Cody & Carrel Make The Big Time On Joe.Co.Uk

(Photo: Poker.co.uk)

Despite being highly popular and extremely good poker players, it’s pretty unlikely that a poker video with Jake Cody and Charlie Carrel would get 171.000 views in one single week, but when you have almost 4million likes on your YouTube page as Joe.co.uk has then anything is possible!

Joe – ‘the Voice of Men in Britain’ – is one of the most-liked news outlets aimed at all things, well, men-related and their decision to pick the brains of erstwhile vlogger Jake ‘NeverBluff67’ Cody and high-stakes poker pro Charlie ‘Epiphany77’ Carrel was an inspired one.

The topic of their short but useful video? ‘How to beat all your mates at poker...!’ And for any decent player who regularly faces their friends who hardly know the rules or the hand rankings, it’s an invaluable reminder that sticking to the basics is the best way to make use of your extra knowledge.

First up is Carrel, with a pro tip which is easy to ignore when it’s a friendly homegame:

"You have to be selective with your hands,” says Carrel, pointing out that newbies to the game like to play everything and see every flop. “You have to be the guy who’s being smart and choosing the best hands to play.”

Cody takes on number 2, reminding you to always pay attention to your opponents as they look at their cards and decide on a play. “People give away a lot with their bet-sizing,” states Cody, so look out for patterns.

The Joe.co.uk slot might be a short one, but the guys fit in as much as can be expected in just over a minute, the brilliantly-awful shirt of Carrel back in view as he explains to watch out for ‘live tells’ – whether your friends are looking comfortable, or hunched up, and especially to look at their eyes.

“Being aggressive,” says Cody, “forcing your opponent to make a hand against you,” rather than the other way around. As we all know, few people enjoy being put under pressure so this one makes sense against new players to the game.

Carrel reminds is that ‘practice, practice, practice’ is the key to improvement in any game or sport. “You have to put the hours in,” he says with certainty, and he’s not wrong.

Of course, now that they’ve shared the secrets with all the other ‘Men in Britain’ – the ‘average Joe’ of the website’s title - you might suddenly find yourself up against a tougher friend next time round. I’ve actually just shared it with my own buddies - but mainly because I can’t stand watching all the mistakes they make every week!

In any event, it’s great to see poker making it back into the everyday lives of normal people, and even if it’s only for a minute it can’t do any harm to give it a watch and a share!