Alex Livingston takes full credit for “Old Man Coffee.”
The newspaper. The cup of coffee. The guy waiting all morning for a hand.
Alex’s own gambling habits were a little less restrained.
A $100 beer-pong game turned into a $40,000 debt. His entire poker bankroll was about $17,000. He negotiated it down to $20,000 and paid it off over time.
Still an expensive evening with some plastic cups.
Alex joins Art Parmann and Justin Young to take us from a Canadian chess kid to the WSOP Main Event final table—with a few detours.
A New York trading firm offered him a job with three conditions: finish college, get better grades, and quit poker.
He did none of them.
Then he slept through his flight home from Amsterdam, stayed for three months, and never went back to finish his degree.
By the 2019 Main Event, he’d already made one deep run, rebuilt his bankroll more than once, and climbed out of $125,000 in staking makeup. With 35 players left, he had nine big blinds.
He finished third for $4 million.
One friend had a free 1% piece as a wedding gift. That turned into $40,000.
A considerably better use of forty grand.
We get into the queens fold he’d still make today and the blackjack tables between him and the parking garage. There’s also a $400K upswing, a house purchase, a $600K downswing, and a house sale.
Now there’s PokerGO commentary, teaching mixed games, an upcoming wedding, and trying to play “small” on the golf course with Daniel Negreanu.
Definitions vary.
👇 What poker player type needs its own nickname? Give us your best one in the comments.
SHOW NOTES
00:00 Meet Alex Livingston and “Old Man Coffee”
04:28 Growing Up in Nova Scotia
09:09 Chess, Competition, and a Provincial Grudge
13:48 Almost Expelled for Playing Poker
16:31 Tufts, Online Poker, and Bootleg Lacoste
22:24 Dropping Out and Learning to Win
26:50 A Day-Trading Job with Three Conditions
30:02 Missing a Flight and Staying in Amsterdam
34:23 The $40,000 Beer Pong Debt
39:42 Giving Poker Winnings Back at Blackjack
43:01 Cash Games, Online Poker, and Black Friday
47:28 Finishing 13th in the 2013 Main Event
53:04 Backing and $125,000 in Makeup
58:57 Nine Big Blinds and 35 Players Left
1:01:00 The Queens Fold He’d Make Again
1:04:28 Dario’s All-In Tell and a $4 Million Finish
1:06:23 The $40,000 Wedding Gift
1:09:20 Life After the Main Event and the Pandemic
1:11:50 A House, a $600K Downswing, and Another Big Score
1:14:39 PokerGO Commentary and Missing the Action
1:18:47 Teaching Mixed Games
1:20:25 Getting Married and What Comes Next
1:21:43 Golf Bets with Daniel Negreanu
ALEX’S LINKS
X: https://x.com/rumnchess
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rumnchess/
Alex’s mixed-games course:
https://pokercoaching.com/rumnchess/
Mixed Minds with Alex Livingston and Chris Vitch:
https://www.mixedmindspoker.com
TABLE 1 LINKS
Play with us in Vegas:
https://table1.vegas
Enter the Mako bag giveaway:
Tell us why you need one. The funnier the better.
https://table1.vegas/mako
Phenom Poker — use code TABLE1:
https://play.phenompoker.com/register?r=Table1
Justin’s live cash game course:
https://pokercoaching.com/table1
Mako travel bags — code TABLE1 gets you 10% off:
https://safetravelsbag.com
Follow Table 1:
X: https://x.com/table1vegas
Instagram: https://instagram.com/table1vegas
#AlexLivingston #Poker #Table1Podcast
