co-host on the popular Chip Race podcast. The critical hand came early in the event when Lappin opened in early position, and Dara three-bet the button with K6s. The flop came Ace-Jack-Ten rainbow with the ace of diamonds. Lappin check called a c-bet to see the turn, a 7 of diamonds. Dara bet again on the turn, and when the river bricked, he emptied the clip. Lappin faced a tough decision with a very strong hand, and if you’re a loyal GRID listener, you may have a guess as to how it turned out.
After contemplating the hand, Dara and Jen speak more generally about suited kings, and how they tie in to some of his books and thoughts on ICM pressure. Jennifer puts Dara on the spot about a controversial part in his book related to Phil Ivey. Jen quotes third World Champion Jose Raul Capablanca: “In order to improve your game, you must study the endgame before everything else” as they dive deeper into the most common misconceptions about ICM as well as what amateurs often get right about ICM and bubbles.
At the start of this episode Jennifer reveals a new edition of her book, “Chess Queens” is now available for pre-order, tying into her conversation with Dara on his books, Endgame Poker Strategy, Poker Satellite and PKO Poker Strategy. Dara breaks down promotional strategies from pre-orders to effective titling to SEO with Barry Carter, his co-author on all three books.
The Grid 058.5 ft. Qiyu “Nemo” Zhou-King-Ten Suited
Sep 29, 2021
Show notes
Jennifer Shahade welcomes Qiyu “Nemo” Zhou to the GRID. Nemo is a former World Youth Chess Champion, a streamer at twitch.tv/akanemsko and a professional e-sports player at Counter Logic Gaming. Since turning 21 in January, she has been sprinkling more and more poker into her main menu of chess and league of legends. She even won a poker tournament soon after this pod was recorded.
The hand she brings to the GRID is King-Ten suited from her first live cash game, a high stakes (25/50) “Ladies Night” game sponsored by the World Poker Tour. Other players included poker champions and previous GRID guests Jamie Kerstetter and Kelly Minkin as well as streaming superstar and chess master Alexandra Botez. Nemo’s opponent in this hand was Maria Konnikova, the best-selling author the “Biggest Bluff” and the fitting holder of the 7-2 off spot on our GRID.
In the critical hand, Ashley Sleeth opened in early position, and Nemo called on the button with King-Ten suited. Maria Konnikova three-bet from the small blind. Ashley and Nemo both called to see a flop of 983 rainbow with no hearts. The action checked around to a queen turn, when things start to get very interesting.
After dissecting the hand, Nemo and Jen discuss mental game and psychology, and how Nemo’s performance coach helped her win a Bullet Chess Championship on chess.com. They also talk about Josh Waitzkin’s book, The Art of Learning, favorite chess openings and why poker champion Xuan Liu reminded Nemo of Magnus Carlsen.
Jennifer, who recently joined Poker Power’s advisory board asks Nemo about her advice on how to grow poker to more young women, as Poker Power moves toward their goal to teach one million women poker. They also discuss how to avoid the jealousy that can accompany high performance goals, and to embrace community and cooperation.
The Grid 058 ft. Jordan Ellenberg – Five-Deuce Offsuit
Sep 09, 2021
Show notes
The GRID welcomes best-selling author, mathematician and professor Jordan Ellenberg, author of the new book, Shape: The Hidden Geometry of Information, Biology, Strategy, Democracy and Everything Else. He is also the best-selling author of How Not to Be Wrong, a Math Olympian and a professor of mathematics at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
Though Jordan is not a serious poker or chess player, his books dive into so many areas that are of great interest to gamers from the math behind Deep Mind and Artificial Intelligence, game trees from checkers to GO and how to improve your odds in the lottery.
The interview began with a lucky start with a game, as Jordan clicked off the five-deuce offsuit cell on the GRID and explained to us how he randomized to select it. Now that he’s clicked off 52o, there are 111 spots left on the GRID.
The Grid 057.5 Bonus Episode ft. Isabelle Choko
Aug 24, 2021
Show notes
In a special bonus episode of The Grid, we welcome one of our most extraordinary guests ever: Holocaust Survivor, author and 1956 French Women’s Chess champion, Isabelle Choko.
Born on September 18, 1928 in Lodz, Poland, Isabelle Choko was two weeks away from her 11th birthday when Nazi Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. Isabelle and her loving parents were among 160,000 sent to the Lodz ghetto. Her father died there, while she and her mother were sent to Auschwitz in 1944. They later were sent to another notorious death camp, Bergen-Belsen, where her beloved mother died.
Isabelle was just 55 pounds when the camp was liberated by British soldiers in April 1945. Isabelle Choko later moved to France, where she discovered chess from her uncle. Also urged on by Grandmaster Savielly Tartokower, Isabelle became the French women’s Chess Champion in 1956, and went on to represent France in the first women’s Olympiad, in 1957 in the Netherlands. She went on to become a successful entrepreneur and artist. She’s also the author of The Young Blue-Eyed Girl and co-author of Stolen Youth: Five Women’s Survival in the Holocaust.
Madame Choko talks to us about the Queen’s Gambit, her most vivid memories of childhood survival and her message of peace and love for future generations.
This episode is co-hosted with Benjamin Portheault, who reached out to Isabelle Choko for this interview after his popular twitter thread reviewing a 2019 Europe Echecs story about Madame Choko. Benjamin also conducted the in-interview translation and visited Isabelle Choko in person to capture many of the photos in the gallery.
The Grid 057 ft. Jonathan Corbblah – Nine-Five Suited
Jul 12, 2021
Show notes
Jennifer brings longtime friend, a master of many games, Jonathan Corbblah on to the GRID. He talks about a dramatic hand with nine-five suited in a private game at the Hamptons, where his new opponent confused him to the very last moments of the hand.
Jonathan speaks about how his psychological approach helps him in every game, from crushing private poker games to beating grandmasters in blitz to becoming a Jeopardy champion. He details how he closed in on a million dollars on TV, and challenges Jennifer and the audience to do better. (Spoiler alert- Jennifer doesn’t!)
Corbblah also mentions how Jennifer’s brother, Greg Shahade, made him a better Scrabble player, and how it all traced back to the matriarchs of both families (Greg’s blog, as mentioned on the pod, can be found here.). Corbblah is a host of the trivia show, Masterminds, and has appeared on over 13 game shows from Cash Cab to Wheel of Fortune. You can also find him on a mock TV show that Jennifer and GRID producer Daniel Meirom produced a decade ago, America’s Next Chess Star.
For more of Corbblah’s dazzling personality, follow him ontwitchand twitter @Corbblah.Now that nine-five suited is clicked off the GRID there are 112 hands left on thepokergrid.com. Listen to previous episodes using our new Episode Finder.
The Grid 056 ft. Shirin Oskooi – Five-Six Suited
Jun 12, 2021
Show notes
Jennifer welcomes poker player, survivor all star and tech executive Shirin Oskooi to the GRID.
Shirin brings us five-six suited, a combo she loves both for its chameleon-like preflop qualities, and a pivotal hand she played at the Wynn when she was new to poker. She held 56 of diamonds in the big blind and defended a lojack raise, to flop a flush with 78Tddd. As the hand continued, Shirin realized that her opponent had a narrow view of her range.
Shirin recently released a new poker training tool she created with poker pros Jesse Sylvia and Russel Thomas, Floptimal. She talks to Jennifer about how this has changed her approach to the game, and given her more insight into what she calls “god hands” like 56s.. Specifically, they talk about a surprising spot where 56s is called against a 12 big blind shove and a number of over-calls.
They also discuss Shirin’s experience on Survivor, from her epic jury speech to watching monkeys fornicate in the jungle (adult content warning).
This episode originally appeared on Jennifer’s US Chess Women podcast, “Ladies Knight”, and we brought it to the GRID because we thought so many of themes were pertinent to the poker and gaming communities: a passion for numbers and geometry and for making our World more welcome to all genders, races and sexualities.
Chanda also talks about her powerful vision for seeing the world through the eyes of children and making sure black children have equal access to joy. She explains one of the most popular talking points of her book, why she sees “dark matter” as a misnomer, and gives her thoughts on the recent case Jennifer mentions, where artificial intelligence mistooka chess conversation for white supremacist propaganda.
This is a bonus episode of the GRID. If you enjoyed it, be sure to sub to Ladies Knight as well. We will get back to our regular programming soon, as host Jennifer Shahade wraps-up and updates listeners on some new and exciting projects.
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