TableTalk with PokerListings: #4 – Ryan Feldman: Building the Biggest Cash Game Stream Ever
It’s safe to say that we will see some big bets for everyone tuning into the $1 Million Dollar Cash Game. Betting big and taking risks is something Hustler Casino LIVE co-founder Ryan Feldman has done all his professional life. Whether it was leaving a cushy ESPN Basketball media job in LA for poker, leaving one cash stream to build another, or reaching for new heights when it comes to building cash games.
Creating the Million Dollar Game
This next move might be his biggest gamble yet: building a $1 million buy-in cash stream where all mayhem can break loose. HCL had a content creator game that saw a famous Phil Hellmuth and Ninja crossover and had a huge cash game involving Alan Keating and company, who played for so long that the stream had to reboot.
Early Days With LATB and Doug Polk Week
This Million Dollar Game is big, but Feldman is ready: this is something he has been dreaming about since he was first innovating with cash game streams in 2017. While at the now-defunct Live at the Bike!, he created a Doug Polk week, which was so successful he would hold it again. The controversial-yet-popular Heads-Up end boss Polk would bring in players like Dan “Jungleman” Cates, Matt Berkey, and social media wizard SoFloAntonio.
The formula worked, and Feldman knew he was on to something. He’s also learned that sometimes, it’s not the lineups you expect that create the most memorable moments. A cash game featuring the now infamous WPT Champion Dennis Blieden, Bill Klein, Garrett Adelstein, Matt Berkey, and others was such an entertaining and crazy high-stakes game that even Feldman had a painting of that game on his wall. “To think now we have a million-dollar buy-in when back then it was a huge deal when you had a million dollars on the table,” says Feldman.
The Inception of Hustler Casino LIVE
An acrimonious end with LATB left Ryan Feldman and business partner Nick Vertucci interviewing for the next big LA cash game stream spot. When COVID hit, and Hustler Casino general manager Shaun Yaple reached out, things aligned perfectly. They built the creme-de-la-creme of a poker studio inside the casino, had all the time to prepare, and hit the ground running.
Massive cash games saw poker figures like Tom Dwan, Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, and more sit at the poker table. Feldman’s growing industry presence saw him bring in mega-popular content creators like Ninja, Alexandra Botez, and Ludwig. The stream was cemented at the top of the food chain, with others not being able to come close to HCL, and even a controversial saga like the Jack-Four hand with Robbi Jade Lew and Garrett Adelstein could shift HCL off the perch.
The Million Dollar Game
Obviously, it’s a $1 million buy-in with a $500,000 rebuy amount. A stand-up game will be implemented and almost guaranteed to have straddles on during the five-day poker series. The players will include familiar HCL faces like Blankcheck Ben, Doordash founder Stanley Tang, famous bird-flipper Eric Persson, HCL regular Nik Airball, famous content creators Rampage and Mariano, Doug Polk, Dusk Till Dawn founder Rob Yong, and everyone’s favorite poker villain Tony G.
The podcast covered a bunch of topics, which include:
- How does Ryan define a “super-pro,” and how can players get into his games
- How he builds a sustainable cash game lineup
- What makes good cash games and what he learned from his LATB days
- His “40%” answer to Rob Yong’s off-guard J4 question
- Explains his relationship with Matt Berkey
- Clearing the air with Garrett Adelstein on a Twitter Space
- His thoughts on Poker Night in America’s Studio52 and cash stream competition
You can listen to the full podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and SoundCloud, and find all the links and previous TableTalk episodes below.
