Hey Poker Fam,

You've heard me say it before: your brain is your biggest asset at the table.

And that means what you put in your body during tournament breaks actually matters. Bad nutrition can lead to energy crashes, tilt, and poor decision-making when the chips are on the line. Most Poker players don't think about this enough.

This week:
• Phil Hellmuth gets brutally slow-rolled on his home game
• WSOP 2026 healthy eating guide—what to actually order between sessions
• A viral bustout that perfectly captures tournament variance
• Understanding Texas Poker and why it's not a loophole
• The Daniel Negreanu moment that changed Poker history
• How a casino employee stole $700K in fake checks

Let's get into it...

THIS WEEK IN POKER

Every Monday night, Hellmuth’s Home Game presented by Poker Night in America (PNIA) and sponsored by BetRivers is once again airing on CBS Sports on Monday nights. Source: Chad Holloway / Poker News

1. PHIL HELLMUTH GETS BRUTALLY SLOW-ROLLED ON HELLMUTH'S HOME GAME

Episode 16 of Hellmuth's Home Game aired this week, and it was a rough one for the Poker Brat.

Hellmuth had J♠J♦ in early position and just called. Texas Mike raised to $500 with A♣3♠ from the cutoff. Kelly Lucas flatted from the straddle with K♠K♥. Hellmuth check-raised all in for $4,975. Texas Mike folded.

Then Kelly called—and slow-rolled him.

"The last session she slow-rolled me, too," Hellmuth said after the hand. They ran it twice, but neither runout hit for Hellmuth. Kelly took down $10,575, and Hellmuth had to reload.

The stakes were $25/$50 with a $50 big blind ante, and more often than not, a $100 straddle was on. The action got loud. The pots got big. Kelly Lucas ended the session up $21,025. Hellmuth ended up down $20,225. That's variance, and that's Poker.

Source: Poker News

2. WSOP 2026 — THE BEST HEALTHY PLACES TO EAT ON A BREAK

Picture This: It's May, the series has started, and you're eight hours into a tournament. Your stack just grew, but your energy is tanking.

Most Poker players will grab whatever's closest. A burger. A hotdog. Maybe some casino sushi that tastes like it was made last Tuesday. Your brain crashes. Your reads get sloppy. You lose two pots you should've won.

A New Jersey-based fitness coach named TJ Jurkiewicz just dropped a guide specifically for WSOP players breaking from the tables. He mapped out the healthiest options at both the Horseshoe and Paris Casinos—places you can actually reach on a 20-minute break without losing your table.

Pro tip: Subway with extra veggies, no heavy sauces. Mon Ami Gabi's salads are solid. Gordon Ramsay Steak has quality protein options. If you grab Alexxa's for dinner, go salmon or salad, skip the pasta. It sounds basic, but the difference between grinding on grilled chicken and carbs is the difference between crushing and folding.

Your tournament run depends on more than just your cards. It depends on how sharp your mind stays when the pressure's on. Eat right during breaks, and you'll see the difference in your results.

Source: Poker.org

3. THE VIRAL BUSTOUT — WHEN VARIANCE HITS YOU TWICE

Jordan Ludwick, a New Jersey-based sports betting content creator, had just endured one of those days where nothing goes right. Twice in three hands, his pocket kings got cracked—both times on the river. Both times to hands he'd rather not talk about.

He ground back up to around 180,000 chips just two spots away from the money at the PokerStars Open Philadelphia Main Event.

Then the chips went in: Jordan Ludwick with A♦7♦, Michael Ciarlante with A♣K♠, and Angel Lopez with 10♦9♦.

Ludwick was the overwhelming favorite on the flop. The Q♦7♣3♦ felt good.

The J♣ turn brought Lopez a straight draw. The 9♣ river gave Lopez the pair he needed.

Ludwick's reaction went viral on social media. Thirteen hours at the table, a fight to get back, and then busted one spot away from the money. He told Poker News afterward: "I definitely would've gotten top five or top three if I'd won that pot."

That's variance. That's Poker. And that's why mental game is everything.

Source: Poker News

4. TEXAS POKER ISN'T A LOOPHOLE — HERE'S WHAT EVERYONE GETS WRONG

After The Lodge Card Club got raided and shut down this month, every headline ran the same words: loophole, gray area, skirting the law.

That narrative is wrong.

Justin Hammer, Live Events Director for PokerAtlas and a Texas-based Poker consultant, broke it down this week: Texas has a clear law that bans gambling, but there's also a clearly defined exception. Poker is allowed in private places as long as no one takes an economic benefit beyond personal winnings.

That's not a loophole. That's the law.

The confusion comes because people hear "membership model" and assume someone is getting around the rules. What's actually happening is operators trying to function within the exception, not outside of it. Whether they're doing it correctly is a different question entirely.

Hammer points out that understanding how Poker got legalized in places like Iowa, Florida, and Colorado gives you the real picture. The path to making Poker in Texas work sustainably isn't about finding loopholes—it's about structured regulation and proper licensing.

Source: Poker.org

5. $700K IN FAKE CHECKS — THE HOLLYWOOD CASINO EMPLOYEE SCAM

Jennifer Petrillo, a 51-year-old former employee at Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course in Pennsylvania, was charged this week with nine felonies for embezzling over $700,000.

Her job: cutting checks for the casino. Her abuse: creating fake accounts, fake identities, and fake businesses, then writing $727,446.65 in casino checks to them.

The scheme came to light when another employee covering for Petrillo during her medical leave discovered discrepancies in the bookkeeping. Police launched an investigation and found that Petrillo had been running the scam since June 2024—less than a year after she started at the casino.

Where did the money go? A Tesla Model 3. Robinhood investments. LEGO purchases. Spa treatments. Plastic surgery. She wasn't subtle about it.

Petrillo is charged with computer trespassing, forgery, theft, unlawful use of a computer, misapplication of entrusted property, and related felonies. Her preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 24.

This isn't an isolated incident. Casinos are targets for internal theft because money flows constantly. Last year, two Maryland casino employees ran a VIP loyalty card scam that netted them $27,000. In Nevada, two cage cashiers at Wendover Nugget stole over $3,000 by short-changing chip redemptions.

The lesson? Casino oversight matters. And insider threats are real.

STRATEGY CORNER

THE MENTAL GAME: HOW TO STAY SHARP WHEN VARIANCE HITS TWICE

You just got rivered with pocket kings. It stings. You take a break, grind back up a little, feel like you're getting back in control.

Then it happens again.

This is where a lot of Poker players lose. Not to the cards—to their own mind.

Variance is real. It's part of the game. The cards don't care about your feelings. What matters is how you respond when the bad beats stack up.

Here's what I've learned: when you're facing consecutive bad beats or a cold run, your natural reaction is to loosen up. You start playing too many hands. You get desperate and try to make it back quickly. You make aggressive decisions that aren't profitable just to "get even." Your win rate drops not because the game got harder, but because you're playing outside your A-game, chasing losses instead of playing smart.

The counter to this is mental anchoring. Before you sit down, decide on your strategy for that session. Write it down if you have to. When variance hits and you start to feel the tilt creeping in, go back to that anchor. Don't deviate. Make the decisions your A-game would make, not the decisions your frustrated brain is screaming at you to make.

This is where discipline separates pros from everyone else. The pros don't feel better after a bad beat—they just play through it.

Your job isn't to avoid variance. Your job is to manage your response to it.

CLIP OF THE WEEK

I pick up K-Q offsuit in the big blind and decide to squeeze to 9,500 against an active opener and two flat callers to pick up all that dead money…

To watch some of my wild hands, Subscribe to my YouTube Channel:

UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS

Event

Venue

Dates

WSOP Circuit Playground

Playground Poker, Montreal, QC

Mar 23 - Apr 07, 2026

WSOP Europe 2026

King's Casino, Prague, Czech Republic

Mar 31 – Apr 12, 2026

WPT Prime Cyprus

Chamada Prestige Hotel & Spa

Apr 01 – Apr 14, 2026

WSOP Summer 2026 (57th Annual)

Horseshoe & Paris Las Vegas, NV

May 26 – Jul 15, 2026

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IN THE KNOW

Few poker players in history can rival the success and prominence of Poker Hall of Fame Inductee Daniel Negreanu. Source: WSOP

DANIEL NEGREANU'S HISTORIC 2013 WSOP EUROPE MOMENT

Coming off his Asia-Pacific Main Event victory in Melbourne, Daniel Negreanu locked up his second WSOP Player of the Year title at WSOP Europe 2013 in France. But he didn't stop there. He went on to win the No-Limit Hold'em High Roller at the Casino Barriere, defeating Nicolau Villa-Lobos heads-up to capture his sixth WSOP bracelet. It's one of those performances that reminds you why Negreanu is in the Poker Hall of Fame.

Source: WSOP

ARIZONA REGULATORS FILE CHARGES AGAINST KALSHI

Arizona authorities took action this week against Kalshi, a platform that allows Poker players to place bets on competitive outcomes. The charges relate to how the platform operates within state gambling regulations. This is part of a broader effort by states to clarify what's allowed in the betting and Poker space.

Source: Card Player

VIRGINIA ONLINE POKER LEGISLATION STUMBLES AT FINISH LINE

Virginia's push for online Poker expansion hit a snag this week as proposed legislation fell short in committee. The setback doesn't kill the effort, but it signals that state regulators are moving cautiously on online Poker legalization.

Source: Card Player

QUESTION FOR YOU

When variance hits you multiple times in one session—back-to-back bad beats—how do you keep your head in the game instead of spiraling into tilt? What's your mental reset process? Reply to this email—I read each one of them!

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Talk soon,
Lexy Gavin-Mather

 

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