Image courtesy of Triton Poker
Over the past decade, Stephen Chidwick has routinely been given the title of the most respected opponent by his peers. Those are becoming few and far between, as the British player now sits above almost everyone in poker history on The Hendon Mob’s All-Time Money List.
After his latest seven-figure win in Jeju, South Korea, on the Triton Poker Series, we caught up with Stephen to talk about his career and his place within the game of poker in a wider sense.
The Life of a Travelling Poker Legend
While Stephen plays for millions of dollars in virtually every poker tournament he plays, the player from Deal in the county of Kent in England has spoken out recently on his discomfort within poker.
In a revealing post on X, Stephen revealed his battles away from the felt. Now he’s in South Korea, over 5,700 miles from Las Vegas and London. I asked him about the difficulty of missing his family back home.
It definitely can be tough being away from family, and I much prefer to have them with me, but poker trips are so intense that I don’t have much time to ruminate on it, Stephen says.
It’s always a challenge to get as much sleep, exercise, and preparation in as possible aside from the long hours of poker, so I just keep the blinders on and keep going until it’s over.
That blinkered perspective is an act of clear self-preservation. Taking on players that would strike fear in the most experienced of players, Stephen is well known for his impressive table image at the felt.
The straightest of backs, the smallest of movements, and eyes that seem to follow other players at the tables as if they are set in old paintings on the walls of an ancient mansion.
Being from England, I’ve had the art of emotional repression handed down to me from my ancestors, Stephen smiles. On a serious note, I have been influenced by Stoic philosophy, and I have put a lot of effort into trying to see things as they are and keep perspective even when playing for big sums of money.
Times where I have managed to really enjoy the act of playing poker for its own sake and be completely at peace with a traditionally ‘disappointing’ result like bubbling a big tournament or getting bad beat in a huge pot rate among my most satisfying experiences.
The Perfect Escape
We discuss Stephen’s recent post about the anxieties he felt for a long time and how he conquered some of those doubts to become not just a great player at the poker felt but a man who is truly the best version of himself. Many players of all levels find life hard around poker, and we wondered how much of a constant battle that is for Stephen.
I wouldn’t say life ‘around poker’, rather ‘life in general’. In fact, I think a major reason why I have been so passionate about games from a young age is that I can lose myself in them and quiet the mental chatter.
Of course, the self-doubt and anxiety can creep in while playing, but they’ve historically been much more pervasive when I’m not immersed in the activity itself.
During his time in poker, Stephen has made many friends on the tour, and he credits them with helping him conquer self-doubt and improve his own self-image.
I’m tremendously grateful for all the friends I’ve made playing poker. Almost everyone goes through tough stretches mentally on these trips at one time or another, and having a bunch of people to talk to who can relate to the struggles and provide support is really indispensable.
Like many parents, this reporter included, parenthood is a blessing that changes someone for the better, and Stephen says this applies to him, too. He’s learned a lot about his motivations in poker and how becoming a Dad altered them dramatically.
Your whole perspective on life changes in an instant when you have a child, Stephen agrees. There was certainly a shift in priorities that came along with that, and one of the major ones was an increased motivation to become a better person off the table.
I want to be the best father I can be, and I had initially thought I would semi-retire when I became a parent. But the more I thought about what it means to be a good father, the more I considered the part that being a role model plays.
Stephen obviously wants to spend a lot of time with my family, but as he tells us, he also wishes to embody a good orientation to the wider world.
Things like finding and pursuing things you’re passionate about, setting and working towards goals, resilience through adversity, and the ultimate fulfilment and general application of skills that can come through the pursuit of mastery in any domain are lessons that I hope to pass on.
Chasing Greatness
With so many of the world’s elite poker players taking each other on with regularity, Stephen’s path to the top of The Hendon Mob’s All-Time Money List is at risk from his peers in the upper limits of that leaderboard. Despite this, Stephen explains that for him and many of those around him, the pursuit of poker greatness is in itself the reward.
I would say that most people who have achieved a high level of success have come to the realization that external accomplishments don’t result in lasting satisfaction in and of themselves.
I’ve definitely been motivated more than most by these kinds of things for a large part of my career, but I think most of us are ultimately there for the love of the game.
Stephen has consistently topped lists of ‘toughest opponents’ and his peers clearly respect him. The feeling is mutual, and the Englishman cannot separate the skills of those he takes on at the poker table.
Honestly, there are so many great players with such a wide variety of strengths and approaches. I feel like when I answer these questions, I have a bias towards people I have a close relationship with because I see their strengths more clearly.
But, I try to learn from everyone I play with, especially the ones that don’t seem as tough to me but have great results, as that’s usually an indication that they’re strong in areas I may be less aware of.
GTO Play and the Romance of Poker
GTO play, solvers, and AI are all recent innovations that will change poker – and perhaps human life – for good. But Stephen doesn’t think the game of poker as a whole has lost its lustre of yesteryear.
To me, there is just as much romance. I’m fascinated by the complexities of the game and the subtle strategic insights that can be learned from these modern tools, but at the end of the day, poker, especially live poker, is infinitely more complex than the abstracted versions we can study with computers.
Stephen is no stranger to study and puts in a vast amount of time learning the most advanced strategies, as well as solving specific situations he may encounter at the poker felt. But for him, the live game is still an area where the influence of AI or GTO assistance simply cannot take over.
When you’re face-to-face with another human playing a hand of poker, there’s so much more information to take into account, not least of which is an intangible, immeasurable field of energy influenced by the emotional state of the players involved, Stephen says.
Unless you’re playing against a literal robot, the human element is an inseparable part of poker, which makes every single hand you play unlike any other. For me, after so many years, that’s what keeps the game endlessly engaging.
With the race well and truly on to be labelled the greatest player the poker world has ever seen – and perhaps that first player to bank $100m in tournament results – Stephen Chidwick is someone fun to root for.
Not only does he win on a regular basis, but the honest work he is prepared to continue to put in, not least on himself, is evidence that poker players can be the best of people and ones we can all look to for guidance both on and off the felt.
