One To Watch: New Poker Vlogger Brad Owen
7 years ago17 Mar
The poker vlogging revolution is in a full swing. The advent of Twitch poker, made the pros realize how much of an untapped potential lies in various social media outlets. With the Twitch.tv popularity, YouTube became the natural next step and that's why we're able to enjoy the content produced by so many different poker personalities like Doug Polk, Alec Torelli, Jeff Boski or Andrew Neeme (to name a few).
However, there is still plenty of space in poker vlogging scene for new, exciting perspectives and this is precisely what a new poker vlogger by the name of Brad Owen brings to the table with his YouTube channel.
Blue Collar Live Poker Player
Brad Owen is a Las Vegas resident, making a living playing live small stakes casino games (mainly 2$/5$ with some 1$/2$ and 5$/10$ sprinkled in), While this doesn't sound particularly impressive or interesting in a vacuum it is actually an original and dare I say somewhat romantic breath of fresh air in the vlogging scene dominated by online players and high stakes ballers. In terms of stakes, Brad is your average, working class, blue collar player.
Even though he is young he almost seems like a product of simpler times, he has more in common with the Knish from "The Rounders" than with the modern online-nerd-wizards trying to fight the invasion of poker robots. Brad drives a Lexus from 2003, has a cat named "Cosmo" and according to him, he peaked at the age of 4 when he starred in a Pizza Hut commercial. He's a guy cool enough to attend a playboy themed party with twentysomething friends, but serene and honest enough to admit that it's not exactly his cup of tea. Brad Owen is like this cool, easy going, smart and slightly awkward dude that you can learn a lot about playing live poker from.
It's All About the Hands
While there's a fair bit of Brad's personality showing through in his videos at their core his vlogs are about reviewing the live session that he played and creating value for other live poker grinders through that. While the production value of his vlogs is slowly and steadily increasing they aren't meticulously scripted and full of jump cuts. They are raw and honest (which in the world of social media can be surprisingly difficult to come by) albeit slightly awkward with some cringe-worthy humor sprinkled in. Not everyone will love Brad Owen's style, but he's perhaps one of the best examples of what it actually looks like to play live poker for a living.
Speaking of which, turns out that live poker is still, alive and kicking. Watching Brad play cards can be a sobering experience for people who are ready to welcome our new robot overlords in the world of online poker. Turns out that no one cares about the GTO in a small 2$/5$ game in a Vegas casino. Even in 2017, the games are full of limp/folding recreationals and bombing three streets for fat value or bet/folding the river for thin value are still among the most effective things you could be doing to get ahead in those games. Given the uncertainty associated with the online poker environment the perspective offered by a live small stakes, cash game grinder like Brad Owen is truly refreshing.
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