Poker News Daily: How did you get started in poker?
Stann: I came out of the blackjack world and spent years traveling and playing cards for a living. I was on a team like the MIT guys, but we were international. Eventually, we started getting thrown out of more and more casinos, so I moved into blackjack tournaments and had a lot of great cashes. In the world of blackjack tournaments, there just aren’t as many opportunities, so in 2005, I started playing poker.
I met up and became friends with Annie Duke and we made an awesome deal: I would teach her everything I knew about blackjack; in return, she’d give me all of her secret poker knowledge. I got the better end of that deal. She went on to do pretty well in blackjack, but I think I’ve made a lot more money in poker than she has in blackjack.
She applied the mathematics that I was comfortable with in the blackjack world and I think I received the best poker training someone could get. Instead of just learning the results, I understood the matrix behind everything. From there, it just took off. Since then, I’ve been playing about 95% poker and 5% blackjack. It’s nice to be able to play a game where you don’t get thrown out for winning.
PND: How did your interest in blackjack come about?
Stann: I have a theater degree. When I came out to Los Angeles back in 2001, I had a lot of friends who went to New York to make art; I came out to L.A. to make money. I had constant auditions and popped up in commercials and other things here and there, but there wasn’t a big breakthrough. I got tired of working in restaurants and bartending.
In 2002, I picked up a random book on card counting and it made sense to me in some weird way. I’m in MENSA, but I don’t know if it was something intellectually that was there for me. The math isn’t even that tough. It’s pretty simple for the most part, but there’s a diligence to it.
I started going to Las Vegas and made more money counting cards on the weekends than I would at my day job in L.A. Before you knew it, I was splitting my time back and forth and making more time for blackjack than acting. I ended up coming in second at the World Series of Blackjack in 2004. From there, I made all of the right contacts. Up until that point, I was just playing on my own, but suddenly I was friends with “who’s who” in the blackjack world and a lot of opportunities opened up for me. It was a lot of money and hard to turn down.
PND: Explain the origin of the nickname Hollywood.
Stann: I live here. I am an actor. I got known for talking smack on the blackjack tables and in poker. Hollywood is coffee-housing, which is talking your game during a hand. For all of those reasons, the name stuck.
PND: You’re a Star Player on Ultimate Bet. Talk about your decision to sign with the site.
Stann: They’ve had a lot of drama happen. When I was approached, I really wanted to have some conversations with people about it. I’m good friends with Annie Duke and I knew her the whole time as the drama was happening. You have a situation where a system was being exploited. I compare it to running over a cat with a car and then selling the car to somebody. It’s not really the car’s fault. It’s the person who drove the car. Certain people were able to exploit the system as it was. The owners of the site recognized it, refunded the money, and did everything in their power to rewrite the software code with the CEREUS platform to make good. They’ve done every possible thing they could do.
I thought to myself that the site is probably going to be more secure than any other site out there right now. I feel better about signing with UB than I would about any other site. They also have a tremendous software platform, tremendous tournaments, and nowhere to go but up. I thought it would be good for me as I transitioned from blackjack to poker to be with a company that is, in a large way, beginning its own transition from negative public relations to restoring confidence.
PND: Describe what it’s been like working with the “Best Damn Poker Show” and tell us about your role.
Stann: I’ve done about 70 episodes of gambling television over the years. Two years ago, Annie Duke brought me on the first season of “Best Damn Poker Show” as a player. In Season 2, I actually hosted it. It’s a cool poker show because usually they are just about the hole cards or who’s going to win the bracelet. There are also some shows that feature amateur players, but you’re not invested in the outcome.
This is a combination where you have the drama of what’s happening on the felt with a reality television element of the bickering back and forth between Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth. They have very different poker philosophies. When you get a roomful of poker players together, there are certain things they’re going to agree on, but even the best in the world are going to have very different approaches to the game. Annie and Phil have fundamental differences that you get to see come out. They draft teams, so there’s a reality component along with the great training and education that Annie and Phil are trying to impart.
PND: What advice do you have for up and coming poker players?
Stann: It’s something I learned back in the day and just had to re-learn. I won $250,000 in 2007 in poker, which was the first time I had won more in a year playing poker than blackjack. In 2008, I stepped up the stakes. I started getting myself to more tournaments and I started pushing it across all of the boundaries. Even though I think I’m a pretty good player, I had just a horrible streak for three or four months. I couldn’t win a hand. The best players in the world and new players have had this happen. Sometimes, variance will get you.
Bankroll management is so key. I see so many players who are better than the game. However, they’re not better than the variance. That’s something that multi-million dollar winners have to deal with. I would say never to bet more than 5% of your bankroll at a time. If you have $20,000 in your gambling bankroll, then you shouldn’t be bringing more than $1,000 to the table. These hard and fast rules which may sound too conservative can save your ass. You hear too many stories about people going broke and having to start over again.
In 2008, I didn’t listen to those rules, got pretty close, and spent the whole year working to get it all back. Now, I’m back on track and the sky’s the limit because bankroll management is going to be my friend, not my enemy.
