Drea Renee didn’t plan to become one of poker’s most recognizable voices — in fact, she didn’t even know the poker rules when she started.
From hustling in L.A. with $6 in her bank account to massaging players at the table and accidentally calling out a bluff, her journey into the poker world is anything but conventional.
Now a sharp-witted host and podcaster, Drea opens up about breaking barriers, trusting her gut, and turning every setback into fuel. Her story is raw, funny, and impossible to ignore.
Baptism by Fire
Drea Renee is the definition of a hustler. Born in San Antonio, Texas, to young parents, Renee felt an obligation to succeed early on:
My parents had me super young, they were like 18, so there was a lot of struggle, and one thing I learned as a kid was that I didn’t want to live that way.
Renee’s ambition and desire to control her element appeared at an early age. The eldest of two sisters, she tried to weather the storm around her by taking on the lion’s share of the responsibility. She recalled being as young as six years old and asking her mother,
Mommy, how can I help you? Adding, I don’t know, I just came out like that, I’m super Type A.
All Gas, No Brakes
It was a combination of environment and natural orientation (and celibacy?) that drove Renee to excel in high school and college.
I wanted to set my life up in a certain way. I was very focused, I never even had sex in high school because I didn’t want to get pregnant. I got an academic scholarship, I was in the drumline at the University of Texas, the whole thing.
It was in college Renee pivoted her attention to what she and her mother considered a more natural calling – radio, television, and film,.
I always knew I wanted to do on-camera stuff.” “My mom says I came out of the womb like I was on a stage – like, where’s the camera, where’s the microphone?
Go West, Young Woman
A few years after college, Renee relocated to Los Angeles to pursue work in TV, film, and modeling.
Like most young performers who uproot themselves to chase their dreams in the City of Angels, Renee struggled in the beginning, admitting she would steal food from her roommates to survive.
A tip from a friend would not only improve her financial situation, but alter the course of her life.
I moved to LA with $6 in my bank account. I was waiting tables and doing all types of random stuff, and a friend of mine told me about massage therapy.
Renee admits to her ignorance regarding poker players getting massaged at the table, saying,
When I first heard it, I remember saying, people get massages while playing poker? That’s so weird.
And although she stumbled a bit in the beginning, Renee mentions,
When I first started in poker, I knew nothing. I thought aces beat everything, and I was working on Daryll Fish, who lost a big pot with aces to someone else’s flush, so I stopped the game, and said, Hi, I think there’s been a mistake.
Daryll, you have aces. And he looks up at me and says, Drea, what the f*** are you doing, he has a flush.
Another time, she remembers calling out a player for lying about their poker hand because she didn’t realize it was part of the game,
He had jack-ten and told the table he had kings, and I said, you didn’t have kings, you had jack-ten, and everyone at the table gasped, and he was like, we’re done.
But that ignorance would be short-lived:
I got into it, and my entire life changed.” “Poker has given me the most beautiful life. I went out of the country and got to use my passport for the first time because of poker.
From Massages to the Main Stage
Renee spent ten years building relationships in poker as a massage therapist, and it was her friendship with poker professional Maria Ho that helped her transition to an on-camera presenter.
Maria Ho got me into poker hosting. She mentioned that she knew I did on-camera stuff, and asked if I was interested in hosting a poker tournament.
Renee jumped at the opportunity, and seven years later, she has found her sweet spot on camera.
Her secret? She uses her years of experience dealing with poker players at the table to inform her interviews.
They’re awkward ‘AF’. They don’t like to be bothered. But I’ve massaged them for ten years. I know how to disarm them. I never say ‘action.’ We just start talking. They don’t even know we’re rolling.
Renee also brings that same insight into human behavior to her podcast, ‘Hey Babe, Can We Talk?’, which mixes humor, therapy, and hard truths about relationships.
I’ve always been the therapist in my friend group,” she says. “Not in a preachy way—more like, ‘Do you want to go to therapy or slash his tires? I’m here for both.
Oprah, J.Lo, and the Art of Persistence
Renee’s heroes reveal her duality; there’s Oprah, a Black woman who built an empire – “I’m so enamored with her drive and ambition and how she’s built everything from nothing.”
Renee connects this to her own experience as the only Black host in the poker world.
Being a Black woman in poker is a thing. The optics around putting me on something, or not putting me on something, is a thing, Renee confesses.
And then there’s also J.Lo. She just believed in herself so much until she made it, and I love that. I love J.Lo.
Future Game
Reene is a goal-oriented person with a laser-driven focus on building her brand.
“Every six months, I set goals for myself on what I want to accomplish over that period,” Renee said.
She admits the list has been refined over the years,
I try to keep it reasonable. I used to put tons of stuff on there, but now it’s a few simple things – I’m very focused on mental and physical health. I work out every day, I don’t drink or party, and meditation helps me focus. There’s like a hamster in my head doing crack, so I need meditation to calm him down.
Renee would like to start a family, but ultimately has reservations,
This lifestyle, when you’re in poker, is not super conducive to a family, but I still want to do it. I want a baby like yesterday. If anyone’s reading this, please give me your sperm, joked Renee.
Connect with Renee on Instagram @thedrearenee, X @drearenee_N, and catch a new episode of her podcast, “Hey Babe, Can We Talk” every two weeks wherever podcasts are available.
