Sam Greenwood on Punts, Profits, and the Truth About Poker's Elite

When Poker Gods Get Real

It’s not every day you get to peek inside the mind of a poker player who has battled for, and won, tens of millions of dollars. Sam Greenwood, a name synonymous with Super High Roller success and currently sitting at #21 on the all-time money list with a staggering $39 million-plus in cashes, recently sat down for a remarkably candid Q&A with the poker community. And let me tell you, it was anything but a sterile, media-trained interview.

This was raw, honest, and at times, downright hilarious. He tackled the tough questions, the silly ones, and the deeply strategic ones with the same level-headed approach that’s likely saved him a fortune at the tables. Forget what you think you know about the poker elite. Let’s get into what really went down.

The $39 Million Elephant in the Room

You see a number like $39 million and it's hard not to be impressed. But the poker community is a skeptical bunch. The first thing on everyone's mind wasn't congratulations, but a more pointed question: how much of that is actual profit? It's the age-old question that separates the glossy Hendon Mob pages from the cold, hard reality of a professional's bankroll.

When asked how much it cost in buy-ins to win that $39 million, Greenwood's first reply was a dry, perfect, "$38,999,999." He later confirmed he is, in fact, up money overall. But the exchange highlights a crucial point: tournament cashes are not take-home pay.

For the absolute best Super High Roller (SHR) regs, he estimates an ROI of around 10-15% on their best bullets. When you factor in all attempts, that number gets cut in half. Suddenly, the game seems a lot more like a high-wire act and less like a license to print money.

It’s a world where a huge swath of regulars are hovering somewhere between a -5% and +5% ROI, and as Greenwood himself admits, it’s tough to even tell who is who. The gap between the best and the rest is real, but as he put it with a great tennis analogy, winning 55% of the points makes you the best in the world, but in poker, getting 55% of the tough spots right over your opponent's 45% doesn't translate into as much of an edge as you'd think. The margins are razor-thin.

Geeking Out on Strategy: GTO vs. Gut

Of course, people wanted to know how he wins. How does a top pro navigate the treacherous waters of a modern poker hand? His answer on balancing game theory optimal (GTO) play with human intuition was a gem.

He explained that his general approach is to use game theory principles to structure his play on the early streets (preflop, flop) and then lean more on intuition for the later streets (turn, river). It just makes sense, right? It's easier to make a snap adjustment like, "This guy is bluffing way too much, I'm calling with my bluff-catcher," than it is to invent a whole new four-betting strategy on the fly against someone who's three-betting too much.

His Go-To Heuristics for Emulating GTO

He even gave out some of his go-to heuristics for emulating GTO play:

• Bet smaller in multiway pots.
• Play cautiously on boards where straights and flushes are possible.
• Make sure you have hands to bluff with on different runouts.
• Think about what specific hands you're targeting with your bet size.
• And the secret sauce for us mortals: Randomize.

Even after all these years, solvers can still throw him for a loop. He shared a great example of a sim that shocked him:

On a super dry board like 7-2-2-3, after facing a check-raise, you're often supposed to continue with all your unpaired hands, from AK-high to JT-high. The logic? It helps you river top pair on a wider variety of cards so you aren't so easy to read when an ace falls.

It’s a perfect illustration of how deep the game has become.

Drunk Poker, Annoying Opponents, and Emotional Fortitude

What about the human side of it all? The best question, hands down, was from a player whose two biggest leaks were playing drunk on eight beers and shoving all-in blind while laughing maniacally. Greenwood's advice?

"You could start by not drinking 8 beers, but that's no fun. So I will say, at least look at your cards before you go all-in dark."

It’s moments like these that make you realize these guys are people, too.

Has poker stripped him of his emotions? He doesn't think so. In fact, he suggests it may have taught him emotional control and maturity he might not have developed otherwise. It's a reminder that the stoic 'poker face' isn't about being dead inside; it's a learned skill, a muscle. Speaking of muscles, he noted that patience and focus are things you develop over time. It’s not about being a robot 100% of the time—he pointed out that even a machine like Adrian Mateos watches soccer games on his phone during Tritons. The key is developing your own coping mechanisms for when you get bored, rather than just torching your stack.

And who gets under his skin? Martin Zamani, apparently. But the crown for most unbearable player goes to William Kassouf. According to Greenwood, "they don't make music loud enough or headphones strong enough to block out his chatter."

Ranking the Pantheon of Poker Gods

When you ask a top pro who they think is the best, you lean in. Greenwood didn't hesitate. For the best live MTT players of the last 10 years, he named Stephen Chidwick, Ike Haxton, and the criminally overlooked Mike Watson. He lauded their work ethic, their longevity, and their ability to crush multiple games at the highest stakes.

He also gave shout-outs to other killers like Mikita Badziakouski, Christoph Vogelsang, and Jason Koon. It's a list that reads like a who's who of modern poker legends, and getting that kind of insight from a peer is invaluable for any fan of the game.

The Final Punt

What shines through from the entire conversation is a deep-seated honesty. Greenwood's whole project, a Substack called 'Punt of the Day,' is built around analyzing his own mistakes. He admitted it always tilted him when players on a hot streak act like they've found a secret code. The truth is, poker is a game of immense variance, and losing is a massive part of it.

As he put it, he learns far more from his mistakes than from the hands he played well. Perhaps that’s the biggest lesson of all. It’s not about achieving some mythical state of perfection. It's about being honest with yourself, embracing the chaos, analyzing your 'punts,' and coming back stronger for the next hand. That’s a strategy we can all learn from.