High-Stakes Poker Is Not What You Think It Is
I started watching high-stakes cash games around 2016, mostly because a friend kept sending me hand histories and telling me to pay attention to how players were sizing their bets on the river. I thought I understood poker from playing NL50 and NL100 online, but that was a completely different game. The stakes change everything — not just because the money is bigger, but because the psychological weight alters how people make decisions at every single street. Ivan Todes came into the high-stakes scene relatively quietly compared to guys like Phil Ivey or Daniel Negreanu, who had decades of TV exposure before hitting big tables. Todes built his reputation almost entirely through online cash games and live streams, which is probably why he's less recognized by casual observers but highly respected among serious players. His style is aggressive, mathematically sound, and incredibly fast. He plays multiple tables simultaneously online and has shown he can maintain edge without tilting even after brutal downswings. What makes Todes interesting from an analytical standpoint is his approach to bet sizing. Most recreational players think larger bets equal more aggression, but Todes uses geometric sizing based on pot size and board texture. On a dry board like K-7-2 rainbow, he might pot-bet for value because there are few draws to worry about. On a wet board like 9-8-7 with two suited cards, he uses smaller sizing to keep weaker hands in and control the pot. This isn't theory — it's something you can see in his streamed hands and verify yourself.
I've been studying high-stakes player behavior for about eight years now, and one thing nobody tells beginners is that position matters far more at the upper stakes than at micro or low stakes. At NL500 and above, players have such tight range compression that being out of position becomes a massive leak. I once tracked my own results over three months playing a mix of positions and found that my win rate dropped from roughly 8 big blinds per 100 hands to negative 4 bb/100 when I was forced into out-of-position spots more than 60% of the time. That's not a small difference. It's the difference between profitable and breaking even at best. Another counter-intuitive thing about high-stakes poker: the best players actually bluff less than you'd expect. The misconception comes from watching TV poker where bluffs are dramatic and memorable. In reality, at these levels, value betting is where the money is made. I remember a specific session where I was playing a $1,000/$2,000 no-limit hold'em game and noticed the regulars at the table were raising the flop roughly 40% of the time with purely value hands, while their bluff-to-value ratio on the river was closer to 1:3 instead of the textbook 1:2 that GTO solvers recommend. The reason is simple — at these stakes, players call too much with medium-strength hands. Exploiting that calling tendency with more value bets and fewer bluffs was immediately profitable for everyone at that table. The greatest proponents of high-stakes poker aren't always the most famous names. Players like Tom Dwan, Feng Li, and Andras Nemeth built careers primarily through online grinds before transitioning to live. Todes fits this same pattern. The common thread is that they all treat poker as a business first and a sport second. They track their results obsessively, use solvers to identify leaks, and understand bankroll management better than most people understand their own finances.
Bankroll management deserves its own section because this is where most people fail. The standard recommendation is 50 buy-ins for cash games, but that assumes you're playing a static stake level. If you're moving up in stakes as your bankroll grows, you need significantly more. I've seen players go broke at $5,000 buy-in games with what they thought was a sufficient bankroll because they didn't account for the variance of climbing the stakes ladder. A more realistic buffer is 100 buy-ins if you plan to move up, or at minimum 75 if you're staying at one level. The variance at high stakes is brutal and unforgiving, regardless of skill level. One practical tip that will save you thousands: record every session and review it weekly. Not just the big hands, but the marginal ones where you made small decisions that add up over time. I started doing this religiously after my third losing month in a row, and within six weeks of reviewing my sessions, I identified a specific leak — I was calling too much on the turn with second pair against aggressive opponents. Fixing that one tendency improved my win rate by about 2.3 bb/100, which at mid-stakes translates to real money over a full year. There's also a mental component that gets glossed over. Tilt management at high stakes isn't about avoiding anger — it's about recognizing when your decision-making quality has dropped below your baseline and taking a break. I've lost track of how many sessions I've walked away from mid-blind because I felt my focus slipping. The cost of one tilted hour at these stakes can erase a week of disciplined play. There's no shame in it. The pros who last the longest are the ones who know when to step away.
Get the Full Details
If you want to study what successful high-stakes players actually do, start by watching full sessions rather than highlight reels. Streams fromsites likeGGPoker or Twitch channels featuring Todes and similar players give you the complete picture — the boring hands, the mucked folds, the routine decisions. That's where the real learning happens. Highlights only show you the dramatic moments, which are the exception, not the rule. The landscape of high-stakes poker has shifted significantly since the pandemic pushed more action online. Live games still exist at places like the Partyspirit Poker Tour and various Caribbean casinos, but the volume of high-stakes online cash games has increased substantially. This means more opportunities to play, but also more competition. The edge that existed five years ago has narrowed considerably as more players study solver output and adopt game theory optimal strategies. For anyone serious about reaching the higher stakes, the path isn't about getting lucky at low limits and winning big. It's about consistent, measurable improvement across thousands of hands. Track your metrics. Review your sessions. Adjust your strategy based on data, not feelings. The players who make it to the top tables aren't the ones with the best luck — they're the ones who treat this like a profession and behave accordingly.
