ALL IN with Evan Jarvis: Blake Vita

May 15, 2018

Jeff Platt

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In the premiere episode of ALL IN, Evan Jarvis catches up with former student Blake Vita, fresh off the biggest tournament score of his career.

Blake balances a full-time job with his poker obsession, but that hasn’t stopped him from making waves in the Florida poker community. Sure, he may be a quick study, but Blake also now has some real secrets to success, and he shares those in this intimate and wide-ranging discussion.

Show Time Stamps

0:15	Intro: Evan goes over Blake's poker career before bringing him on the show.
3:56	Blake’s big WPT win in Jacksonville: "I got to the final table and really just ran like a god and cashed for the biggest score in my life."
6:24	Blake on Orange City cash games, which he plays to stay sharp: "Confidence is such a big part of how well you do at the poker table, if you don't play for a while, you lose that confidence."
11:49	Evan and Blake discuss ICM and final table strategy: "The one piece of strategy that I took into the final table... is taking really good ICM spots and recognizing who at the table knows what ICM is and who you can make moves against."
21:17	Final table swaps and the importance of a strong rail: "I asked the tournament director, 'hey can you bring the rail closer so (my friends) can watch'...so we brought it up right next to the table which was fantastic... I like giving my friends money from my wins more than I enjoy the money that I get from the wins."
27:04	Blake's background and how World of Warcraft led to poker: "That game was super-popular. And I saw one of my favorite content creators playing poker... It's kind of the same thing as World of Warcraft in a sense where you have to balance statistics and all that stuff."
29:05	Blake discovers Gripsed Poker Training and starts studying: "[Gripsed Poker Training] is what got me interested in figuring out, 'ok I need to buckle down and figure out why people make certain decisions in certain spots.'"
33:30	Blake's immersive poker study regime: "That's the way I study things in general, whether it was school or any other video game... put a lot of hours in, study whenever you can, and it'll eventually come to."
35:01	Crossovers between gaming and poker: "Understanding the people you're playing with to a certain extent is very important in video games. You need to realize some people have different tactics and approach the game in different ways."
38:45	Sponsor: Gripsed Poker Training
39:30	Balancing a full-time career and a passion for poker: "The weekend is really the time where I actually get to think about and play and study poker. In regards to taking advantage of what I can do, table selection is beyond the most important thing that I can say."
42:12	How Blake finds the best cash game tables and seats: "I'll mainly look for people who just don't look like professional poker players...big stacks at the table and just looking for tables where the vibe of the table is less intense, because then it gives me a chance to use my conversational skills to talk up the table and make sure everyone is having a good time."
49:20	Relationships versus the grind: "If you want to be in a relationship, just imagine the person you want to be with and what they would be doing, and then try those things out and see if you'd like them yourself."
52:34	The importance of (non-poker) extracurricular activities: "We like doing pretty much anything that comes our way in Orlando.”
55:05	Balancing time with friends outside the game: "They understand enough to be supportive of me, I can't really talk poker with them but I do have other poker friends for that. It's nice to have that balance of real-life friends who know and support me and a balance of poker friends that I can actually talk poker with and understand what I'm going through in poker."
1:00:12	Blake's four step process to start winning in poker: "You need to be inspired to play...you need to want to be a winner."
1:04:39	The mental game, how Blake stays focused: "To keep myself off tilt, I just have to realize variance is a thing, and it's going to happen. I've come to terms with that, and it helps me not get worried."
1:12:02	The importance of friendship and community: "I do all the things I do to have great people in my life and build great relationships. That's how I find happiness."
1:13:17	Sponsor: 888 Poker (Use the promo code "ALLIN" when you make your first deposit)
1:13:58	Performance-enhancing drugs in poker: "I don't see a problem with performance-enhancing drugs in the poker space, because it's just enhancing someone's knowledge that they currently have."
1:18:14	Mental health and poker: "(Depression) definitely affected my poker game a little bit...of course you're not going to play you're most focused."
1:31:20	ALL IN with Evan Jarvis is now in the PokerNews Podcast family. The entire PokerNews Podcast family of podcasts is now available on audioBoom.
1:31:58	What would Blake do if he had $100 million in the bank? "One of my main goals is to have a family and expand my happiness through my family...I don't really need a lot of material things."
1:37:51	Blake's impressions of Charlie Carrel: "Charlie's a complete sicko."
1:41:58	What would Blake tell his younger self?: "You just need to know it's going to take a while to become good enough to where you're feeling confident in yourself and you're going to make the win rate that you want."