Image courtesy of PokerGO.com
There are few players who attract controversy, fame, and fortune in such equal measure as Ryan Depaulo.
Unlike others who have seen the WSOP as an excuse to put themselves in the spotlight, however, Depaulo is a natural magnet for those equal parts charms and curses that hang around his neck.
In fact, Depaulo, soon to become a father, doesn’t seem to be able to help himself finding a story of his own wherever he goes.
We caught up with the famously unfiltered pro at the 56th annual WSOP where he is sharing a house with Daniel Lazrus throughout the festival.
Main Event of Bricks
This year is the fifth year that Ryan has entered the Main Event, and it was also the fifth year he’s busted before the money. Ryan’s attitude to the so-called ‘best tournament in the world’ has changed over the years.
My first Main Event I was so insanely nervous, Ryan admits. It was the final year at the Rio in 2021 and my last chance to play with the classic chip set in the rooms I grew up watching and hoping to be in. It was super cool but a painful experience as I busted on Day 1.
Ryan says that far from his nerves getting the better of him, in the end he tried to ‘win it too fast.’ In his second Main Event, he was busted with around 100 players left before the bubble burst.
I caught so many punts on Day 1 and bagged three times the starting stack. For people who say Day 1 does not matter by the way, I have gone exactly as deep as my Day 1 bag my deepest run was biggest Day 1 bag in order.
This year I just didn’t have the tolerance to not be on my phone and give full focus for ten hours so I played half of Day 1 by design. I may register on Day 2 next year.
Ryan’s attention span and high-wire mindset is perfect for content creation and this jars slightly with the ‘full force mental grind’ of the WSOP Main Event, with its two-hour blind levels and gruelling 12-hour plus days.
I want to give it the focus and attention it deserves and I can only do that for so long at my best. This year was crazy up and down. I made three huge river bluffs that all failed but I kept swinging.
Seven years ago, I told my now wife that I just dreamed of playing the Main Event one day and have 10k to blow when I’m an old man.
Doug and Ryan
While he didn’t cash in this year’s Main Event, Ryan did get to spend a lot of time with one of his poker heroes.
On Day 3, I got to play next to Doug Polk and the fact that he texted me beforehand and we know each other as potential friends is so insane, admits Ryan.
I was a fan of Doug and to be at the point where I have played 5 times and Doug Polk was excited to talk with me and unprompted complimented my comedy and my videos… that’s really the win here. I want to make that deep Main Event run so bad, but I really saw what a success it is to be in the spot I’m in.
Doug really has freed me up to shamelessly promote my new name as COINPOKER CODE RDP. The first time I met Doug, I did not like how he seemingly snubbed me and I bashed him a little publicly, calling him a jerk.
I was 100% in the wrong and If I was approached in the way I approached him I would absolutely shut that person down. I would be even more rude probably.”
Ryan admits that he didn’t see the situation from Doug’s point of view until he was in a similar position at the 2021 WSOP.
I saw it so clearly; how many people want something out of you or your time when you are known. This dude who just learned who I was the previous orbit tried wasting my entire break one time pitching me to promote his friend’s sportsbet Tik Tok or some shit.
He was not a fan looking to connect or say I like your content. He was not asking for a photo. He was just someone trying to get something from me and saw me as a tool and that’s how I came off to Doug in our first meeting. I was actually a fan, but he would have no way to know that with my approach.”
Doug and Ryan met for coffee in Austin, near the Lodge Card Club, which is co-owned by Doug. Ryan says he made amends to him in person and recently have exchanged text more and more.
I really enjoy his company and we had fun at the table. He has given me a lot of good advice as well and been the bigger man. He’s younger than me but I really look up to him.
Unprompted, he told me how funny my new ‘Degen Debrief’ videos are which is basically my take on his format. He has no ego in that way, but enough sucking his d*ck.
He is such a cool charismatic table presence, and we were starting to roast this Canadian dude at one point and then I said ‘Who’s next?’ and Doug said, ‘Yo, you and I gotta go easy on people – we have too much power!’ With our dissing we could just bowl over whoever.”
Growing in the Game with Coin Poker
“I’m glad I got fired. Its been better off this way, at least for one of us!”
After being unceremoniously dropped by Americas Cardroom, Ryan looked back on his time as an ACR pro with a lot of pride. Now part of the Coin Poker stable, he’s ‘grateful’ to have a sponsor and represent a site that supports his creativity.
It’s thanks to guys over there, mainly Mario Mosböck who encouraged me to start my new poker news show Degen Debrief. Also, my ‘CODE RDP’ exclusive freerolls are juicing and I think I need to ask for even more promotion giveaway money, because they snap say yes always, so I’m probably underbidding.
Despite the acrimonious split, Ryan still has a lot of love for his old friends at his previous sponsor.
I love ACR and I’m still on good-to-great terms with literally everyone there… but I am glad I got fired. It worked out and it’s been better off this way, at least for one of us, heyooo!
Earlier in the series, Ryan called out the Czech chatterbox Martin Kabrhel as a ‘Coked Out Lego Man.’ His opinion of Kabrhel and latterly Will Kassouf is pretty unforgiving.
Like the community, Kabrhel has warmed me up to him but only as a viewer. I think if I played with either of them I would be very annoyed – particularly Kassouf. At least Kabrhel is funny.
Kassouf is just the obnoxious without the clever. Martin seems genuinely funny. I wonder what he is like at home alone or with his girlfriend at night. I think he has a family.
Kabrhel does indeed have a family, something Ryan is going to be a part of very soon, with fatherhood imminent.
If you get seated with one of these guys for your first event you may never play poker again but on the whole to the entire story of poker in media, its more good than bad to have villains.
The Lazrus Effect
Sharing the Vegas WSOP life with Danny Lazrus, Ryan doles out a heap of banter on his long-time friend, pillorying him throughout the series. To say it’s a brutal, no-hold-barred friendship is an understatement – they’re like brothers.
He ordered McDonalds literally 18 times since have been in the house, thanks to Coin Poker. It’s getting out of control. I was back and forth three times ‘cause my wife is eight months pregnant and needed help.
Danny is too studied at poker and knows so much. He has taught me more than anyone probably about poker and like a sponsor or big brother gets sad when I make big blunders but this year there were not too many.”
Ryan says that while in other years he could be accused of dusting off chips, this year he’s reigned in some of the crazy at the felt.
I’m happy to say that most of my bust-outs this year were due to variance more than mistakes, he says. I come back to the house embarrassed to tell a hand and 69% of the time, Danny says ‘Oh, you have to pay that spot’ or whatever.
Only 29% of the time he’ll say, ‘You are horrible.’ The other 2%, maybe we disagree, him yelling about some GTO principle and me arguing that its live poker, it doesn’t apply and ‘I don’t care what you say’.
It’s clear that Ryan relies on Danny for that triple support pillar that only poker friends can provide – targeted advice, genuine sympathy, and great ice cream.
In the Main Event, an amazing live tell – or betting tell – exploit he taught me led directly to me four-bet bluffing on the flop where I check re-raised 2k, 6k, 12k, 30k, those were flop bets and raises and I ended up winning a crazy hand with trash that nobody should have been in for nearly a whole starting stack.
In putting together new content for Coin Poker, Ryan has a lot of help, keen to express his thanks to his editor Boris and a new collaborator, Nick Cartwright.
Nick is a stand-up comedian who has been co-writing Degen Debriefs with me and coming up with many of the best jokes,” he says. “They both stayed at the house for a little while too.
The main story though is Danny is fat and thanks to Coin Poker for helping with the house budget, so I can be like a real rapper and have a crew at the house!
Looking to the Future
When he looks back on his 2025 World Series of Poker, Ryan has no regrets. The Main Event might have gone wrong in some ways, but Ryan says it can still be rectified.
The perfect end to the WSOP would be that they realize there was a huge mistake and I actually am supposed to be in Day 7 of the main and that f*cking Euro was not supposed to call with king-queen vs. my ace-queen for 14 bigs UTG vs middle position all-in pre-flop.
But since he did, the nine turn on Q-J-T was actually a mistake.
Ryan is, of course, joking again. It’s his defense mechanism and greatest weapon in one, but he has clearly grown to realise that over the past few years, the WSOP isn’t only about results at the felt for him.
I think its over but I am not as sad as I have been in years past, he laughs. “ lost money playing and gambling but made money doing content, or will, and I’m looking good to win some money shorting Rampage by reverse-backing him.
The biggest bet of my life in fact I made crossbooking him anti-sweating. My max win or loss is $30k for me but I’ll probably win around $7,000. Anyway, hopefully he keeps losing.
Ryan says that he feels successful just by getting to play the Main Event and being a part of poker. While he’s excited about his plans with Coin Poker and the upcoming Code RDP freerolls, the biggest reason why coming home without winning this year is easier is closer to home itself.
We have a baby due next month, so that’s very exciting. I am so happy to be planning for a daughter” says Ryan. I’ll continue to play heads up PLO cash with my pay from Coin Poker thinking I have an edge but slowly losing. I actually think I can get good at it – I like PLO a lot. The future seems really exciting.
Not for the first time in his poker career, Ryan’s life is about to take an unexpected turn. Whatever happens, though, you can see that he’ll be there, camera in hand, and smile on his face, waiting for the next chance that comes to tell the truth and spread the laughter. Some people just can’t help themselves.
