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NY Players Stories : Justin Quinn

Justin Quinn, 23 years old, Buffalo NY


With $17k profit on Hendon Mob, Justin is mainly a cash game player grinding both in Canada and in the US.

Poker Analytics: Hi Justin ! Thanks for doing this interview! First question : Where are you from and where do you play?

Justin Quinn: I am from Buffalo, NY. I primarily play at a local game during the week and my local casino has some decent games on the weekends.

Poker Analytics: How did you start in poker?

Justin: It all started in the basement. I was 18 and I played in my dad’s home tournament with his friends. Eventually, some of my friends started to come and play which led to me hosting my own $10-$20 home tournaments. Those eventually turned into $100 buy-in cash games and the poker fever started.

Poker Analytics: Are you playing professionally? Since when?

Justin: I’ve been playing as a main source of income since I was 19, because I was able to go to Canada to play. However, I didn’t start taking it as a profession until about 21. I’m 23 now.

Poker Analytics: Do you play every day? Can you take us through your typical day?

Justin: Currently, when I am home in Buffalo, I play 3–5 days per week. If I go to a more desirable poker destination I’ll try to play 6–7 days per week. I mainly play $2/$5 No Limit Hold’Em with some occasional $5/$10 in the mix. Before a poker session, the main thing I try to make sure I do is eat. There are a lot of times I play hungry and I think it is one of the worst things you could do. Listening to some good music on the way to the session also helps.

Poker Analytics: If you had an advice to give to people that want to grind live poker, what would it be ?

Justin: There is a lot of advice to be given in the live poker scene. If I were to give some simple advice I think it would be to make sure that you adhere to a strict bankroll management (however difficult it may be), don’t let the swings of the game affect you, practice good game selection (play with fish), and start to practice thinking logically, rationally and empathetically.

Poker Analytics: Do you have a player you admire most from the poker community?

Justin: My biggest admiration in the poker community has to be Sammy Farha for making the term “Raisy Daisy” a thing for a while. I don’t think anyone has ever come up with anything better than that.

Poker Analytics: What did you do to improve your poker skills?

Justin: I’ve never used a poker training site. To improve my poker skills I just lost, a lot. I probably have paid off every spot imaginable at some point and I’ve made sure to really use that information to correct my mistakes in the future. I’m a very logical and analytical person, so that helps me understand the intricacies of the game and form my own strategy as well.

Poker Analytics: Are you a Poker Analytics user? If so, what is the feature you like the most?

Justin: Poker Analytics is the best bankroll management app for sure. I’ve used a couple others and Poker Analytics is by far my favorite. The best feature on this app is the Hand History Replays. You can turn the Hand History into a GIF, video, text or an image to share with your friends which is just awesome. It really make sharing a hand simple and easy to understand.

Poker Analytics: Have you ever traveled to play poker?

Justin: Have I traveled to play poker? That’s pretty much all I do! The games in my hometown are very bad so I try to get out as much as possible to play. My main travel spots are Miami, Maryland, Vegas, and sometimes Atlantic City when Borgata has good tournament series.

Poker Analytics: What are you other hobbies besides poker?

Justin: If I am not at a poker table I am probably playing golf. I recently started to get into the Fortnite phenomenon as well so if the weather doesn’t coincide with my golf plans you can find me on Xbox.

Poker Analytics: Do you have some funny stories that happened at the tables? Any memorable hand?

Justin: I can’t think of any particularly funny moments at the poker table but I definitely have a pretty memorable hand. I was playing a $2/$5 in Baltimore that eventually turned into a $5/$10 with a $50 straddle on the button. There was a couple “whales” with $10,000 stacks so the game was playing crazy. I opened 56dd to $150 in SB, and get 3 bet to $500 by one said whale. The other said whale cold calls $500 and I come along with about a $2500 stack. I end up getting it all in heads up on a flop of Kd2d3x after a $500 continuation bet and a call. The board runs out 2x 9x and I announce “6 high”. I get a look of misery from the whale as he shows 45s and my 6 high plays and I win the $6,000 pot with the second nut low! Don’t think I’ll ever play another hand that will top that one.

Thank you Justin for this interview and good luck for your future projects ! You can follow Justin on Instagram @justinwithajay

Interview with Chad Power

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 !