Joe Ingram is a mid to high stakes poker player hailing from the Windy City, Chicago. His lively personality and penchant for wild proposition bets makes his YouTube and podcast a worthwhile watch for online casino fans everywhere.
With a particular focus on Pot Limit Omaha, “Chicago Joey” is an acute observer of the poker in all its forms. He gives insightful analysis into high stakes games between poker’s high rollers, and can provide you with some useful tidbits you can take away and use in your own game too.
No average Joe
Joe wasn’t always the high roller he is today. He started out just like many other players out there, with large deposits, big blinds — and big losses. He admits himself that he “had no idea how to play poker”, caring less about money and more about the bragging rights afforded by high volume flashy plays.
This all changed when a friend put him onto virtual poker at an online casino. Joe found a modicum of success playing poker online, putting in 12-15 hours a day on No Limit Hold’em. His name first started getting noticed after some wild proposition bets, including playing 600,000 games of No Limit in a single month. Joe also began sharing videos following his progress to his YouTube channel, growing his brand among players worldwide. As he continued to play, both in real and online casinos, he gained more and more recognition.
He soon switched to Pot Limit Omaha (PLO), explaining: “It was more fun, you didn’t have to fold to three-bets – and I hate folding to three-bets!” He continued to play more proposition bets, then live-streaming his attempt to nail 50,000 hands in 24 hours. He continued to build his high stakes game, as well growing his position as a PLO poker guru.
Poker Life Podcasts
Way back in 2014, Joe created the Poker Life Podcast, in which he interviews a range of influential players from the game. Previous guests include fellow online casino players Dan “jungleman12” Cates and Doug “WCGRider” Polk, as well as Canadian legend Daniel Negreanu. He also interviews industry figures and experts from around the world to get their insight and advice into the game.
Credit: YouTube
The infamous proposition bets
Despite being a solid PLO player and one of the games’ most vocal advocates, Joe is probably best known for his proposition bets. In fact, it’s his love for prop bets that brought his fame in his early days in the game. Some are fairly tame, such as making one PLO social media post daily, or having a conversation with someone inspiring once a day. Others, however, are a little more left field: Joe was challenged by hedge fund manager and high stakes player Bill “GASTRADER” Perkins to swim one mile in the ocean… despite Joe not knowing how to swim.
Online Casinos asks: what can we learn from Joey?
Joe tends to focus more on analysing games of PLO rather than providing how-to guides for the beginner, but it’s a formula that works. Players can learn a lot from his PLO Hands series, from watching the pros play and understanding why they makes the moves they do.
Joe uses the above hand between Patrik Antonius and Andrew Robl to illustrate one of his lessons. The pair go all in on a $260,000 pot and run it for four periods, and Joe highlights the importance of putting your opponent on a range. Calculating the wins, ties, and overall equity for each hand, Joe states that players “want to be on the right side of the math.” This is a theme that runs throughout his videos, emphasising the power of game theory in poker.
Why play Pot Luck Omaha?
Pot Limit Omaha isn’t as popular in the UK as it is in the States or mainland Europe, but it’s an attractive option for those seeking a more action-packed game than the usual Texas Hold’em. Joe’s advice for any rookies keen to get ahead in PLO? Play with money chips.
You might be thinking: “It’s easy for a high stakes player like Joe to say that!” But Joe says that the best way to learn is by playing with money, as well as using Pro Poker Tools when playing in an online casino to calculate the equity and what draws are open to you. It’s not only the best way to learn Pot Luck Omaha, but the best way to succeed at it too. Ultimately, Joe’s secret to success can be put down to the volume of plays you make, and looking at a game from a purely mathematical viewpoint.
Credit: YouTube
Joe can be found on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and on his website, OnePokerLife.
Pot Limit Omaha is growing in popularity, both across the pond and in the UK. If you’ve watched a few of Joe’s YouTube videos and have caught the PLO bug, head over to OnlineCasinos.co.uk and put your knowledge into practice!
