Learn All the Games Advises Poker Hall of Famer Barry Greenstein
This week Barry Greenstein made an epic appearance on the Poker Life Podcast hosted by Joe Ingram — a four-hour show in which the Poker Hall of Famer and author of Ace on the River shared numerous stories and strategic insights.
For those who haven't had a chance to listen to the episode, check out Pamela Maldonado's terrific recap of Greenstein's appearance, "World's Longest Podcast? Barry Greenstein Unleashes His Life Wisdom" including time stamps pointing you to his stories about Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, Stu Ungar, and Phil Hellmuth. as well as to other topics and strategy advice.
Not long ago Greenstein spoke with PokerNews at the 2018 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, doing so on the break at a somewhat crucial moment for him during the Main Event.
They were on the stone bubble — just one elmination from making the cash — and Greenstein had one of the shortest stacks in the room. He'd begun the day below the average, and after the first level he was in even more dire straits after failing to pick up a decent starting hand with which to go all in.
As he told us, "Neither of my cards seems to know what the other one is."
Greenstein's PCA story would have a happy ending. Soon after the break he would be dealt 8♣8♠ and get his chips in, although unfortunately had run into the A♠A♦ of an opponent. But an eight fell on the river to allow Greenstein to keep his seat (and eventually to cash the event), inspiring quips about a sequel to his book titled "Eight on the River."
In the video, Greenstein also discusses a favorite topic of his — mixed games. He encourages those looking to start playing something other than no-limit hold'em to start with smaller stakes — live or online — to learn new variants and add to their poker knowledge.
Greenstein touches on a number of different reasons for learning mixed games — to alleviate boredom, to make yourself ready and able to join games in which non-NLHE variants are being dealt, and to round out your overall understanding of poker strategy.
"If you're a professional poker player right now, you just want to make sure you know all the games," he says. Take a look:
