Lower than two years in the past, Poseidon Ho had by no means performed a poker event. At this time, the enterprise capitalist is making waves on the excessive curler scene, notching back-to-back ultimate tables at Triton Poker Montenegro and proving he is extra than simply one other businessman dabbling within the recreation.
“I solely began enjoying tournaments a couple of yr and a half in the past,” Ho says. “However this yr, I made a decision I actually wished to be good at it. I wished to coach, to be taught, and to be aggressive.”
That mindset shift started in September 2024, when Ho met Triton co-founder Paul Phua in Asia. Intrigued, Ho approached Phua with a easy query: What does it take to be a Triton ambassador?
The reply was clear. “To begin with,” mentioned Phua. “That you must show your self by getting some titles underneath your belt.”
“I did not even understand how high-stakes it was. Everybody was a professional!”
“I requested Paul when the following sequence was, and he mentioned, ‘Subsequent yr, we’ll have Triton Jeju.’ I promised him I might be there.”
Ho admits he initially underestimated the extent of play. “I did not even understand how high-stakes it was. Everybody was a professional,” he laughs. “I had no event coaching in any respect, so I performed prefer it precisely like a money recreation. I introduced a bankroll I may afford to lose and each single hand, I wasn’t taking a look at pay jumps or something, I simply tried to take advantage of +EV choice on each hand.”
That strategy led to some close to misses, with busted bubbles, mistimed bluffs, and untimely exits. “I did not know easy methods to modify for tender bubble stage, arduous bubble or ultimate desk dynamics,” Ho says. “I bought exploited by some excellent gamers who knew precisely when to strain me.”
Realizing he wanted to shut that hole, Ho devoted the next two months to targeted event coaching. The outcomes converse for themselves: two ultimate tables at Triton Montenegro, an enormous leap ahead from his earlier appearances.
“I feel it is come about particularly due to the coaching that I’ve carried out,” says Ho. “However some gamers nonetheless bear in mind the wild picture I had from Jeju. I used to be utilizing pocket sixes to four-bet somebody, or shoving mild pre-flop. So once I tightened up my vary this time, I bought paid in spots others would not. Simply due to the cash I misplaced in Jeju!”
Ho has come a great distance from his first dwell cashes, which got here on the 2024 World Sequence of Poker. His second-ever dwell money got here in a $200 PokerNews Each day Deepstack, cashing for $544 in eleventh place – a far cry from the five- and six-figure tournaments he performs now.
“It is a form of silly bravery,” Ho says. “Plenty of gamers thought I used to be shifting too quick, that I hadn’t earned my place but.”
However Ho would not thoughts the skepticism. If something, it provides gasoline. “If I got here up like everybody else, I’d fall into the identical patterns. However I am experimenting, I am nonetheless studying. Whether or not it is in turbos, The Invitational or within the Most important Occasion, each Triton cease, I attempt one thing new.”
Bridging Poker and Enterprise Capital
Ho’s skilled background is in enterprise capital, a world of calculated threat and strategic funding that, he says, mirrors poker in shocking methods.
“In early-stage investing, you are typically betting on simply two issues: a enterprise concept and a founder. That is like your gap playing cards,” Ho explains. “As extra data comes: founder-product match, founder-market match and go-to-market technique, that is just like the flip and river.
“If you wager tremendous early in that pre-seed and seed stage, the upside development potential is very large. However the threat can be large.”
“It’s important to consider each avenue — ought to I wager, fold, increase? In each fields, you are continuously calculating odds and adjusting based mostly on restricted data.”
This Entrepreneur Used Poker Winnings to Construct a Multimillion-Greenback Enterprise
Whereas poker has sharpened his decision-making for investments, Ho believes his VC background additionally offers him a singular lens on the desk.
“Each methods have offered me with insights. Enterprise capitalist investing has derived me loads of insights into my method of enjoying poker. Most experts come up by means of thousands and thousands of fingers on-line, following set methods or mimicking others. I contemplate myself an outlier — I convey one thing completely different to the desk.”
That unconventional perspective turned particularly clear throughout the 2024 WSOP Most important Occasion, the place Ho discovered himself surrounded by fellow finance professionals on the desk — a enterprise capitalist, a number of merchants, and a chief economist — every deciphering the sport by means of the lens of their very own trade.
“The VC mentality is, ‘I can afford to get into the pot ten occasions — I solely have to win a few times large to get all of it again,'” Ho mentioned. “People who find themselves merchants specialize of their win-rate. They have a look at the chips they win versus the chips they lose — if their win-rate is 51% or 52%, they’ll grind it out long-term.”
The chief economist, in the meantime, approached poker with a extra holistic, top-down view. “He sees that Poseidon loses to Jeff, Jeff loses to Markus, and Markus at all times loses to Poseidon. So he can deliberately reduce off that hyperlink and select to play towards Poseidon.”
With a busy enterprise schedule and a pointy studying curve, Ho is aware of he is nonetheless early in his poker journey. However having come a great distance, who is aware of how a lot additional he’ll go, and the way quickly a maiden Triton title might be his to savor.
Will Shillibier
Managing Editor
