Top Pair Podcast 314: Interview with Faded Spade Playing Cards founder Tom Wheaton

August 01, 2018

Robbie Strazynski

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In episode 314 of the Top Pair Home Game Poker Podcast, Bruce Briggs and Robbie Strazynski interview the Founder of Faded Spade Playing Cards, Tom Wheaton. An entrepreneur who has gone all in with his product, which aims to be the next evolution in playing cards, Tom has made a huge splash with Faded Spade in a very brief span of time.

We’ll hear Tom’s story, learn about his home game background, and how Faded Spade became the preferred playing cards of the WPT and has partnered with numerous other premium brands in the poker world.

Plus, some fun stories from our co-hosts latest home game sessions and a Gutterball anecdote that’ll sure get you laughing.

Top Pair thanks their sponsor, the Poker Notes Live mobile app for their support. Be sure to check ‘em out!

Show Time Stamps

00:24	Synopsis
01:09–18:53	How Ya Runnin?
	Bruce: Up two big blinds in the latest $0.25/$0.25 home game…. You do the math! Plus a potential road trip coming up to the poker room at Wendover, a border town between Utah Nevada.
	Robbie: Finally, a local home game gets together after close to three months. Great to have “home felt advantage” and win some money, but got outplayed in a unique situation that only happens when playing with people you know for over a decade.
13:15	Also, Robbie’s heading to Romania to attend the Unibet Open in Budapest. Some thoughts and reflections on doing media coverage at a European poker festival for the first time.
19:36–1:05:45	Look Who We’ve Found (Interview with Tom Wheaton)
19:36	Introducing Tom Wheaton, and Tom’s background prior to becoming an entrepreneur and found Faded Spade Playing Cards.
23:40	The idea to found Faded Spade germinated back in 2004, but only took hold when Tom lost his job in 2017. Listening to his wife and Gary Vaynerchuk convinced him to go for it.
25:20	How Tom gained his knowledge about playing cards. First as a player, organizing home games, then diving in with proper research about materials, design, card size limitations, qualitative differences, etc. Getting feedback from poker room directors, home game players and professional players leads to improvements in the product.
32:43	Four-color decks. What’s the deal? Does everyone like ‘em? Will they become ubiquitous at poker rooms around the world?
35:40	Why is the company called “Faded Spade”?
38:00	A deep dive into the materials that playing cards are made from.
42:38	Does Tom still play in home games today? How often? What games?
45:05	Tom’s deep run at the WPT Bobby Baldwin Classic. Hearing what Tom’s experience was like. How is it different when playing with big time pros?
52:40	What’s it like being brand new to the industry and immediately establishing business connections and partnerships with major poker brands and companies like the World Poker Tour, Run It Up, HPT, PokerGO, etc.?
59:35	Recap: What Faded Spade cards can do for home game players. Special promo code for podcast listeners - TOPPAIR - to get 20% off any order on FadedSpade.com.
1:06:04	What the &#@% Did Gutterball Say?! – What could $100 buy you at the poker table?

You can subscribe to PokerNews’ Top Pair Home Game Poker podcast on iTunes here, or you can access the RSS feed here. The PokerNews Podcast family of podcasts is now available on audioBoom.

Follow the show on Facebook and be sure to join in the conversation on Twitter at #PNTopPair.

Follow hosts Bruce Briggs @toppair and Robbie Strazynski @cardplayerlife, also available via email: [email protected]

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LISTEN: @FadedSpadeCards Founder @tomwheaton_ tells us his company's origin story.
PODCAST: @tomwheaton_, founder of @FadedSpadeCards, tells us how he started the company.