Ben Lamb Talks Poker, Golf, and Life on 888Ride

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Poker is a game that’s created many heroes over the years, and Ben Lamb is certainly one of them. Yet, many poker fans are not very familiar with Ben Lamb dues to his private approach to life, and he agreed to change that a bit by taking an 888Ride with Davit Tuchman.

The interview with 888poker, which lasted just over half an hour, shed light on Lamb’s poker beginnings, his deep runs in the WSOP Main Event, his love of golf, and friendship with Chance Kornuth, another hyper-successful poker player.

If you are a Ben Lamb fan already, this episode of 888Ride is one you will not want to miss, and if not, it is a great opportunity to meet one of the best poker players you probably know very little about.

You can check out the full episode below, or keep on reading for our take on the interview highlights.

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How Ben Lamb Started Playing Poker

Ben Lamb made a name for himself with his deep runs in the game’s most publicized tournament, the WSOP Main Event, including two final tables that brought him more than $5 million in winnings.

However, when Ben was just 21 years old, he was very new to poker, and things were not going quite as smoothly at the time.

On his 888Ride appearance, Ben reveals that he decided to drop out of college and start playing poker until he made enough money to start a business and invest in other things.

According to Ben, the games were so soft that he was pretty sure he would make it, but his family didn’t quite see it that way at first, as his father protested his decision at first.

Despite his dad teaching him a bit of a lesson by taking away the money Ben made by selling his college books, Lamb didn’t change his mind and decided to pursue a career in poker anyway.

At just 21 years of age, Ben was out there in Las Vegas grinding on the cash games and playing occasional tournaments in hopes of striking gold and moving up to higher stakes.

Cash Game Pro Dominates the Main Event

To this day, Ben Lamb remains primarily a cash game player, and this was also the case earlier in his career, as Pot Limit Omaha cash games were Lamb’s bread and butter.

Yet, for a guy who plays relatively few tournaments, Lamb has had exceptional success, winning over $13,000,000 in tournaments, almost $6,000,000 of which came from his Main Event appearances at the WSOP.

Tuchman and Lamb addressed his exceptionally good runs in the Main Event, which started back in 2009, when he was still a young player looking to make the big leagues.

That year, Ben busted the Main in 14^th place, getting eliminated in an exceptionally unlucky way, and even having to handle some antics from an overly excited player who busted him, who ended up becoming his friend years later.

Lamb won over $600,000, but his heart was broken, as he was that close to sharing the final table with Phil Ivey and potentially even winning the trophy and $8,000,000 that eventually went to Joe Cada.

Lamb was not going to let this discourage him, as he came back and won his first WSOP bracelet in 2011, playing his specialty game of PLO and taking home over $800,000.

When most players would have been more than content with their summer, Lamb was actually just starting, as he ended up running deep in the Main Event once again.

Lamb told us the story of how he made his first Main Event final table in 2011, and played some interesting hands with Martin Stazsko, who eventually busted him in 3^rd place. This time, Lamb came away with over $4,000,000 in cash.

The story of Lamb’s Main Event success continued in 2017, when he once again reached the final table and came 9^th for a cool million, making him one of the most successful Main Event players who have never won the gold bracelet in that particular event.

As humble as he is, Ben chalked up much of his success in tournaments to luck, but it is more than clear that his incredible poker skill played a massive role in the astonishing tournament poker career he’s had.

Meeting Chance Kornuth and Taking Vegas by Storm

The conversation briefly steered towards Lamb’s early years in Las Vegas and his friendship with Chance Kornuth, whom he shared a living space with for a while.

Ben described meeting Kornuth at a $3,000 tournament where he pulled a trick, exposing a relatively strong hand and folding it face up in order to fix his image in the eyes of the other players.

A few hands later, Kornuth asked “did you do that on purpose?” and Ben knew he wanted to be his friend, as few players at that time were savvy enough to figure it out.

The two young poker pros took the poker world by storm, living together, studying the game together, and living the good life in Sin City.

Ben recalls some great times as a young man in Las Vegas, but also ensures us that he’s cleaned up his act and become much more of a family man these days.

Love of Golf Replaces Love of Poker

For Ben Lamb, poker is a side hustle these days, as he plays poker some two months a year, spending much of his other time tending to his investments or playing golf with his friends.

Lamb shared quite a few golf gambling stories on the 888Ride, and those included many other familiar names in the poker world such as Matt Savage, Shaun Deeb, and more.

To end things, Lamb shared his idea for a High Stakes Golf show, which he is apparently in the process of making with a number of sponsors and producers he did not disclose at this time.

If all goes well, we could see the first High Stakes Golf episodes sometime in the near future, with Ben Lamb and his friends gambling for tens of thousands a hole and sharing some fun gambling stories out on the green.