Is Alec Torelli The Hardest Worker In Poker???

Twelve Years a Grinder

According to the biography on his YouTube channel, Alec Torelli went pro 12 years ago, ‘traveling the world full-time playing the biggest games on the planet.’ And he certainly seems to have put those years on the grind to good use. His live poker record speaks for itself: $1,517,086 in tournament cashes, and his regular presence on TV cash games as well as being a regular in the nosebleed games out in Macau where other US pros like Tom Dwan and Phil Ivey have gone to grow their fortunes in games where, as Torelli puts it:

"You bet a car and get raised a house."

Torelli started playing poker when he was around 19 back just before Moneymaker made his money, and the good old days set him up well. He was a cash game grinder making his daily bread multi-tabling and taking regular shots at tournaments as a way of getting some exposure to the odd black swan.

That swan of a different color came along in the form of a satellite win which earned him a ticket to in Aruba, where the payout built up his bankroll and street cred. He clearly hasn’t looked back since. But if you are familiar with him at all, it is pretty obvious that raking in pots after pot and living the luxury nomad lifestyle just doesn’t fill his time. He also has a seemingly endless output away from the table.

YouTube and Twitter and Coaching, Oh My!

He started vlogging in June 2013, and for almost four years he’s turned out videos regularly. These include hand analyses, lifestyle vlogs and coaching videos. They come out two to five times a week and he rarely seems to take much of a break from that already breakneck schedule. He’s built up quite an audience, with 28.5k followers subscribed to his channel at the latest count.

He also tweets constantly – amusing polls, instagrammable moments, even more poker advice, and the odd book recommendation. He tweets daily, finding time to reply to his followers and even commenting occasionally on the odd PokerTube article.

1. Four Hour Work Week by @tferriss
2. Four Hour Work Week by @tferriss
3. 168 hours by @lvanderkamhttps://t.co/DvkBIszQ15

— Alec Torelli (@AlecTorelli) April 12, 2017

That’s just the free stuff. He also runs a coaching business offering his ‘Four Step Poker’ series of coaching videos which for a mere $497.00 per step claims to teach you all ‘the steps to becoming a professional poker player.’ These video series come with workbooks (which can be purchased by themselves if the video course is not for you) and access to an online forum for discussion of the program. 

I did a survey on Twitter asking if people prefer 100k working online in underwear, or 1M 9-5 if you can NEVER quit till 60. Was split 50/50 https://t.co/Vqt3NBEhHP

— Alec Torelli (@AlecTorelli) March 26, 2017

These products alone must represent a significant hourly input themselves but they are also backed up by his marketing machinery, a slick frequently updated website, advertising and constant posts on his social media.

Just finished watching the Beatles documentary. Is it just me or does @MaxJSteinberg remind you of @PaulMcCartneypic.twitter.com/Awg4OWHAbr

— Alec Torelli (@AlecTorelli) March 22, 2017

How on Earth is he churning all this out while still finding time to coach one-on-one, play regularly, keep his hair so precisely styled and shop for blazers? Is he in fact the hardest worker in poker?

Ferris and Business Model

One answer may actually lie in his tweets. When recommending books one that came up was Tim Ferris’s The Four-Hour Work Week in which Ferris lays out an internet era business model that centres around producing a product you can sell for significant mark-up and which you can hire others to produce and deliver ultimately leading to a company into which one has to put very little work oneself. 

Torelli has also talked about outsourcing everything you possibly can but I still suspect that Torelli is more involved in his business ventures that a Ferris purist would be. It is pretty hard to coach one-on-one without putting in the hours with the clients.

On the other hand the poker courses are a one time expenditure of time and effort, and if you can hire a someone to write the books (Alec, if you’re reading this, you can find the PokerTube contributors contact details elsewhere on the site I’m sure we’d all be pretty game).

But it’s clear from the YouTube output where it is him on camera talking away, that for Torelli the personal touch is part of the fun for him. So I doubt we’ll see him retiring to live off the Four Steps any time soon. He even has some tips for you on getting more done with your own time.