As poker continues to grow with record turnouts again this summer at the World Series of Poker and tournament series around the world, the avenues for bringing people into the game also continue to grow. Take for example the always-growing number of streamers following in the footsteps of the Godfather of Twitch Poker, Jason Somerville, and OGs like Jaime Staples, Kevin Martin, and Lex Veldhuis. It’s a tough medium to break into, but one player who has found success — not just in viewership but results on the virtual felt — is 888poker Stream Team member Aaron Barone, who recently hit the $1,000,000 mark in online MTT profit.
After growing his audience over about a year and a half, 888poker came calling to add him to their team of streamers and since then their partnership has seen both parties grow and build on their successes.
Cardplayer Lifestyle recently had a chance to chat at length with Barone about his time with 888poker, his success, the past and present of online poker, and his time at this year’s World Series of Poker, which included a moment he likely won’t forget with Poker Hall of Famer Phil Ivey.
Aaron Barone Interview
A product of the Moneymaker boom, Barone has been a star in the online poker world for many years now, but it’s taken his time as a streamer and an increased audience with 888poker to highlight that there’s more to happiness for him in poker than just results.
“Obviously, I’ve grown since becoming a part of 888poker because they’ve definitely put their efforts behind it, and the thing I think I love most about streaming, which I didn’t realize at the time, is the connection that I’m able to have with viewers. The social aspect of online poker is almost non-existent, other than like message boards, or at least it used to be, and because of streaming I actually get to have that with people who follow, watch, etc.”
“It was something that I was missing from my poker experience that I didn’t really know I was missing because I’d always been an online player… Streaming for me has really helped fill that void. It’s made it feel at times like a live poker thing where you get to interact with people, and an opportunity to be seen and feel heard. I remember when I started streaming, I was like, even if the only thing people take away from this is ‘man, this guy runs really bad,’ that’s enough. People will see the effort I’m putting in.”
Courtesy: twitch.tv/abarone68
Viewers of Barone’s stream will notice that while he is an 888poker ambassador, he’s not limited to playing only on their software. His agreement with them allows him to play on other sites from his home in Vancouver, British Columbia. As a successful online MTT grinder, volume is a key part of Barone’s winrate and his deal with 888poker is something he’s very appreciative of.
“They’ve been really cool about letting me just showcase what I do for a living without any sort of ‘hand on the wheel’ sort of thing, but I will say that my volume on 888poker went up after they signed me and part of that was that I’m an ambassador for the site… but what I also noticed was that by doing that, I actually started having better results because I was playing more games that had smaller overall player pools.”
While 888poker is one of the leaders in the worldwide online poker ecosystem, there are other sites that have more traffic. In many ways though, this isn’t a bad thing for players, far from it in fact; and Barone explained why 888poker’s player pool should actually be a draw to many.
“Generally, in smaller field MTTs you’re going to have less variance. A lot of people I think are chasing really big scores because it sounds like a dream, it sounds like a jackpot, a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow sort of thing. I totally understand that, but in MTTs because of that, because the large fields have massive amounts of variance, and if you want to limit that, the best way you can do that is obviously A) get better at the game, but B) play smaller fields because you don’t have to go through so many all in confrontations to get to the final table.
If you’re playing poker, it’s because you love the game and you probably want to make some money. Your better chance of realizing your edge is going to be in smaller field tournaments and 888poker offers amazing options for that.”
Barone made a name and (bankroll) for himself in the sit n’ go and spin ‘n go streets before transitioning into MTTs just a few years ago. Since then, he’s been a consistent, and that’s the key word, consistent, winner.
How I made $1M+ playing MTTs (A thread)
Given the volatility of multi-table tournaments because of their large fields and top heavy payout structures, even successful grinders can have wonky looking graphs. Often looks something like: Bink a big score, lose a bunch back, bink… pic.twitter.com/u1ixo6vFx4
— Aaron Barone (@abarone68) March 26, 2024
While most players’ MTT charts look like a jagged mountain range with sharp peaks and progressive valleys, When he crossed the $1,000,000 profit mark, Barone was proud to display his chart which features a far more steady line, consistently going up in marginal increments. It’s an approach he took from his earlier days that he says has provided a much less stressful grind as an MTT pro.
“It just kind of depends on what your goals are. As a poker player, if you end the year making $200k with consistency, that’s the same amount of money as if you made $200k with one bink. I think the lifestyle, the enjoyment factor is so much higher when you have consistent wins. I know you don’t have that high high of that huge bink, but if you told me I could have 365 days a year of winning, I’d feel a lot better than having one day where I win a million and lose 800k back.”
Along with obvious skill, Barone credits volume and game selection – traits he learned from his sit-n-go background — for his steadily booming bankroll since he first began diving into MTTs.
“Let’s figure out how much I make per game, and let’s put in a bunch of games. I do assume that at some point I’ll hit a bigger score but for me, it’s really comforting knowing that I don’t need to, that I’m not going to have this massive downswing and I need to bink to get out of it or to pay rent, or to pay bills. The people that play under that sort of pressure, props to them. I don’t think I would play nearly as well and I wouldn’t enjoy that quality of life.”
Don’t get Barone wrong though, while his largest score over that stretch was for just under $60,000, he does very much want that life-changing win at some point.
“I’d be lying if I said this is how I wanted to do it. I want that big bink, I want the next million to come in the form of one or two, or three scores. That does sound really fun.”
While Barone’s seven-figure success may look like a goal that he’s achieved, it’s how he got there that was actually the goal. With a volume-based ‘goal’ mentality, Barone believes this is an infinitely more productive way of evaluating success in poker. Essentially, a journey of hard work and dedication with goals in those aspects leads to bankroll success more than any ‘bankroll challenge’ ever could.
“I kind of think it’s like when people say they want to get fitter or healthier, and they’ll say ‘I want to lose ten pounds’ and that’s great, but there’s also fluctuation in that on a day-to-day, week-to-week basis, and it’d be much better to say ‘I’m going to try to eat better and I’m going to try to go to the gym 25 times this month. And so if you ate better and you went there and you lost seven pounds or nine pounds, you put in the work.
So, when it comes to poker, yes, you might have a goal of making 100k in a year, but it doesn’t mean that if you get to 97k that you’re a chump and you should feel bad about yourself, and it doesn’t mean if you make 101k that you’re the greatest of all time. So just being happy with the process of the work that it takes to get there is a healthier way to look at it.”
Barone’s streaming success and popularity amongst his viewers have led him to another great opportunity, becoming a coach at Upswing Poker.
Upswing founder Doug Polk sent a tweet out asking which streamers people would like to see training content from on his site. Along with requests for those that Barone calls the GOATs of the poker streaming world, he was thrilled to see a massive groundswell of support for him as well. Polk reached out with an offer, and since then Barone has created content for Upswing, including a five-part module entitled ‘Five Mistakes MTT Players Make’, along with a ‘play and explain’ session breaking down the final table of one of his online victories.
Barone says working with Upswing Poker is just the latest example of working for a great team that supports him and shares his vision.
“As I talk to more of my friends who have regular jobs, the people who are your boss or work above you don’t always understand what you do and what they need to provide you to have you succeed, and with both Upswing Poker and 888poker my bosses have been just outstanding about that. This is my first and second I guess real jobs, and I know not everybody gets that experience so I’m very thankful for it.”
Barone was one of the many victims of Black Friday when online poker shut down in the United States. His tale of poker upheaval saw him in the process of moving to Northern California where he had grown up and gone to college, but that plan was dramatically altered when that big FBI warning appeared on his computer screen when he tried to play on April 15, 2011.
“I signed the lease (on an apartment), and a day after I woke up and it was Black Friday. I had to break the lease and I ended up paying maybe two or three months of a fee to get out of that… It’s so interesting because I had moved to Sacramento with the intention of basically setting down roots. This was where I planned on being for the rest of my life or at least a big chunk of it.
A week later I had come to terms with the idea that I don’t know when online poker is going to be legal in the U.S. and I have to get out of the country. I remember thinking at the time this is the worst thing that’s ever happened to me… and I look back on it now as one of the best things that’s ever happened to me because it forced me out of my comfort zone and it helped me really grow as a person and as a poker player. Without that experience, I would not be the person I am today, I wouldn’t have met my fiancé, everything would have been different and I’m really happy with where I am right now.”
While the online realm is where Barone has built his name, the allure of the WSOP in Las Vegas is unavoidable for any true poker player or fan. Barone played in just his second-ever WSOP Main Event this summer, and while falling short of the money with a Day 3 elimination was disappointing, he says the whole of the trip was as valuable as any payout ticket.
“The poker side of it, if we remove that entirely, this trip has basically been a 10/10 for me. I got to meet a lot of people that I’ve known either through online screen names or just knowing them from stream-type stuff and there’s nowhere else I’ve ever been where there’s such a large collection of people who love the game of poker.”
“In my regular life, there aren’t as many people who I can talk about poker with who love the game like I do on a daily basis, and even when I do it’s on stream it’s great, but it’s not a one-on-one, face to face sort of thing. At the Main Event, everyone is there because they want to be there. Overall, it’s electric, it’s wonderful, it makes me want to play more live tournaments.
Leaving Vegas this morning after a nearly perfect @WSOP experience. Bricking the Main Event hurts a bit, but as the name implies, it’s more than just a poker tournament — it’s an EVENT.
And despite having a couple of difficult tables, I bonded with (most of) my opponents,… pic.twitter.com/wo2hSsH7rG
— Aaron Barone (@abarone68) July 10, 2024
Along the way, Barone found himself at a table with none other than the legendary Phil Ivey. Knowing he may never get another chance to sit with one of the all-time greats, and with visions of a potential Ivey / Barone collaboration and friendship, Barone light-heartedly struck up an ice-breaking conversation.
“I asked him how many times he gets approached for pictures on a daily basis and he said ‘more during the Main Event.’ And I said, ‘Oh, like 8 or 9?’ and he said ‘Yeah’, and I’m just like ‘Okay, that’s weird, no one’s even asked me for one picture this entire trip’, and he just deadpans it, and I’m just like, oh, OK, here we are. Just a slightly amusing thing to break some ice and tension. Did not work, but shooters shoot.”
Courtesy: @abarone68
Aaron can be seen in his 888poker Stream Team home on Twitch.tv/abarone68 and as a coach on Upswing Poker where he’ll have a pair of new modules coming out over the next few months.
Follow him on X at @abarone68 and on Instagram at @acbarone
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