About this episode
Come Play Poker with us online! The true underdogs of online poker (and the only site where the players get 50% of the rake right back in their pockets!) Sign up here: https://play.phenompoker.com/register?r=Table1 OR… Come play with us in Las Vegas at Table 1! https://table1.vegas Meet John Andress. Grew up outside Philly. Played lacrosse at Penn State. Obsessed over Counter-Strike. Accidentally turned a Puerto Rico casino trip into an $8k “beer money” bankroll. By senior year of college? $150k in his poker account. Six months later? Nearly dusted it. Then hit for $60k at PCA and never looked back. John has lived the full poker arc: Black Friday moves to Toronto, huge scores in Europe (including tilting Luke Schwartz in Prague), New York DJ lifestyle, Bay Area private games… and now? He’s running A5 Labs, a 200-person tech team building AI that hunts bots and collusion across online poker. This episode is funny, wild, and brutally honest. It’s about how obsession becomes opportunity, how every poker player eventually faces the “what’s next” moment, and how John turned his into a career shaping the entire industry. Show Notes 00:00 – Early Life & Penn State 07:22 – Counter Strike 10:19 – Finding Poker 15:49 – Making Poker Friends 19:23 – Life as a Poker Pro 24:35 – The Luke Schwartz Story 26:47 – Moving Across The Country 31:12 – Getting Into The Poker Security Industry 40:25 – How The Anti-Cheating Software Works 49:11 – Does John Still Care About Poker? 53:51 – Growing the Company 58:58 – Family Life + Poker + Business 1:04:35 – Golf? 1:10:34 – The Future! (And That Pesky Card Showing Feature) John's Links https://x.com/johnea6 https://a5labs.co/ Table 1 Links What is Table 1? https://table1.vegas 200% Deposit Bonus at Phenom Poker: https://play.phenompoker.com/register?r=Table1 Art's Links https://x.com/artparmann SlotMaps — Beat Slots (seriously): https://slotmaps.com PokerHQ — Run your home game like a pro: https://pokerhq.io Justin's Links https://x.com/justinyoung07 Play poker with Justin on Phenom: https://play.phenompoker.com/register?r=JYPoker